Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Jewish passengers booted off Lufthansa flight in May are getting $20,000 payouts
Nearly seven months after they were denied boarding in Frankfurt, a group of more than 100 Hasidic Lufthansa passengers are getting paid for their troubles.
The airline is paying each passenger $20,000 plus giving them $1,000 to reimburse them for expenses incurred during the May incident, according to Dan's Deals, the discount travel website that first reported the incident at the time. After legal fees and some other expenses, each passenger will net approximately $17,400, the site is reporting.
Lufthansa would not confirm the dollar figures but told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it is seeking to settle with each of the affected passengers, capping a series of conciliatory responses to the incident.
"Although we are not commenting on the details, we can confirm that Lufthansa endeavors to settle the claims with all of the passengers denied boarding on May 4th, 2022," the company said in a statement.
That date was when airline agents in Frankfurt barred many Jewish travelers coming from New York City from boarding their connecting flight to Budapest, citing the fact that some of the passengers were not wearing masks, as was required at the time. But that rule was applied inconsistently, passengers said at the time, and a Lufthansa supervisor was caught on video speaking disparagingly about Jewish passengers as a group.
"It's Jews coming from JFK. Jewish people who were the mess, who made the problems," the supervisor said on the video, which Dan's Deals shared shortly after the incident.
Amid intense media coverage, Lufthansa publicly apologized, saying in a statement that the company "regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight."
The company added, "What transpired is not consistent with Lufthansa's policies or values. We have zero tolerance for racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination of any type."
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Monday, November 28, 2022
Car rams into Hasidic mother’s stroller, baby miraculously unharmed
A video of a vehicle ramming into a stroller being pushed by a visibly Jewish mother last week was circulated in Montreal, Canada, by members of the Jewish community after the police refused to release it.
The woman's one-year-old baby, who appeared to have have been flung forward from the side-on impact of the speeding car, miraculously suffered no serious injuries.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Global Rally to Unite Jewish Children on Chanukah
While the radical challenge that was the COVID-19 pandemic brought so much devastation to the world, one silver lining of the upheaval was the increased prevalence of using technology to overcome geographical barriers and to bring together those who would otherwise be distant.
One shining example of the utilization of this movement has been the flowering of new online events to mark special occasions. From record-breaking farbrengens to weekly shiurim, Zoom has served as a portal for spreading Judaism in unprecedented ways.
Amongst the organizations taking advantage of this development is CKids, which has been capitalizing on the vast proliferation of the use of Zoom technology to host worldwide rallies for Jewish children enrolled in Chabad Hebrew Schools across the country in advance of Yomim Tovim. And in the spirit of the current year of Hakhel, they plan to host their iconic rally this Chanukah on a scale heretofore unimagined.
Featuring the recital of the 12 pesukim, tefillah, and a Menorah lighting at the Kosel, which will be followed by a magic show, dancing and singing, this Chanukah-themed rally is intended to drive home-both the uplifting message of Chanukah: The triumph of light over darkness. The event hopes to empower all participants to become agents of positive change for themselves, their families and their communities in all areas of Yiddishkeit.
Meant to entertain as much as to inspire, this half-hour event will be chock full of fun, from an appearance by a professional illusionist to exciting raffles on coveted prizes. But most crucially, the children will be made aware of the inheritance they are privileged to share with the millions of Jews scattered across the world, the legacy of the Torah that binds us all together, as diverse and disparate as we may seem. The goal is to showcase the joy of being Jewish, an impression that will hopefully last long after the last child logs off.
The feedback from past rallies has been overwhelmingly positive, as parents shared the joy their children displayed while participating and connecting with Jewish kids the world over. The positive impact it has had on the many children in their communities has not gone unnoticed by their local Shluchim as well. Mrs. Chana Gansburg, director of ACHS in Toronto, Canada, tells us: "I look forward to this year's Grand Chanukah Hakhel Event. I will certainly promote this very important Mivtzah in my community and specifically in our Hebrew School."
With a track record like this, anticipation for the coming rally runs high, and many Shluchim are eager to promote it amongst the children attending their schools.
"There is tremendous power in bringing children from all over the world together, and we are looking forward to joining in this very special opportunity," Mrs. Beila Goodman of Long Beach, New York, shared with us.</p>
The secret of the radical success of these rallies in engaging children of all ages is in the novelty of it "It excites children to feel part of something so much bigger than themselves, uniting with children who are so very far but have so much in common, all while having the time of their lives," says Rabbi Zalmy Loewenthal, director of CKids International at Merkos 302, a driving force behind these rallies.
"The importance of these events should not be underestimated, says Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, executive director of Merkos 302, "Bringing together Jewish children is incredibly important, both for the sake of the world as their prayers storm the heavens, and themselves, as we hope the extraordinary experience will leave a lifelong impression."
The rally will be streamed live on Sunday, December 18th at 12 PM EST on Chabad.org, the day before Chanukah in the US. To take advantage of this unique opportunity to promote Hakhel during the auspicious days of Chanukah.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2022
British Royal Guard plays Hasidic, Israeli music at Buckingham Palace parade
With more than 1,400 people in attendance, the British Royal Guard marched to Hasidic and Israeli music at the commemoration of the WW2 military service of Jewish men and women. The event also marked the 101st anniversary of the first wreath-laying by Jewish veterans at the Cenotaph – a central London memorial.
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Monday, November 21, 2022
Inside Chabad’s 6,500-person dinner in New Jersey
In the chill of Sunday night in Edison, N.J., a crowd of bearded men in black fedoras embarked on a 15-minute walk through a seemingly endless parking lot, a field of dirt and then down an asphalt road, past buses, police patrol cars with sirens flashing, a row of portable toilets and finally along the gravel walk that took them around and then into a huge convention center where they could hear the pounding music of the Shluchim conference, the annual gathering of Chabad's global network of more than 5,600 emissaries.
The convention is not always the largest on the Jewish calendar — AIPAC's Policy Conference, when it occurred, drew well over 10,000 people — but the annual dinner of the Hasidic movement based in Brooklyn, whose event is called the International Conference of Shluchim, is one of the largest single organized Jewish meals in the world.
While many galas draw hundreds of people to numbered tables in tony banquet halls, the Shluchim conference's tables had to be organized by a combined index of letters and numbers, allowing enough space for the 6,500 attendees at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center. Several journalists were seated at M20. In practice, the room, which was filled almost entirely by men, looked like a never-ending sea of black hats in the haze of spotlights, with most eyes directed toward enormous television screens lining the hall. A parallel women's conference is held annually and will take place in February.
Officially, the night had two themes: a celebration of the 120th anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the movement's late leader popularly known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe; and a tribute to the Jewish commandment of hakhel, a gathering of the Jewish people intended to take place once every seven years.
In commemoration of Schneerson's birth, the gathering celebrated more than 120 emissary couples who took up posts in new locations over the past year, as well as the founding of 120 new Hebrew schools and 120 new mikvahs, or Jewish ritual baths. In addition, the evening included the announcement of a new $2.5 million grant from the family of the night's keynote speaker, private equity investor George Rohr, which will fund four new Chabad day camps in North America.
Rohr has donated what is estimated to be tens of millions of dollars to Chabad institutions in the former Soviet Union and on campuses across the country, many of whose buildings bear his family's name. In his speech, he called campus Chabad houses a bulwark against rising antisemitism, and gave extravagant praise to the movement as key to the future of Jewish life.
"From the perspective of return on the tzedakah investment, Chabad offers the best bang for the buck," he said. "In all of Jewish history, there has never been a phenomenon remotely comparable to the Rebbe's army."
Chabad has become increasingly engaged with Israel advocacy, and Israel's political and religious leadership showed up for the event. In addition to including a roster of the movement's rabbis, the night's agenda also featured a speech by Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau. Also in attendance were Israeli Consul General Asaf Zamir and Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations.
Lau drew applause when he repeated his long-standing call to limit the parameters of Israel's Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. A similar call by allies of incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently provoked protest from American Jewish leaders.
"Already 10 years ago, I requested for that mistake to be changed, of the third generation [being eligible] under the Law of Return," Lau said, adding that he wanted the government to "fix it in order to ensure that the state of Israel be a Jewish state, a state of the Jews."
The night was also punctuated by references to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The program opened with the child of emissaries in Ukraine singing a slow, almost mournful song, and a video about Ukrainian emissaries later in the program documented how they arrived in Ukraine before the fall of the Soviet Union and how they have helped their communities since the invasion began.
Chabad's network of 177 emissary families in Ukraine has taken a central role in providing aid during the invasion and ensuing humanitarian crisis. In addition, it has made life more difficult for the hundreds of Chabadniks in Russia. Last month, a Russian official called Chabad a "neo-pagan cult" striving for supremacy; his superior later apologized.
But Chabad's enthusiasm for being in Russia hasn't dimmed; When Russia was called out during a country-by-country roll call of the movement's emissaries, the room erupted in dancing to a traditional Russian Jewish melody.
The segments on Ukraine seemed to advance the message that, because Chabad emissaries faced adversity beginning when they arrived in Ukraine decades ago, the current hardship will not deter them. Rabbi Yechiel Shlomo Levitansky, the emissary in the city of Sumy, Ukraine, who fled with his family in the first weeks of the war, recalled that an official suggested he was crazy for applying for permanent residency in 2009.
"We are crazy," he told the crowd. "Crazy about fulfilling the Rebbe's mission."
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Friday, November 18, 2022
Hasid from Ashdod gives Hasidic leader a lectern that served his father 70 years ago
A Belz hasid from the southern city of Ashdod moved the Belzer Rebbe (Grand Rabbi) this week, after he brought him an historic item which served his father, the previous Rebbe, over 70 years ago in Tel Aviv.
The lectern in question was used by Rabbi Mordechai Rokeah of Biłgoraj, Poland, over 70 years ago, in his home in Tel Aviv. It was brought by the hasid on the anniversary of Rabbi Mordechai's passing, greatly moving the current Belzer Rebbe.
"When I brought in the lectern, I was convinced that this was indeed the lectern, according to the historic details which I had and which the others who had been following the rare item throughout the years had. But I was not absolutely, 100%, certain," the hasid said.
"After I learned the details of how the lectern was brought, and I presented my estimations regarding its historic status, the Rebbe said in Yiddish, 'It is the lectern of my father, of blessed memory.'"
"After I exited the room, we prayed the evening prayer," he added. "The Rebbe broke from his usual tradition and did not use the regular lectern, but the historic lectern. I am happy and I thank G-d that I acquired such a merit."
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Thursday, November 17, 2022
Despite win, Hochul's support plummets among Orthodox Jews
One could circle Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School for blocks on Tuesday. There were no political activists handing out campaign material. A truck with inaudible speakers passed the school's polling place once in a four-hour window. Neighborhood residents could be forgiven for not realizing an election was taking place.
Outside of the "Vote Here" signs zip-tied to the fence by the entrance to the polls, there was only one glaring reminder for this Midwood community, which is comprised largely of Haredi and modern Orthodox Jews: A sign folded around a streetlight, capturing a headline from a Jewish community newspaper. In bold yellow capital letters, the copy read "GOV. HOCHUL TO YESHIVAS: NOT MY PROBLEM." It was laid over a photo of New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, looking somewhat aloof.
That flyer and its tone summed up the feelings of the voters that JNS spoke with coming out of the polls. Jewish residents didn't demonize Hochul. There didn't even seem to be a palpable anger toward her. There was more of a sense of frustration and, greater than that, abandonment, by a figure largely supported by the city's Jewish residents until recently. That support has come undone, with accusations that Hochul has done little to curb rising violence against Jews in the streets, and that she stayed on the sidelines as the media and her party's politicians assailed the educational standards of the state's yeshivas in the face of new state regulations.
"The priorities are the life of our community, Jews in Brooklyn, in New York City, in the United States, but particularly Orthodox Jews in our community that have been attacked and been spit on. And I'm not just talking about physically. I'm talking about verbally by the highest levels of government, by the media," New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger told JNS as he exited the voting booth. "And it's time that people stand up, and that's what you're seeing in our community. People are standing up and they're saying enough is enough. We're not going to take it anymore."
Though Yeger was clear that he wasn't endorsing anyone either candidate in the governor's race, his comments reflected that of his neighbors-an appreciation for the efforts of the Republican nominee, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, in courting the Jewish vote and vocalizing the concerns of the community when Hochul stayed silent.
"I don't know if I felt a backlash, but I have felt the energy of candidates recognizing that we are a force to be reckoned with. If you're going to want our votes, you have to make a demonstration of why you deserve our votes. And I've seen that from some candidates up and down the ticket. They've made the effort to come into our community," said Yeger. "I've seen other candidates who haven't made the effort to come to our community, and I think the dividends will pay off for those who have tried to get our votes and who have been able to articulate a case for why our community should stand with them."
It seemed a veiled reference to Zeldin, one of only two Jewish Republican members of Congress, who had narrowed a double-digit deficit in the polls just weeks ago and looked to be within striking distance of Hochul heading into Election Day. Yet Hochul ultimately secured a comfortable victory.
Others at the polls were clearer and more direct about their choice. A voter named Zehava came to the polling station with her three young children. She cited yeshiva education and safety as her two priorities when selecting a candidate. When asked if there was a candidate she felt could provide positive action on her pet issues, she replied "Oh yeah, even the kids know. Who did we choose for governor?" she asked, looking down at her children. In unison, the three of them screamed, "Zeldin!"
Chaim Fried said his first priority was yeshiva education, as well. "We feel that the Department of Education hasn't been very fair to us. The New York Times seems to be taking shots at us and we want to be heard. And so that's frankly the priority. Everything else is kind of noise," he said.
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Wednesday, November 16, 2022
New York Times' fraught history covering Jews, Israel draws fresh backlash amid report on Hasidic schools
The New York Times said last month that a string of investigations – some which were accused of being "politicized hit piece[s]" against Jews – is a part of its "financial success" strategy, adding to a long list of controversy of what some critics have alleged is an "anti-Jewish animus" at one of the nation's leading papers.
Former New York Times executive editor, Dean Baquet, announced an investigative journalism fellowship he would oversee that was inspired by the apparent "financial success" of investigations on Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, among others.
The announcement referred to a front-page spotlight article the Times published in September which claimed Jewish private schools were "flush" with government cash and failing their children.
"What's clear is that the NYT is not interested in positive value for our schools, just spreading lies for clicks," Simcha Eichenstein, a NYS Assembly member, who represents a Brooklyn Hasidic Jewish community, said.
Activists – including international human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein – derided the "politicized hit piece" for singularly "targeting" the Jewish community as violent anti-Semitic attacks continue to rise in New York City. It was also a bizarre choice for a front page article on Sept. 11 for the New York-based paper, she said.
"What the hit piece did at The New York Times… [is] accuse [Jews]… of abusing their children. I couldn't think of anything more vicious than that," Goldstein, who runs the Lawfare Project, told Fox News Digital.
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Monday, November 14, 2022
Dave Chappelle’s ‘SNL’ monologue sparks backlash as being antisemitic
Dave Chappelle's comments about the Jewish community during his "Saturday Night Live" monologue are being slammed as antisemitic.
Anti-Defamation League chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt took to Twitter on Sunday to criticize the comedian and the NBC late night show.
"We shouldn't expect @DaveChappelle to serve as society's moral compass, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalize but popularize #antisemitism," Greenblatt tweeted. "Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?"
The controversial comic hosted the show and addressed the firestorm around Kanye West, who has legally changed his name to "Ye," following his remarks about Jewish people.
Chappelle began the show by reading a statement which said "I denounce antisemitism in all its forms and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community."
"And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time," Chappelle joked.
He went on to say that Ye had broken "the show business rules" which are "the rules of perception."
"If they're Black, then it's a gang. If they're Italian, it's a mob," Chappelle said. "But if they're Jewish, it's a coincidence and you should never speak about it."
Chappelle went on to talk about the abundance of Jewish people in Hollywood.
"But that doesn't mean anything," he said. "There's a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri. Doesn't mean they run the place."
Chappelle said he could see "if you had some kind of issue, you might go out to Hollywood and start connecting some kind of lines and you could maybe adopt the illusion that Jews run show business."
"It's not a crazy thing to think," he said. "But it's a crazy thing to say out loud."
Writer Adam Feldman tweeted "That Dave Chappelle SNL monologue probably did more to normalize anti-Semitism than anything Kanye said."
"Everyone knows Kanye is nuts," Feldman wrote. "Chappelle posits himself as a teller of difficult truths. It's worse."
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Thursday, November 10, 2022
Hasidic woman, son blasted with gel pellets in alleged hate attack
Three men fired a gel gun at a Hasidic woman and her son on a Bedford-Stuyvesant street late Tuesday — in an alleged hate crime that is just the latest "Orbeez"-style pellet attack in the city, police sources said.
The trio was driving near Kent and Park avenues around 8:30 p.m. when they allegedly fired off the plastic water-filled pellets at the 47-year-old and her son, 23, as they walked along the street, the sources said.
The victims called 911 from the scene and cops caught up with the white sedan nearby.
Sources identified the driver as Jacob Hernandez, 38, and charged him with assault as a hate crime, assault, aggravated harassment, criminal possession of a weapon and hit him with a motor vehicle violation, the sources said.
The two passengers in the car were hit with the same charges save for the motor vehicle citations.
All three men were awaiting arraignment on the charges late Wednesday.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Hasidic rabbi assails ‘Trumpism’ rampant among the Orthodox
An influential Hasidic rabbi from New York issued a harsh rebuke the day after Election Day of the "Trumpism" that has overtaken much of the Orthodox community.
"Trumpism became entangled in the Jewish nation," Rabbi Aaron Teitlebaum, the Grand Rebbe of one the Satmar Hasidic sects, said in a speech Wednesday at his yeshiva in Kiryas Joel, north of New York City. "This Trumpism twisted the minds of so many yiden. It brainwashed people – and that's so painful," he said, using the Yiddish word for Jews.
He alluded to many Orthodox groups' backing of Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, who lambasted the state Board of Regents' vote last month to strengthen oversight of secular studies at Orthodox schools. And Teitelbaum critiqued Orthodox voters' reverence for former President Donald Trump, who exhorted voters to "punish" Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul, who beat Zeldin in a close race on Tuesday.
The Orthodox, who account for as many as 100,000 votes of the 1.8 million cast by Jews in New York State, traditionally vote for Republican candidates in national elections, but their leaders have backed Democrats locally when those candidates are most likely to win.
Satmar was one of two Hasidic voting blocs that aligned with Hochul and contrasted to the almost universal backing of Lee Zeldin within the Orthodox community. The Republican received 47% of the vote in Tuesday's election.
Satmar support for Hochul came after several meetings with her and her staff. She followed up with a letter to Orthodox leaders pledging to "fight for your right to practice your religion and teach your children with your religious education."
In their endorsement of Hochul, the Satmar leaders wrote that it's important to maintain a healthy relationship with Democrats so that the group might fulfill its "obligation to be the possible lifeline for the future of Yiddishkeit in New York." The Democratic party controls both houses of the state legislature. Backing Hochul, the Satmar reasoned, would help them more effectively battle "the bitter decree" on yeshiva education.
In his remarks on Wednesday, the rabbi said that Hochul's victory is not a personal win for him. "I am not a candidate, I didn't run, I didn't even win," he said. "I thought about what is the best way to battle the decree on our education."
And he warned of "Trumpism" as a threat to Jews. "Why did we think differently? We are not going to fix America. It's not our job to fix America. Our goal is to protect ourselves."
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Tuesday, November 08, 2022
An Orthodox favorite, Lee Zeldin discusses his Democratic grandparents and Reform upbringing
If Lee Zeldin pulls off an upset win over incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in the election next week, he will be the first Jewish Republican governor in New York State history.
If so, he probably won't be able to thank the majority of the state's Jews, who like Jews elsewhere, tend to vote Democratic and, polls show, tend to reject the kind of pro-Trump conservatism Zeldin represents. (Zeldin voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results.)
And yet his tough-on-crime stance and hands-off approach to yeshivas has gained him considerable traction within the Orthodox community, a minority within a minority whose votes are coveted by politicians across New York. Although Zeldin's own Jewish background is in the non-Orthodox denominations — he is the grandson and grand-nephew of prominent Reform and Conservative Jews — his conservative views have won him major endorsements from Hasidic and Haredi Orthodox groups in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley.
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Monday, November 07, 2022
Orthodox Jewish vote could prove critical in governor's race
The ultra-orthodox Jewish community tends to be one of the most insular in the city. But it also has enormous political clout, and the Orthodox vote could prove critically important in the race for governor.
Republican Lee Zeldin won the endorsement of several Hasidic sects this week, following months of aggressive campaigning.
Zeldin is one of only two Jewish Republicans in Congress, and his great-grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi in Brooklyn.
He talked to the Jewish community about fighting anti-Semitism and crime.
Zeldin also talked to them about defending private religious schools known as yeshivas. The schools have come under increased public scrutiny and state regulation for providing limited secular education.
"They care about yeshiva education," Zeldin told reporters Tuesday, "And Albany has declared war on yeshiva education."
This week, Zeldin was rewarded for his efforts with the endorsement of several Hasidic sects, a coup for his campaign.
New York politicians have courted the Orthodox vote for decades. That's in part because the endorsement of one rabbi can translate into an unified bloc of thousands of votes.
"Most of the outreach is to the administrators of the local yeshivas and to community leaders. Once they are on board, they mobilize the vote," said Jacob Kornbluh, a senior reporter at The Forward, a Jewish news outlet.
The Orthodox community tends to vote Republican in national elections. Orthodox enclaves in neighborhoods like Borough Park and Midwood went heavily for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
But the community also often supports Democratic incumbents. Some Hasidic sects have split the ticket this year by endorsing Zeldin at the top of the ticket, but Democrats the rest of the way down.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has done her own outreach, but has been noncommittal on regulating yeshivas.
On Tuesday, she issued a letter to the community seeking its support, writing, "I recognize that education is an important value in the Jewish community and I want to assure everyone that Jewish schools will always be treated with fairness and respect."
For many in the community, that was too little, too late.
While Hochul did win some endorsements this week, the enthusiasm gap is clear.
"Understanding that Lee Zeldin is now sort of representing that voice against government intervention, in support of this community, they feel they have an ally there," Kornbluh said.
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Friday, November 04, 2022
NYPD officer accused of stomping on woman’s head at George Floyd protest
An NYPD officer has been hit with departmental charges for violently kicking a woman in the head during a Bronx George Floyd protest, the Daily News has learned.
Defending himself in his departmental trial at NYPD Headquarters Wednesday — the agency's first Hasidic officer — Lt. Joel Witriol said there was so much chaos and fighting going at the June 14, 2020, protest at the corner of E. 136th St. and Brook Ave. in Mott Haven that anything could have happened.
But he's absolutely sure he didn't purposefully stomp on the face of a woman protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
"There's a difference between chaos and doing something on purpose," Witriol explained. "Nothing was done on purpose.
"I did not kick her on purpose, and I don't believe I kicked her at all," he said.
But the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated abuse-of-force charges against Witriol for assaulting the woman, identified as Alexandra Huber, while she was down on the ground.
Body camera footage and medical reports all conclude Witriol kicked Huber while she was being subdued for not complying with former Mayor de Blasio's 8 p.m. curfew order, CCRB officials said.
The most damning piece of evidence was the body-worn camera footage from another officer which shows Witriol stomping on the ground followed by a woman's scream, Nicole Jardim of the CCRB's Administrative Prosecution Unit said. The footage doesn't actually show Huber getting hit.
"[Witriol's] looking straight down at her. He lifts his leg up and he stomps," Jardim said, describing the video during the one day departmental trial.
Huber suffered a black eye and a cut on her nose and was too traumatized to testify in person Wednesday.
If a department judge finds Witriol guilty of abuse of force, he could be fined 20 vacation days.
The lieutenant said the footage doesn't show a stomping, but him losing his balance because of the "oil, water and urine" protesters were throwing at cops.
"I had just been maced," Witriol said. "I felt it in my mouth all night."
He claimed he did grab Huber and attempted to place her under arrest for violating the curfew. He admits to swing her around, but said he never knocked her to the ground and kicked her.
Instead he handed her to other cops who took her down with a leg sweep.
"She was still resisting when I handed her off," said Witriol, who admits that he never turned his body-worn camera on during the protest.
"I made no contact with her head," he said.
Huber quickly hired a lawyer and plans to sue the city, Witriol's attorney Marissa Gillespie said.
"She wasn't too traumatized to get a civil attorney," she said.
Witriol joined the NYPD in 2006 and quickly moved up the ranks. In 2016, he was promoted to lieutenant and was transferred to the Housing Bureau, where he was named the integrity control officer for Public Service Area 7.
He raced over to the protest after hearing several pleas for backup over the radio. Two vehicles with guns and Molotov cocktails were intercepted on their way to join with the demonstrators, he remembered.
Protesters said cops herded them into the corner near the Millbrook Houses and struck them with batons. Video of the event shows cops swinging batons and roughly shoving people, many of whom were begging to go home, freelance photographer Gregory Berg, who was caught in the crowd, told The News.
"I got maced, a 75-year-old man got maced, a pregnant woman got maced," Berg said. "They slammed us into cars, cuffed us and left us on the street. It was some third world s--t."
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea acknowledged the cops' aggressive handling of some in the crowd afterward — and said that the protest had been infiltrated by "outside agitators" who were looking to use the event as cover to loot the neighborhood.
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Thursday, November 03, 2022
Developer alleges anti-Hasidic bias in suit against Crawford for denial of zoning change
A developer has sued the Crawford Town Board for denying a zoning change he needed to build apartments, claiming the board turned against his project in 2020 after residents raised objections based on anti-Hasidic sentiment.
Rockland County developer Moses Schwartz had planned to build 54 apartments and a commercial building on Route 302 in Pine Bush and initially had support from town officials, who welcomed the affordable housing and were set to sell him 7.5 acres of town-owned land. But the board wound up rejecting the zoning change after a flood of residents spoke out against the project, voicing concerns about limited groundwater and traffic at that location.
In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court, Schwartz's attorneys argued that the true motivation was fear that Hasidic families would rent the apartments. The complaint cited Facebook comments about the project that made reference to Orthodox Jews and the Sullivan County village of Bloomingburg, where a 396-unit townhouse complex was being built for Hasidic families.
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Wednesday, November 02, 2022
Largest NYC Orthodox voting bloc endorses Zeldin for governor
With exactly one week to go before votes are cast in the 2022 midterm elections, New York's Orthodox Jewish community continues to play a significant factor in the neck-and-neck election for the state's governor. On Tuesday, the largest voting bloc in Brooklyn's Borough Park released an endorsement for GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin, despite supporting other incumbent Democrats.
In a flier written primarily in Yiddish, the Bobov Hasidic Sect endorsed Zeldin over his incumbent challenger, Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, who replaced former governor Andrew Cuomo after he resigned amid sexual harassment charges in 2021.
Although New York is considered a blue state— it has not had a Republican governor since 2002— Long Island Rep. Zeldin is narrowing the gap between himself and Gov. Hochul. This week's Emerson College Polling/Pix11/The Hill survey found that Hochul was leading Zeldin by just 6% with 4% remaining undecided. Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, is currently serving as a representative for the state's first congressional district. If elected, he will become the first Jewish Republican governor of New York.
Also on Tuesday, the Bobov Sect backed two incumbent Democrats, Letitia James for attorney general and Charles Schumer for senate.
Meanwhile, Gov. Hochul wrote a letter Tuesday to Orthodox leaders stating she acknowledges "education is an important value in the Jewish community and I want to assure everyone that Jewish schools will always be treated with fairness and respect." As governor, Hochul has taken a hands-off approach, stating that the Education Department operates independently of the governor.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2022
Jewish Leaders Condemn ‘Antisemitic’ New York Times Article for ‘Whitewashing’ a ‘Pogrom’
Jewish leaders, speaking to The Daily Signal, condemned a New York Times article for having "whitewashed" a "pogrom."
As Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin met with rabbis in New York City's Orthodox community, promising support for yeshivas (Jewish schools) and racking up endorsements, America's newspaper of record published an article explaining "How the Hasidic Jewish Community Became a Political Force in New York."
Emma Fitzsimmons, the Times' City Hall bureau chief, recounted the Crown Heights riots of 1991, a pivotal moment that helped future mayoral candidate Rudy Giuliani's law-and-order message gain support among the Orthodox Jewish community. Those riots broke out after a police-led Orthodox Jewish motorcade accidentally struck and killed a black child, prompting some black New Yorkers to harass and attack Hasidic Jews in the city—killing one and terrifying the community.
Fitzsimmons described the riots as "clashes" between two groups, as opposed to a vicious attack on the Jewish community.
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