|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Ilana Siyance
The cousin of a rescued Israeli hostage was targeted in a shocking anti-Semitic attack in New York City. As reported by the New York Post on Saturday, in a restaurant in the Lower East Side, Josh Tepper was at a casual dinner when another patron suddenly came over and poured a pitcher of water over his head and yelled, “Free Palestine.”
Tepper is a cousin of Luis Har, who was captured on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, and who was freed in a daring military operation by the Israeli Defense Forces in Rafah in February 2024.
Tepper said he was shocked to experience this level of anti-Semitism in NYC. “It was a very shocking experience,” Tepper said Sunday. “I’ve lived in New York for 28 years, I’m from here. I’m very proud to be Jewish, went to Jewish state school. Never have I ever in that way been accosted for being Jewish.” He said he was having a quiet meeting with his business partner Carlos Leon at El Cabron Taqueria on Essex Street when the unprovoked assault happened.
“It was aggressive,” Tepper said. “It was jarring, it was upsetting.” The only thing he said could have tipped off the offender was when he mentioned at one point during his dinner conversation that he wanted to visit Tel Aviv. “That is not a political statement. I didn’t say I hate any group of people, I didn’t say what side I’m on,” Tepper said, according to the information provided in The New York Post report. “Literally out of nowhere this guy took a pitcher — swear to G-d — and poured it on me, on the table. My phone was covered. And he said ‘Free Palestine’ and he said something else that I kind of blocked out and he just walked right out.”
He told the New York Post that Leon got up to confront the alleged anti-Semite, but the “coward” left swiftly. The restaurant staff comped the two for a drink, and claimed the assailant had grabbed the pitcher by telling employees that he was thirsty and wanted to refill his cup — but instead dumped it on Tepper.
Tepper said he was caught off guard, but conceded that in these times of heightened anti-Semitism since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and the war began, we as Jews need to be more vigilant. “I’m always on alert because I’m Jewish, especially now. But this was to a new level,” he said, as was reported by The New York Post. “It’s been like a year and a half, almost two years of things just progressively getting worse, and more and more of my friends are having nuanced experiences like this.”
Har, Tepper’s 71-year-old cousin, was an Israeli citizen, accountant, actor and dancer who was abducted with his family on the same day as Hamas killed over 1,200 people and captured some 250 hostages. Har was held hostage for 129 days in southern Gaza, until his rescue by the IDF.
Despite President Trump’s intensified efforts to have the hostages returned in a ceasefire deal, in which Israel is setting free nearly 2,000 criminals and military prisoners, there are still 63 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, of which 36 are believed to be dead.
