By Gus Saltonstall
A confrontation over Israeli hostage posters led to an alleged hate-crime attack at around 9:55 p.m. on Thursday, police said.
A 41-year-old woman spotted two women removing Israeli hostage posters at the corner of Riverside Drive and West 82nd Street, police said. She verbally confronted the duo and began recording them with her cellphone, police added.
The two women then attacked the 41-year-old, ripping a Star of David chain off her neck and knocking her cellphone out of her hands, NYPD said.
The pair of women proceeded to run away in an unknown direction, police said. NYPD described the two women as roughly 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and 135 pounds with thin builds and black hair.
The 41-year-old woman suffered minor injuries to her face and neck, but refused medical attention at the scene, police said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident, police said.
The confrontation over Israeli hostage posters comes after West Side Rag found 15 of the posters torn up on October 25 between West 72nd and 92nd streets.
Additionally, the alleged attack happened four days after District Attorney Alvin Bragg, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Assemblymember Grace Lee announced new legislation to expand the list of hate-crime-eligible charges from 66 to 97, which would enhance charges and certain sentences.
Anyone with information in regard to the Upper West Side incident on Thursday night is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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Disgusting. Shameful. I’m still baffled by the motive. Why tear down the posters? Can someone please explain the justification?
Yes. Those posters are inflammatory propaganda. No one here is going to see those kidnapped people, so why plaster posters meant for that reason here? What’s worse kidnapping 240 people or murdering 10,000? Multiple eyes for an eye makes the whole world blind – meaning leads is to WWIII.
It’s not a one or the other. Besides, instead of blaming Israel, why not protest Hamas? If they didn’t put their command centers below hospitals, use their own people as human shields, hide under inhabited areas, shoot at their own people if they try to leave, steal the aid meant to help their people so they can build their tunnels, dig up their citizens’ clean water pipes to turn them into rockets… And let’s not forget the rape, murder, and torture innocent civilians, including the elderly, children, and babies.
Sadly, so many people who think they are “free thinkers” are instead falling for the propaganda of terrorists. It is so disheartening to realize that such intelligent people can’t manage to not get treated like suckers. If Hamas remains, then this will never end.
Question for those of you who think you are non-biased and free thinking: how many Palestinians has Hamas killed over the years?
Laura- the posters are there to remind everyone what hamas has done to innocent people- they raped them infront of their children, put kids in ovens, chopped peoples heads off- if they did not do this – this war would not be happening now- the world has to see what hamas has done
Sharon, respectfully, I know what Hamas has done. I was there on Sept 11 and I am still recovering from the attacks. I know true evil exists. It has taken me a long time to feel safe again. I don’t want to see this every block in my own neighborhood. I hate Hamas and so does everyone else. These posters are not necessary. If I wanted to be reminded of horror every day I would move to the Middle East.
These poor hostages and the grief over the terrible October 7 attacks are being used to fuel the PR machine to support Israel’s unjust and illegal military response which has killed 10000 Palestinians in one month. When people remove the posters, they are speaking out against the use of these innocent victims’ suffering to dehumanize Palestinians and build public support for Israel’s murder of civilians. We should be able to mourn those lost and pray for the return of hostages without their struggle and their memory being used to justify murder and genocide. When people see this grief being used to justify murder, they fear making the grief larger—which is what the posters aim to do. I would not personally touch one of these posters, but I do understand that others feel the action is disrupting propaganda that masks the very real violence being enacted on civilians in the weeks following the initial attack.
Just today, I received a banner ad with the face of an Israeli hostage telling me I should support the war and support Israel. I find this abhorrent.
Israel’s insistence on invading and bombing Gaza is its no regard for civilian life has already cost them many opportunities for the hostages to be safely returned. There are reports that hostages have already been killed by Israeli airstrikes—if they can’t avoid killing Palestinian civilians, how are we do believe they’re carefully avoiding hostages?
I pray for the hostages safe return, as I pray for a ceasefire and steps toward peace.
I worked with victims of terrorism for many years and hope that this post helps to explain a little why this action may be happening—even though it is painful to witness, I do think focusing so much on pieces of paper is a distraction while people suffer and die,
Kristi
Next time you post, read it again before you click on “send”.
You contradict as much as you state.
These are NOT pieces of paper.
These are people, taken hostage, by a group of trained killers, more likely, murderers, committing high crimes that you will not condone.
@Kristi, your post is so contradictory and in some cases makes sense but it is mostly misinformation and hypocritical. I don’t think you understand that many Jews (and non-Jews as we are integrated) here in NY and elsewhere have family and friends in Israel and are mourning what is going on. It makes us cry because we never thought this kind of slaughter and kidnapping would occur and we are only one generation at most removed from Holocaust victims and survivors. We are also the same generation of those who escaped pogroms and discrimination in other countries such as middle east, Russia/Ukraine etc. It is very raw pain.
Israel had to respond to go into Gaza to fight Hamas in order to survive. They do not want to do this as this impacts their economy and well being. Children in Israel have not been going to school and businesses are shut down. They are not going after killing civilians but have to fight Hamas as they hide in hospitals, mosques and schools. They are shooting at their own people and not letting them leave so that they will be killed for propaganda. Yes they are that evil and they are backed by Iran, that wants to not just eliminate Israel but also wants to inflict a lot of damage to USA. They are emboldened by seeing what is happening in this country and colleges. The side of evil should never be seen as emboldened/winning to destroy the side that is not. When we do, history has taught us what happens. It is very sad that innocent Palestinians die. There are 2 million Arabs/Palestinians that live in Israel proper. They live side by side. What is happening with these poster behavior is very difficult to see. People are attacking those commemorating hostages and putting pressure to bring them back. I am not sure how you do not understand that (if you say you worked with victims of terrorism), except for what is happening is anti-semitism for the most part. The people taking them down are saying very vile and untrue things like F- Israel, F- Jews, We are in United States of America. These posters have become the platform for people to show hate towards Jews and Israel that is fueled by whatever, online misinformation, antisemitism, other things people are angry about. It is sad to see.
People keep using the words !”civilian shield” and some how its makes ok. Imagine you daughter was just raped and perpetrator is trap by the police and they they have their guns and he has his gun pointing at each other. Now close your eyes and picture your mother been used as a shield. Is ok for the police to kill her so they can capture or kill that monster that just destroyed your daughter 🤔
Victor, these two situations do not equate. In the police example, there are other options. The police are able to wait them out, surround them and wait. Use tactical force that will not injure the hostage such as gas or a flash bang to distract and then separate.
In the case with Hamas, these monsters have positioned themselves so there is no other way to get at them. Israel warns the people in the building that they are going to bomb it. They call them and send them text messages. But they don’t leave because Hamas won’t let them, or they want to be martyred, or they don’t believe it, or who knows why. But there is no other way for Israel to get at Hamas who is hiding in or under the building. And if they don’t get at Hamas, more people are going to die. More people are going to be tortured. More people are going to be raped. More people are going to be taken hostage. Hamas even kills their own people, other Palestinians, if they speak out against them. The penalty for being LGBTQ+ in Gaza is DEATH! The penalty for being aligned with Fatah in Gaza is Death. The penalty for being connected with any Israeli organizations in Gaza is DEATH. The penalty for promoting a 2 state solution in Gaza is DEATH. The penalty for going against Hamas in any way is DEATH.
@kristi , we don’t get to choose how people mourn and grieve, and these posters are one way that people are working through their grief. If you are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to those that are ripping down posters and their motives then you should be able to do the same for those that put them up.
Of course, the motives of someone who physically attacks someone and rips off their Star of David are very clear.
You don’t have to agree with israel but to rip down posters of the hostages is insane. Would you rip down posters offering music lessons? Posters of tag sales? Posters of missing autistic or elderly people? No. And so those who rip up the Kidnapped posters are antisemitic . And as for the question of why there aren’t posters of the Palestinians who have been killed….well if Arab residents here put them up, then they will be up too and I doubt you’ll findANY Jews ripping them down.
Hamas isn’t just a terrorist group determined to erase Israel. It’s the self-appointed governing body of Gaza.
So the governing body of Gaza spent 15 years and likely billions of dollars on tunnels and weapons for its military aims, but not one cent for shelter for the people it governs, knowing full well that one day it would start a war?
That’s how much it cares for the civilian population. In fact, that population is most useful to it as human shields and “martyrs.”
Hamas uses human shields who, over a 15 year period, have never demonstrated, let alone rebelled, against this “governance.”
They can’t demonstrate or rebel. Hamas will kill them.
That is hardly an unbiased opinion. The artist who puts these up wanted to take action to keep the goal of freeing hostages on people’s minds. And also as a humanitarian gesture to not forget people who are in capture.
“We should be able to mourn those lost and pray for the return of hostages without their struggle and their memory being used to justify murder and genocide.”–It seems it is you who are now using the posters, and someone asking why the POSTERS are put up, to divest your agenda and personal opinion.
This is an article about how someone was ATTACKED because they questioned why someone was ripping them down. You think that is justified? And yet you claim Israelis are dehumanizing victims? I find these type of arguments so hypocritical. Always. How can anyone at this point, deny that the people ripping them down are anti-semitic? They ripped a star of David necklace off. Many of them scream anti-Jew insults.
I think if anything, the posters have come to identify anti-semitic members of the community.
Are you for real? What about Israel cutting off food water & fuel to innocent people who had been anti-Hammas on Oct 7th? Israel has a lot to answer for in the past and now with their horrific behavior with no regard for life. They are acting no different than Hamas.
If Israel allowed more fuel into Gaza, Hamas would prevent it from going to Gazan civilians who need it and redirect it towards firing more rockets at Israeli civilians. Hamas has months worth of food, water, and fuel, while its own people starve, and Hamas could end the war tomorrow by having a willingness to coexist with Jews. They’re the ones who are morally culpable.
Hamas was voted into power by the people of Gaza. They knew exactly who they were voting for.
I get your anger Laura, but maybe a little dwelling into the history of the area will help
You could say the same about a certain tiny-handed orange ass-clown that you people saw fit to vote into power a little while back. The people of Gaza elected Hamas because the only other option was Fatah, a thoroughly discredited party perceived as weak.
That Likud helped to sow division between Fatah and Hamas, and thereby aiding in them being elected, may have escaped your notice, but Likud needs Hamas just as much as Hamas needs Likud – as you say, a little dwelling [sic] into the history of the area will help.
An awful explanation with no compassion at all for those murdered or kidnapped….so according to Kristi, its good to rip them down, and attack Jewish people if there is the opportunity, because seeing the posters may remind her of the crimes of Hamas, which she does not want to be reminded of. Palestinians were murdered and kidnapped by Hamas too, over 100 Bedouin were murdered on Oct 7, and Palestinians are in essence captives of Hamas too.
How does Israel protect itself when Hamas claims it will never stop attacking Israel? A ceasefire will only making Hamas stronger again to continue the butchery they just enacted on innocent people. Why doesn’t the world community turn their attention to Hamas hiding behind innocent civilians. It’s their narrative that needs to be addressed.
Thank you for this. We could put up posters of thousands of dead Gazan children being UN-interred from bomb sites.
This indiscriminate slaughter of civilians will only produce another generation of traumatized children who may also grow up to wreck vengeance.
Well said.
My heart goes out to the Jewish people under siege everywhere including our own neighborhood. RE: the grotesque protest rippers, this is a very good but short article explaining. the Poster Wars https://claritywithmichaeloren.substack.com/p/the-poster-war
Here is an AP article about the posters creators and the tearing down of posters. https://apnews.com/article/israel-hostages-posters-artists-cc0165ad3b433040ea59bf8b138a03be
It’s a form of terrorism mixed with O7-denial; an attempt to silence and intimidate Jews and those sympathetic to them. The violence is escalating and will escalate further, but it cannot be countenanced.
Quoting UWSDad: “….the reality is we live in one of the best neighborhoods on the planet .’
Wow dream come true – I’m being quoted in the WSR!
But seriously, there’s 200k+ people that live here plus the many people visiting/working here of course bad things occasionally happen… doesn’t mean the UWS is ‘going downhill’ or worse than the ‘1980s’ or whatever tired complaints are trotted out around here
Anti-semitic crime is up over 68%–excuse us if we feel things are getting worse.
Yup. And everyone is so concerned about “DEI” except when it comes to the Jews. Jews are lumped in as “white” when we are discriminated against as much as or more than any other minority group.
Speculation of motive only – i have never torn down nor considered tearing down a poster.
October 7: 1000 killed, 200 kidnapped. Within a few weeks, posters everywhere. PR machine in overdrive.
However for all the Palestinians displaced/killed over the years, where are their posters? Where is the public outrage of their treatment?
The perceived difference of treatment could cause jealousy and anger.
Let them put up posters of the Palestinians killed in Gaza. I highly doubt any Jewish people would think of ripping them down.
No one is preventing the Palestinians and their supporters from putting up their own posters
Except all of it is illegal…
Yeah…where are the posters of all the Palestinians displaced/killed by Hamas over the years? No one is stopping communities here from posting pictures of them.
Israel is attacked and within days, in some cases before they’ve even responded, people are marching in the streets protesting against the deaths of innocent Muslims. And yet I don’t recall any marches for the tens and hundreds of thousands of dead Muslims in Syria and Yemen and China. As you say “where is the public outrage of their treatment?” Is there, perhaps, something different about the people of Israel that causes others their minds?
And don’t forget the IMMEDIATE response of thousands of Jewish people who marched for George Floyd and BLM.
Where were OUR ALLIES the day after?
And MORE than 1000 Jews were slaughtered, and purposely mutilated, PLUS those kidnapped, PLUS all of the INJURED,
Where were all the humanitarians marching in sympathy, for innocent civilians?
Did thousands of Jewish protestors hesitate, and sit around judging Floyd’s reputation BEFORE noting that a cop shouldn’t be sitting on a neck?
Phony hypocrites, complaining about posters and physically assaulting people in NYC for disagreeing with precious YOU.
Exactly. 2-3 million Muslim Uyghurs in “re-education” camps in China, and yet none of the Muslim countries in the Middle East, and none of these woke students, professors and protesters give a damn.
The Chinese government doesn’t care. Protesting them doesn’t work.
So why not put posters up for them
And what of all the Jews from Arab countries displaced at the same time? What of everyone in Yemen who are attacked by the Saudi government?
I agree. The Palestinian killed are anonymous, unlikethe Israeli hostages.
Find them. Arrest them. Charge them with assault. Find them guilty, if they are indeed. guilty. Send them to the slammer for a few months.
Over a piece of paper?
Over assault.
Over a necklace and a phone and a physical attack. If they attacked you, you’d definitely feel differently.
They physically assaulted the woman who caught their actions on her cell phone.
It’s illegal to post these on public property. That’s the law no matter what some may view as exigent circumstances. What has happened now is a nasty tit-for-tat with Jews on a mission to put up as many posters as they can to thwart the Palestinians ripping them down. It really gives an insight into the pettiness and bitterness on both sides and they should all be ashamed. If this is what’s happening here in the United States over posters then how is there ever going to be a resolution to the real war.
This also has nothing to do with what 9/11 families did with posting family members photos downtown looking for information when the system was overloaded and there was a real chance of finding them or garnering information. This is organized political postering.
I also find it disconcerting that these posters are nowhere to be seen on the walls of the JCC or neighborhood Temples but are plastered all over parks.
If posting those is illegal, then I think Dan Smith should be taken to Riker’s ASAP for threatening to teach us guitar for all these years! His signs are ubiquitous. He should not walk the streets.
Why would they be restricted to the JCC and temples? The whole point is it is not a “Jewish” thing but a world-wide “thing.”
Also worth noting is that some of the hostages are AMERICAN! Where is the support for our fellow citizens?!!!
Regardless of legality, there are posters up for all sorts of reasons but these seem to be the only ones being torn down…
are you under the impression the JCC or any synagogue needs to be reminded that there are 200+ hostages taken by barbaric terrorists into Gaza bc they don’t.
Putting up the posters is probably not illegal. Tearing down the posters is probably not illegal.
Assault with a hate crime aspect is.
No— posting is illegal.
Sometimes they are torn down to protest the rampant littering .
And no one should be posting anything in our parks.
Period.
Please demand that people tackle rampant littering by pulling down all the signs advertising language tutors, handyman, housekeepers, guitar teachers, block parties, pot deliveries. Then let’s talk about the “kidnapped” poster hangers.
When are the Palestinian protests against Hamas scheduled?
Bear in mind this qualifies as assault. Let’s hope the DA treats it as such.
I’m beginning to think it’s pure anti semitism.
I doubt whether the faces of the kidnapped victims are being “used” to support the war. Kristi’s “explanation” is baffling. Israel is tired, tired, tired of being bombed. Why doesn’t Hamas – which rules Gaza – use the aid that has come their way to improve their infrastructure? To improve the standard of living in Gaza? Because they would rather bomb Israel. Their charter calls for the destruction of Israel. And so the conflict has come to the UWS, with those sympathetic to the civilians captured being challenged by those in sympathy with Hamas.
Why doesn’t Israel stop illegally occupying the West Bank, grant Palestinians equal rights, and defang radical organizations like Hamas?
“radical organizations”? Oh my.
I think PETA is a “radical organization.
Hamas? Not so much. There’s actually an official name for “organizations” like them: TERRORISTS.
*I am not against PETA (:
That’s actually a relatively easy question to answer–and something anyone would know if they had even a modicum of understanding of the relevant history.
The answer is Israel tried for over 50 years to make peace, but Palestinian leaders were feckless, violent, corrupt and, in the end, unreliable partners. Israeli Prime Ministers Meir, Rabin, Peres, Barak and Olmert all made strong and sincere efforts to forge peace–and in many instances were willing to address almost all Palestinian demands, including the dismantling of settlements and the nearly full return to pre-1967 borders in exchange for peace–but were continually rebuffed. (And, one should add, this was in the face of repeated murderous attacks by Palestinian terrorists, serious questions as to whether Palestinians were ever actually willing to accept Israel’s existence, and the assassination of Rabin by an Israeli extremist.)
Benjamin Netanyahu did not become Prime Minister for the first time until 1996, and even then he wasn’t quite the racist, obstructionist, corrupt leader that we know him as today. Even for Netanyahu, it took a good part of the next two decades, and the absence of a true partner in the West Bank, for Netanyahu (and the significant percentage–but never a majority–of Israelis that support him) to fully evolve to the positions they hold today.
Please stop confronting people, if you feel that you have to do something just surreptitiously photograph them and go on your way. It’s getting dangerous out there, people.
Lori, Last time I checked, tucking our heads inside our shirts, didn’t work so well for us.
On the “bright” side, I think these confrontations are massively illuminating. We learn that people are offended by the idea that civilian hostages should be released.
We all know there is a good chance Israel would agree to a cease fire if hostages were released.
Separately, I have seen pro-Palestinian signs especially in other neighborhoods.
I have lived on the UWS my entire life. I am a first generation American; my parents were holocaust survivors. Growing up, and beyond, I always thought that New York was the promised land, and that, as Jews, we would always be safe. That someone tore a Star of David necklace off a woman’s neck is terrifying and deeply upsetting and indefensible and I feel vulnerable and afraid in a way I have never been before. Now I know that no one is safe anywhere. I miss my parents every day and night but am glad they do not have to witness all of this. Despite their unimaginable losses and hardships, they were somehow able to embrace life in every way they could. I am in tears. But will never give up. As they never did.
I had many family members murdered in the Holocaust and have studied the Holocaust my entire life. I never thought I would see something like this in America. It is so unsettling.
I agree–I never did either.
I am sorry for your parents and thank you for writing a vulnerable post in the eye of such hate and division. We are with you.
Thank you for replying. I have never allowed myself to be so vulnerable in a post and I was scared, but your reply is so heartening and a great comfort.
I’m not Jewish, but I have known many holocaust survivors. I am forever awed and inspired by their unflagging strength and resolve. Never forget. Never forget. Never forget.
Thank you. It means so very much to me. Neither of us will ever forget.
Those posters are pure provocation designed to inflame tensions. Enough
I think we could say exactly the same thing about people tearing them down.
Just curious. Are you all seeing the videos of the people tearing the posters down? Most of them scream ethnic slurs, say things like F yourself B*$@ch or assault the ones who are confronting them. And the confronters are usually just repeating “why are you tearing the posters down?” If they were serious about their politics they would enage in a debate–the confronters that I have seen so far are NOT hostile, just expressing hurt and asking questons.
Those leaflets are making the upper west siders very upset. Enough already with those ridiculous leaflets it’s against the law . In New York, criminal mischief is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to 364 days in jail and a permanent criminal record putting up those leaflets!!!
Those two women should be found and charged with physical assault. Tearing down posters is one thing, but crossing the line between that action and violence toward another human being who was simply questioning them is criminal.
It’s against the law to de-face public or private property…In New York, criminal mischief such as putting up those leaflets on public or private, property is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to 364 days in jail and a permanent criminal record.
Is it illegal to post flyers in public areas?
YES! It is illegal to post flyers in public or private areas. Anti-littering laws makes it illegal to post flyers on utility poles, for example. If you use staples to hang your flyers, you could even be cited for damaging public property. Punishable up to 364 days in prison and a fine $2000 and a criminal record.
Well, someone else will just put them back up. However, ripping a star of David off someone’s neck is robbery and it’s assault. It’s more than a hate crime. They will be caught.