Jewish family attacked with shouts of “Death to Israel!” at Brooklyn School graduation ceremony

A Jewish mother and her husband were attacked and beaten by an Arabic-speaking family at a Brooklyn elementary school graduation ceremony.

The troublemaker’s family taunted them, shouting “Freedom for Palestine!” and “Death to Israel!”, according to a New York Post report.

The incident occurred after graduating from fifth grade at PS 682 in Gravesend. The Jewish woman’s husband was thrown to the ground, put in a chokehold, kicked, punched and hit with a high heel, she told police.

“They targeted my family because we are Jewish,” said the mother, whose 10-year-old twins witnessed the attacks.

“A graduation ceremony that was supposed to be joyful and memorable turned into a violent and traumatic event.”

This attack is one of the worst anti-Semitic outbreaks in New York City public schools since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.

“We have warned time and again that tolerance of openly anti-Semitic views would create a toxic environment for Jewish students and families that would inevitably lead to physical violence,” said Tova Plaut, a city educator and advocate for Jewish students. “That is what has happened now.”

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A spokesman for the agency asked the NYPD to reconsider the case, but then confirmed: “The Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident.”

The Jewish couple’s surnames are kept secret to protect the privacy of their children

The graduation ceremony itself was uneventful, but Lana’s mother was upset when a student marched wearing a “Free Palestine” cap and flag, which the Ministry of Education had sanctioned as a sign of free expression.

After the event, Lana and Johan were taking photos when relatives of the boy with the flag tried to push it aside. Then “an elderly man turned to us and said ‘Free Palestine!’ for no reason. My husband told him this was not the right time or place for that, but the man cursed him in Arabic, shouting ‘Free Palestine, Gaza is ours, death to Israel,'” Lana recalled.

Johan was attacked and put in a chokehold, while her 16-year-old son was beaten while trying to help. Lana was also attacked.

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Johan was hospitalized with injuries, Lana suffered a cut on her leg and her teenage son had a bloody nose. A man, Ez-Al Dean Bazar, 26, was arrested for assaulting Johan.

The New York Police Department initially did not classify the attack as a hate crime, stating: “There is nothing on my body that indicates that I am Jewish,” Lana said.