BREAKING: CAIR, CAIR-NY Demand Hate Crime Charges After Pro-Israel Mob Chanting ‘Death to Arabs’ Attacks NY Woman
Muslim civil rights and advocacy group calls on New York elected officials to condemn hateful incident
(NEW YORK, NY, 4/26/25) – The New York chapter (CAIR-NY) and national headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the New York Police Department (NYPD) to pursue hate crime charges against members of a pro-Israel mob seen in a video posted online chasing and attacking a woman they thought was an Arab-American while shouting slurs like “death to Arabs” and making threats of rape.
CAIR-NY also called on community, religious and political leaders to speak out against the mob attack. Video shows the woman being struck in the head with a thrown object, shoved and nearly knocked over with a garbage can while an NYPD officer attempts to protect her from the mob.
The incident occurred after protests and counter-protests against a local visit by Israeli official Itamar Ben-Gvir, a convicted terrorist supporter and open racist.
In a statement, CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher, Esq. said:
“Every community, religious or political leader who cares about the safety of residents and freedom and justice in our city, state and nation must speak out strongly against this apparently racist attack by a pro-Israel mob. If a huge mob of men surrounding a woman and threatening her security fails to shake our conscience, then we are a lost people. The NYPD must investigate this shocking incident as a hate crime and bring the perpetrators – many of whom are clearly seen on the video – to justice.”
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We strongly condemn the violent mob of pro-Israel racists who chased and attacked a woman down a New York City street while shouting ‘Death to Arabs’ and other vile slurs, such as calling her a ‘waste of semen,’ all because they thought she was an Arab-American.
“We call on elected officials across New York to condemn these hate actions, and we call on law enforcement to identify and prosecute those responsible for hate crimes.
“For over a year, pro-Israel politicians, media outlets and activists have falsely accused anti-genocide demonstrations of doing exactly what this pro-Israel mob actually did: scream racist slurs while harassing and attacking a person because of their presumed ethnicity.
“It is important to note that this pro-Israel mob’s attack was only the latest incident of violence perpetrated by anti-Arab racists over the past year and a half, starting with the murder of six-year-old Wadea in Chicago. In fact, almost all of the incidents of actual violence that have occurred at protests against the Israeli government’s war crimes have been committed by either pro-Israel extremists, like the mob that attacked the encampment at UCLA, or police officers who brutalized students as they destroyed such encampments.
“You would never know this from listening to many of our political leaders. We expect every political leader in New York and politicians nationwide to condemn this pro-Israel mob’s racist attack and the broader pattern of such violence by supporters of the Israeli government’s genocide.”
Yesterday, CAIR-NY condemned the NYPD’s training that reportedly falsely labeled Palestinian cultural symbols – including the keffiyeh, a centuries-old emblem of Palestinian heritage and broader Arab identity, and the watermelon, which became a symbol of Palestinian solidarity after Israel’s draconian banning of the public display of the Palestinian flag – as “symbols of hate.”
Also yesterday, CAIR on the world community to break Israel’s “medieval siege” on Gaza that is resulting in the starvation deaths of Palestinian children.
CAIR-NY's mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR-NY es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT:
Afaf Nasher, Esq., CAIR-NY Executive Director, CAIR-NY, 917-669-4006, anasher@cair.com;
CAIR-NY Communications Team, comms@ny.cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com