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Why Is the NYPD Refusing to Protect Jews, But Enabling Genocidal Hamas Supporters?
Pro-Hamas students staging an anti-Hillel protest as New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers look on. Photo: Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students/Screenshot
It’s good to know that a New Yorker from a well-known Jewish family — and a dedicated public servant — has recently been named Commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD). With violence against Jews soaring, Jessica Tisch has a unique chance to lead the nation’s largest police force — and lead the way for law enforcement agencies nationwide to push back against antisemites — and pro-Hamas violent mobs — everywhere. We demand that Zionists and all Jews be protected in New York.
Just a few months ago, terrorist supporters menacingly chanted “We’re gonna get you” outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hotel, the Loews Hotel, which the Tisch family owns. and no one was arrested. But even worse than threatening one Israeli leader, is that pro-Hamas supporters have been marching with impunity since October 2023, demanding and supporting the murder of Jews in Israel, New York, and all across the world.
In response, the NYPD has insisted many of these marches are protected by freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. In reality, these marches are incitement to murder — and often descend into violence — and letting them happen with no consequence only encourages more violence.
I am writing to Commissioner Tisch with deep concern about the future of the Jewish community in New York City. Antisemitism has permeated all areas of daily life in New York, and Jew-haters operate with impunity in this city, which is no longer safe for Jews. We have had enough political speeches and empty promises. We don’t care what Mayor Eric Adams says about the hostages, we care that he does not keep the Jews of New York safe.
As the head of the NYPD, Commissioner Tisch must be aware that last Saturday evening, on 59th Street and 5th Avenue, a large disruptive pro-Hamas rally was held in front of the Park Lane Hotel, where Israel’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was staying. As masked terrorist supporters waved Hamas and Hezbollah flags and screamed “We don’t want no Zionists here” — amidst violent calls for “intifada” — Tisch’s NYPD removed American Jewish Zionists who were present from the scene, as the police said they could not protect Jews from violence.
If Jews (codeword Zionists) aren’t safe on a Saturday evening on 59th street — but Hamas supporters are — then the NYPD is not doing its job. There should be enough cops to protect everyone.
As a New Yorker, I see Jews beaten with shocking frequency, and threatened with impunity by jihadis with face coverings who intimidate, terrorize, and disrupt life daily. The NYPD’s job is to protect people everywhere, not allow jihadi supporters to run rampant.
Here were some of the chants heard on Saturday night: “Hitler should have finished you off” and we will “give you the United Health treatment.”
How is this allowed to happen? These are threats of murder — plain and simple. And as we Jews no, threats rarely often end there.
We demand that Commissioner Tisch immediately remove the handcuffs from the NYPD and arrest criminals. We demand the police enforce the law, and not pro-terrorist rallies block streets and roads. We demand she urge the FBI and Homeland Security to investigate people who openly support illegal terror organizations and work with the new presidential administration to get them deported if they aren’t citizens if they are breaking US law and threatening people with murder and violence.
We are past the crisis point for Jews in New York City. We want action to protect Jews, of which we have seen none. After heinous protests celebrating murder and rape took place at an exhibit on the Nova Festival massacre, Mayor Adams said, “We have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel right here in New York. This is not going to be a city where you’ll have to take off your yarmulke, be afraid to walk inside a synagogue.”
The reality is that many Jews have taken off their yarmulkes, as the streets have been surrendered to terrorists. Antisemitism is flourishing in New York City, and Jews have never been so unsafe as they are today in Gotham. Jews who haven’t yet escaped to Florida or elsewhere are wondering if there is a future for Jews in New York City. It certainly doesn’t feel like it.
The job you signed up for is to keep this city safe, Ms. Tisch. We demand you do your job, as you remind New York and America that not only are Zionists welcome here, but they are welcome everywhere.
Ronn Torossian is an American-Israeli entrepreneur, author and philanthropist.
The post Why Is the NYPD Refusing to Protect Jews, But Enabling Genocidal Hamas Supporters? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.