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Masked Activists Violently Attack Jews at North Carolina Public Library

West Asheville Library in North Carolina. Screenshot: buncombecounty.org.

Three pro-Israel attendees of a public event titled “Strategic Lessons From the Palestinian Resistance” reported being attacked and forcibly dragged out by anti-Israel activists also in attendance at the West Asheville Library in North Carolina on Saturday.

The event, hosed by Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair, was one of multiple anti-Israel sessions that took place during a three-day “anarchist” book fair.

The Algemeiner interviewed David Moritz, a 54-year-old son of Holocaust survivors, and Monica Buckley, who is 48 and identifies as queer. Both are Jewish and attended the event with 80-year-old Bob Campbell, who was also interviewed for this story.

Approximately 60-80 anti-Israel activists were in attendance at the event held in a public library. Almost all were masked, with the exception of one activist who is reported to regularly attend events in the area unmasked.

According to Moritz, Buckley, and Campbell, the event celebrated and glorified Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terrorist group killed 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 others as hostages.

The three Jewish attendees were seated quietly along a far wall. Anti-Israel activists asked them to put on masks, which they did. Interestingly, no one asked a presenter to stop vaping as he spoke at the indoor, public library.

At one point, according to video circulated on social media, a presenter stopped the event, drawing everyone’s attention to the three pro-Israel attendees.

The others in attendance expressed concern that their public event was being live streamed by “Zionists.” The presenter immediately joked about the possibility of a “murder here.”

 

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The attendees and anti-Israel activists were then asked by a presenter, “I’ll let you guys decide. What do you want to do?” The pro-Israel attendees were immediately told to leave with multiple people yelling out “bye.”

After further discussion, the presenter asked for a show of hands on how to proceed. An attendee said, “They are not f—king welcome here.” Someone else was heard saying, “I don’t trust them.”

At about two minutes and 20 seconds into the video, activists began encircling Moritz, Buckley, and Campbell.

While about 80 percent of the attendees were women, a group of large men stood over the pro-Israel attendees and loudly clapped their hands while yelling “Free Palestine.” The video then goes black while the audio continues with a clear struggle being heard.

According to video and interviews with those targeted at the event, an activist grabbed Buckley’s phone, instigating mob violence against the three pro-Israel attendees. She was reportedly punched, kicked, and stomped. Her phone was stolen and later found, having been thrown on nearby property.

All three pro-Israel attendees reported being dragged out of the library.

Campbell, an 80-year-old military veteran with cancer and a stent in his heart, was stomped, assaulted, and pushed to the ground, a footprint clearly visible on his shorts. His phone was also taken and later found in a trashcan. Local police encouraged Campbell to see a doctor.

“My arms are chewed up,” Campbell told The Algemeiner. For medical treatment he went to a US Veterans Affairs facility, which found he had “severe contusions.”

“What really upset me — I was laying on the floor and this big guy was on top of me,” Campbell said. “The librarian came to the door, looked me right in the eye, turned around and walked back and didn’t do a damn thing. Didn’t call the police.”

Moritz was badly beaten, a large welt clearly visible on his head. Once the activists got Moritz outside, one briefly put him in a headlock before he was able to break free. According to interviewees, police arrived and stated that while they received multiple calls, none were from library personnel.

According to Moritz, the man who put him in a headlock was allowed to leave even after the activist was pointed out to the police.

Buckley reported that when she was being dragged outside, the unmasked activist who seemingly recognized her from other local events repeatedly said, “Monica, just relax, don’t fight it.”

None of the activists in attendance came to the defense of the three pro-Israel attendees.

According to Buckley, one of the attendees was arrested. A police report confirms that one person was arrested at the library.

Moritz said that the police showed him video footage that caught some of the attack, but did not provide him a copy. It is unclear if the police have obtained additional video footage from an outside camera or any additional cameras of the incident.

On Monday, the Asheville Police Department issued a statement that they “are investigating an assault that occurred during an ACAB [Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair] seminar held Saturday afternoon at the West Asheville Library.”

The statement noted that a 35-year-old was charged with two counts of “resisting, delay, and obstruct,” adding, “The investigation into the robbery and assault is ongoing.”

The Algemeiner has reached out to the police for additional information and comment.

Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.

The post Masked Activists Violently Attack Jews at North Carolina Public Library first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Ex-IDF Soldier Becomes First Republican in 50 Years to Win New York State Assembly Seat in Long Island District

Daniel Norber of 16th District of New York

Daniel Norber was elected in November 2024 to represent the 16th District in the New York State Assembly. Photo: Screenshot

A former officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) became the first Republican to win a state assembly seat in northern Hempstead, Long Island in more than 50 years. 

Daniel Norber narrowly defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Gina Silitti to capture the 16th District of the New York State Assembly. The district encompasses most of Nassau County, an area which maintains a significant Jewish population. 

Norber’s victory came amid a huge surge in support for Republican candidates across the country. US President-elect Donald Trump won the 16th District by over 2,000 votes, assisting Norber, a dual US-Israeli citizen, secure victory in his history-making down-ballot race. 

The ex-IDF officer’s win also came in the midst of increasing antisemitism across the country. In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Jewish families in Nassau County have reported being targeted with hate crimes

In September, a Jewish family in Nassau County alleged that a suspect urinated on their front door and yelled antisemitic slurs. Months earlier in April, county officials denounced antisemitic graffiti which covered the faces of hostages taken captive by Hamas during the Oct. 7 onslaught. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is Jewish, has also accused Civil Service Employees Association Local 830, an 8,000-member local union, of antisemitism for distributing flyers depicting him with devil horns.  

Silitti, Norber’s opponent, found herself in hot water with the local Jewish community after one of her staffers bashed Israel on social media. 

“She wasn’t sensitive to what was going on. I felt she was out of touch,” Norber, 45, told the New York Post.

Though Norber focused his campaign on domestic issues such as bolstering law enforcement and cutting taxes, he believes that his support for Israel also helped him establish valuable inroads with the local Jewish community. Moreover, his grandparents endured the Holocaust and his mother ran away from communism in the Soviet Union.  

Norber was also on the ground in Israel during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks with his wife and four kids. 

“It was the worst atrocity to Jews since the Holocaust. Israel is not the same anymore,” Norber said, according to the Post.

Norber has also touted a series of policies which would likely bolster Jewish safety in Nassau County. In the New York State Assembly, he aims to implement a statewide mask ban with the goal of preventing anonymity during protests — a popular tactic employed by activists during anti-Israel demonstrations to hid their identity. The lawmaker also wants to repeal cashless bail, with the intention of reducing the number of violent criminals on the streets.

The post Ex-IDF Soldier Becomes First Republican in 50 Years to Win New York State Assembly Seat in Long Island District first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the political tightrope in women’s media

In the before-times, a personal essay in a women’s magazine about home-baked challah, in which the writer discusses how this ritual connects them to their Jewish roots, would be a […]

The post ‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the political tightrope in women’s media appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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Palestinian Filmmaker Who Accused Israel of ‘Genocide’ Wins Top Prize at Film Festival With Israel-Set Drama

A promotional photo from “Happy Holidays.” Photo: 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival

A Palestinian filmmaker who has accused Israel of “genocide” during the ongoing war in Gaza took home the top prize on Sunday at the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival for a family drama set in Israel that includes Jewish and Arab characters.

Director Scandar Copti won the Golden Alexander for best feature film and a 10,000-euro cash prize for his film “Happy Holidays,” an Arabic- and Hebrew-language film that follows four interconnected characters who “share their unique realities, highlighting the complexities between genders, generations, and cultures.” One character, named Rami, is a Palestinian from Haifa who must deal with his Jewish girlfriend’s sudden decision to change her mind about her planned abortion.

Copti directed and wrote the screenplay for “Happy Holidays.” He also directed the Oscar-nominated 2009 film “Ajami.”

“Happy Holidays” is Copti’s second film, and it premiered in early September in the 2024 Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, where it won the award for best screenplay. During his virtual acceptance speech at the Venice Film Festival, Copti accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza, where the Israeli military has been waging a campaign against Hamas terrorists.

“Over the past 11 months, our shared humanity and moral compass has been tested as we witness the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” he said in comments which elicited applause from the audience. He talked about the “painful reality” in Gaza and said “Happy Holidays” examines “how moral narratives can bring us together as communities, but also blind us to the suffering of others. It explores how traditions and indoctrination can distort our values and make injustice seem acceptable.”

“True freedom is interconnected,” he added. “None of us are free until all of us are free, from all sorts of oppression.”

The jury at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival — which included filmmaker and producer Sara Driver, filmmaker Denis Côté, and producer Konstantinos Kontovrakis — applauded Copti’s film “for intricately weaving different narratives and perspectives that fully expose the complexity of national, gender, and class dynamics that can divide societies and for seeing the future in the face of a young woman.”

The post Palestinian Filmmaker Who Accused Israel of ‘Genocide’ Wins Top Prize at Film Festival With Israel-Set Drama first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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