A Jewish family of four was subjected to lewd harassment at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey on New Year's Day, according to video of the incident shared by a surveillance group.
The Jewish couple and their children, ages 12 and 16, were shouted abuse by two pro-Palestinian supporters at the East Rutherford mall Video showed.
StopAntisemitism, the watchdog group that shared the video, said the abuse was sparked by the 16-year-old daughter's sweatshirt showing her support for the Israeli Defense Forces.
“Free Palestine, f***ing the b***h,” a young woman can be heard shouting at the family in the video, while the Jewish father stretches out his arm to separate the attackers from his wife and children.
The full circumstances of the incident are not clear from the video clip, nor from a second short clip that the monitoring group says shows the harassers slapping the phone out of the Jewish mother's hand.
A Jewish family of four was subjected to lewd harassment at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey, according to video of the incident shared by a surveillance group
A representative for American Dream Mall did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Tuesday morning. The East Rutherford Police Department referred questions to New Jersey State Police, which could not immediately be reached for comment.
Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, told in a statement: “Incidents like these contribute to a violent atmosphere that has pushed anti-Semitic hate crimes to new heights.” They must be universally condemned if we are ever to have a public discourse want to return who does not target or threaten Jews.”
Rez attributed the incident to the Free Palestine movement, which she said has “generated so much hatred and division in America that a Jewish family cannot walk through a mall without being accosted.”
The video of the incident published on X shows the confrontation already underway with a young man and a young woman shouting at the family.
“Leave them alone, leave them alone!” the Jewish father is heard saying as he steps between the Palestinian supporters and his family.
The Jewish mother, who appears to be filming the incident, can be heard saying: “You're attacking me, you attacked me and dropped my phone!”
The attacker replies: “They are taking me in without my permission!” It’s free Palestine, damn it! Free Palestine, die the fuck! “Free Palestine, you should be embarrassed that you support genocide!”
The Jewish father is seen steering his family away from the scolding and shouting back, “What genocide?”
“Leave her alone, leave her alone,” the father can be heard saying. “Leave the whole thing alone.”
The Jewish mother intervenes: “You are cursing my child!” You are cursing my child!'
“I curse you,” the male harasser says. “I curse you and your damn husband.”
“Liberate Palestine, damn it,” a young woman can be heard shouting at the family in the video
The harasser further states that she is also a minor. The confrontation turns into a shouting match that is difficult to understand as the Jewish mother asks if the harassers have ever been to the Palestinian territories.
“There is no such thing as Palestine, it's a made-up lie!” The Jewish mother can be heard screaming before the video clip ends.
The disturbing incident is the latest example of rising tensions in the United States since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds more hostage.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip that killed at least 22,000 people, according to the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry.
Israeli airstrikes have reduced much of the territory to rubble and plunged its 2.3 million residents into a humanitarian crisis, with many thousands displaced by a lack of food supplies and at risk of starvation.
In the US, the Justice Department said it was monitoring rising threats against Jews and Muslims in the United States due to rising levels of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia related to the war in the Middle East.
In early December, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the threat level was so high that he was seeing “flashing lights everywhere.”