Staten Island faith leaders, public officials hold vigil against antisemitism – SILive.com

Faith leaders and officials host a vigil against antisemitism following a pair of attacks against Israel supporters.(Advance/SILive.com|Paul Liotta)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island faith leaders and public officials held a vigil against antisemitism Thursday in response to a pair of high-profile terrorist attacks in recent weeks targeting supporters of Israel.
Rabbi Michael Howald, Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, Rabbi Gerald Sussman, Rebbetzin Bonnie Sussman, the Rev. Dr. Terri Troia, and the Rev. Karen Pershing led the gathering with prayers and comments about the pair of attacks in Washington D.C. and Boulder, Colo.
Sussman paraphrased a New York Times opinion piece from Sheila Katz, the head of the National Council of Jewish Women, in which she expressed the collective fears of Jewish people in America, and drew a distinction between Jewish people here and the actions of the Israeli government.
“Jewish organizations like the one I lead, National Council of Jewish Women, have long sounded the alarm about rising antisemitism. In response, we have been gaslit, ignored and told that our fear is overblown, our outrage unjustified,” she wrote. “We have been pressured to denounce a foreign government we do not vote for, as if our participation in domestic conversations about justice and equity depends on it.”
Hamas-led militants from the Gaza Strip invaded Israel Oct. 7, 2023 killing nearly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 250 in the latest flare up of a conflict that’s carried on for over a century.
Leaders around the world, including former President Joseph Biden, described it as the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, which saw Nazi Germany exterminate six million Jewish people because of their faith.
Since Oct. 7, Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with the support of the U.S. and many European powers.
Two attacks on May 21 in Washington D.C. and on June 1 in Boulder saw alleged terrorists claiming an allegiance to the Palestinian cause attack people because of a perceived allegiance to Israel.
In the nation’s capital, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez shouted “free, free Palestine” after allegedly shooting and killing Yaron Lischinsky, a 30-year-old Christian, and Sarah Milgrim, a 26-year-old Jew, outside an event of the American Jewish Committee. The couple had planned to be engaged and were supporters of Israel.
In Boulder, Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, also shouted “free Palestine” as he allegedly carried out a firebomb attack on a group of Israel supporters demonstrating for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. That attack injured 15, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Both suspects have been arrested and are being prosecuted for their crimes.
The group gathered on the steps of Staten Island Borough Hall Thursday said those attacks struck a chord of fear in the local Jewish group. A group of five NYPD officers, led by Deputy Inspector Stephen Spataro, stood guard nearby as the group held their event.
“This war started by Hamas attacking and killing over 1,000 innocent people in the middle of the night…What more just cause is there for a country than to find the people who perpetrated this act of cruelty and terror and bring them to justice?” Howald said. “I know innocents have been killed in Gaza, and for that, my heart grieves. I wish war was more sanitary, but it’s beyond the power of humanity at this time to only kill the people who have committed these heinous crimes. So until we solve that problem, unfortunately, war is going to be brutal and nasty.”
Staten Island and New York City have been no strangers to incidents of antisemitism in recent months.
Last week, the Advance/SILive.com reported a recent alleged incident of antisemitism that happened to a man walking home in Tomkinsville on April 25.
The 55-year-old man told police that three males approached him, said, “hey, Jew,” punched him in the head multiple times, and brandished a firearm before fleeing in an unknown direction, according to the police spokesperson.
The victim suffered a laceration in his elbow, a bruise on his right eye and swelling on his head after the alleged attack occurred around 9:10 p.m. on Montgomery Avenue between Victory Boulevard and Fort Place, according to police.
No arrests have been reported in that case, but the attack was not the first antisemitic incident reported on Staten Island in recent months.
Police arrested a 17-year-old boy Nov. 15 after he allegedly knocked a religious cap off the head of a man in Willowbrook.
That incident began when a 37-year-old man was walking in the intersection of Harold Street and Forest Hill Road at about 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 10.
An individual on a moped approached the male and knocked off his head covering, police said.
The 17-year-old boy was charged by police with a misdemeanor, aggravated harassment in the second degree based on race or religion.
In another case, the NYPD repeatedly asked for the public’s help to locate an individual who is sought in connection with an incident of antisemitic graffiti last summer in St. George.
That incident occurred on Aug. 23 at about 8:15 a.m. when an unidentified man drew a swastika at the Empire Outlets. No arrests have been reported in that case.
The incidents are part of a larger trend that saw 54% of all hate crimes in the five boroughs committed against Jewish New Yorkers last year, according to the NYPD.
Thursday’s event also saw representatives from the offices of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, Borough President Vito Fossella, State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Councilmember Kamillah Hanks along with South Shore City Council candidate Cliff Hagen and North Shore City Council candidate Abou Diakhate in attendance.
“The only way to resonate a strong chord against the hatred we are facing is when good people refuse to back down and to tolerate any type of hate,” Mirocznik said. “This disease can only be fought with all the good people.”

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