A Jewish mom and her husband were attacked and beaten at a Brooklyn elementary school graduation by an Arabic-speaking
Instead, the Jewish woman’s husband was thrown to the ground by members of the other family. One man put him in a chokehold, he said. Others grabbed his legs as they kicked and punched him. One woman repeatedly whacked him with the sharp heel of a black stiletto, the mom told police.“They targeted my family because we are Jewish,” said the mother, whose 10-year-old twins witnessed the assaults.
The Jewish mom, Lana, and her husband Johan, a Dominican who is Catholic, recounted their horrific experience to The Post in frustration because the NYPD did not classify the incident as a hate crime. “We told them there was space for both families,” Lana said. “An older man turned to us and said ‘Free Palestine!’ for no reason. My husband told him this was not the time or place for that but the man cursed at him in Arabic, and shouted, “Free Palestine, Gaza is Ours, Death to Israel.”While Johan argued with the older man and told him to back off, another man “just came out of nowhere, punched me in the head and it was a scuffle,” he said.
Cops made one arrest: Ez-Al Dean Bazar, 26, who punched and dragged Johan, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. The complaint makes no mention of his motive.The NYPD did not call the assault a hate crime, telling Lana “nothing on my body says I am Jewish,” she said.
Lana disputed the statement, insisting no one in her family provoked the attack, and that school staff told the arresting officer that members of the other family were the aggressors.