Responding to two recent swastika incidents in Sheepshead Bay and a mid-February anti-Semitic outburst at a Brooklyn College Faculty Council meeting, Democratic District Leaders Ari Kagan and Margarita Kagan, whose 45th Assembly District includes one of the world’s largest populations of Holocaust survivors, and Davidzon Radio 620 AM, held a rally on Sunday morning to focus attention on the growing number of ant-Semitic and hate incidents in New York City.
Local elected officials including Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Public Advocate Letitia James; Assembly Members Dov Hikind, Helene Weinstein and Pam Harris, and City Council Members Mark Treyger and Chaim Deutsch addressed the over 400 people, including Holocaust survivors and WW II veterans, gathered in front of Sheepshead Bay’s Holocaust Memorial Park’s headstones and eternal light. Also in attendance was 46th Assembly Democratic District Leader Mark Davidovich.
“These tombstones are more than just a link to the past. They must serve as a reminder that we cannot remain silent. It is our duty as members of a free society to speak out when we learn of anti-Semitic or similar acts of hatred. An act of anti-Semitism anywhere is wrong, but to perpetrate such acts in this beautiful community, home to so many Holocaust survivors, is horrendous,” said Ari Kagan.
The rally was called after a string of incidents last month starting with students disrupting a Brooklyn College Faculty Council meeting demanding that “Zionists leave campus!” Later in February, a red “KKK” and swastika were found in an elevator at 1900 Avenue W and a swastika was drawn on the windshield of a car, owned by a Jewish male, parked in front of 1901 East 19th Street. Both swastika incidents occurred less than a mile from Holocaust Memorial Park.
“Purim – a holiday commemorating the Jewish people’s victory over an oppressor − is less than two weeks away. It reminds us that we must take a stand against those who have evil intensions against us. Potential perpetrators of anti-Semitism must know that hate has no place in our neighborhood. Government leaders must know that we expect them to be proactive in preventing future hate crimes and aggressive in investigating and prosecuting when an act of hate does occur,” said Margarita Kagan.
Rally participants called on state and city authorities, as well as the CUNY administration, to take immediate actions to fight growing anti-Semitic intimidation of professors and students in city colleges and to prosecute those responsible for hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law. A resolution was circulated at the rally and signed by most of the participants.
