An elderly man with cancer and two others were allegedly assaulted by an angry anti-Israel mob after livestreaming an “anarchist book fair” event at a library in North Carolina.
Monica Buckley, David Moritz and Bob Campbell allege they were physically attacked by approximately two dozen people after attending a “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance” seminar at the West Asheville Public Library in Asheville on Saturday. WPDE reported.
The three claim that the crowd suddenly attacked them when attendees realized the talk, organized by Another Carolina Anarchist Book Fair, was being filmed and distributed on social media.
Footage posted online shows the moment spectators surrounded the group and tried to stop them from filming after someone accused them of being “Zionists”.
“I was just sitting there recording people around us and then this woman grabbed her phone and started running towards the door and I jumped on her to get my phone back,” said Buckley, who is Jewish.
“A mob of several dozen people attacked me, and then Bob and David came to help, but they were also mobbed and attacked,” she continued.
“They punched me, they hit me, they hit my wrists, they stomped on my ankles. Someone strangled me with something.”
Campbell, an 80-year-old Navy veteran with cancer, said someone pushed him to the floor as he tried to go inside.
“When I got behind her he grabbed me from behind and threw me to the floor and I said to him ‘you know I have cancer and I’m 80 years old, you don’t have to do much’ but he didn’t try to stop me,” he said.
Moritz, who is also Jewish, recalled kicking some of the men during the alleged beatings.
“Bob and I both stood up and tried to defend her, but the crowd swarmed me and started hitting me,” he said. “I had bruises on my head and I fought back and kicked some people.”
The three insisted they were at the event simply to learn about what was being taught in their communities, not to “provoke anything.”
Buckley claims he decided to film the incident because he feared for his safety.
“I just thought it would be safer to livestream what’s going on,” she said.
Asheville Police, who are currently investigating the incident, said they received a call about a fight just after 3 p.m.
Buckley, Moritz and Campbell were examined by paramedics and suffered minor injuries, police said.
At least one suspect, Taylor Daniel Zarkin, 35, was arrested and charged with two counts of resisting, delaying and obstructing.
Police said approximately 80 to 100 people attended the seminar.
The Post reached out to organizers but did not immediately receive a response.
