A Jewish family is speaking out after their teenage daughter faced anti-Semitic harassment after wearing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) jacket to a New Jersey shopping mall.
In the incident, captured on video at American Dream in East Rutherford, Palestinian supporters shouted expletive-laced messages at Maya Vaxman-Magid, accusing her of “supporting genocide.” The scene is shown in the video.
“You should be ashamed,” the unidentified harasser yelled, before calling the teen a “white bastard” and declaring that she was from Palestine and “proud to say so.”
“I've been yelled at by people at school and random people before, but it's never turned into violence. I've never been this aggressive,'' Vaxman Majid said. said Thursday on “Fox & Friends First.”
“It was very scary,” she continued. “My mother and I were both shaking. It wasn't fun.”
The jacket was a gift from the boy's grandfather, the family said.
Waxman-Magid told co-host Todd Pirro that the incident has affected her in some ways ever since, causing her to sleep less and feel more stressed.
“But that's okay. The same thing happened before,” she added.
Maya's mother, Adi Vaksman, also joined the show to discuss the incident, along with Liora Rez, director of the nonprofit watchdog group Stop Antisemitism, who first shared the video of the incident.
Waxman, who was raised by Holocaust survivors, said they made her proud to be Jewish and that people could wear what they wanted in public without being attacked. He said he should be forgiven.
“I was very surprised. I was upset. My daughter was suddenly attacked,” she said. “We were just walking and they came at us from behind. We didn't even see them. It was very unpleasant. It's scary and a testament to what's been going on in this country lately. was.
“As Americans, we decide whether we will be a civilized culture or a savage and savage culture, where certain groups harass others in the name of free speech.” “We feel the need to condone people in public spaces, bullying others, and committing acts of terrorism.” That's no good. No one should be subjected to such a thing. ”
Les agreed, calling the incident “mind-boggling” and “horrifying,” and echoed similar rhetoric and vitriol in other parts of American culture, including on college campuses and social media. It sounded the alarm that this is pervasive.
The Waxman family intends to press charges following the incident and hope there will be consequences for the perpetrator's actions.
