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.
The unidentified harasser yelled, “You should be ashamed,” and taunted the teen as a “white person,” while declaring that she was from Palestine and “proud to say so.”
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The Waxman family plans to press charges after the family was verbally abused by pro-Palestinian supporters at a shopping mall in New Jersey. (Adi Vaxman/Fox & Friends First/Screenshot)
“I've been yelled at by people at school and just people in general, but it's never been violent. It's never been this aggressive,” Vaxman said. Majid said Thursday on “Fox & Friends First.”
“It was pretty scary,” she continued. “My mom 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 it's okay. Something like this has happened to me before,” she added.
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The Vaksman family says the IDF jacket their teenage daughter received as a gift from her grandfather caused a stir. (Adi Vaxman/Fox & Friends First/Screenshot)
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 and upset. My daughter was suddenly attacked,” she said. “We were just walking and they attacked us from behind. We couldn't even see them. It was very unpleasant. It was scary. And that's something that has happened recently in this country. It was evidence of what was going on.”
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A Jewish family was harassed at American Dream Mall in New Jersey. (Adi Vaxman/”Fox & Friends First”)
“As Americans, we decide whether we will be a civilized culture or a savage and savage culture, where certain groups will harass others in the name of free speech. “People who are in public places. That's not okay. No one should do something like that.” You shouldn’t take it.”
Les agreed, calling the incident “mind-boggling” and “horrifying,” and said similar rhetoric and vitriol has permeated other parts of American culture, including on college campuses and social media. It sounded an alarm.
The Waxman family intends to press charges following the incident and hope there will be consequences for the perpetrator's actions.
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