Anti-Israel protesters who show the flag of terror teams similar to Hamas or Hezbollah may resist 4 years behind bars underneath a brand new state invoice.
The proposed Stand Towards Flags of Enemy Terrorists Act would broaden the definition of aggravated harassment within the first diploma — a category E felony — to incorporate situations when an individual shows an emblem of a overseas terrorist group with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or one other particular person, based on state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblyman Micah Lasher, Manhattan Democrats who’re set to introduce the invoice this week.
New York has lengthy acknowledged there are some symbols that “cross the road” from free speech to fomenting hate and harassment — “and the emblems of mass-murdering terrorist organizations actually belong in that class,” Lasher informed The Publish.
State regulation already criminalizes the show of hate symbols similar to swastikas, flaming crosses and nooses.
Jewish New Yorkers have been harassed or threatened due to their faith and ethnicity notably after Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched its horrific bloodbath on Israel, sparking a warfare and violent renewed conflicts with different terrorists similar to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Anti-Israel protesters within the metropolis have since grow to be notorious for waving, drawing and displaying flags, emblems, logos and different symbols of acknowledged overseas terrorist organizations similar to Hamas and Hezbollah.
For instance, greater than 150 anti-Israel protesters gathered in Washington Sq. Park in Manhattan on Feb. 23 — and a Hezbollah flag was prominently displayed as the gang chanted anti-Israel and
antisemitic slogans to honor fallen Hamas leaders instrumental in planning Oct. 7.
“For the reason that October seventh terror assault in Israel, we’ve witnessed a disturbing rise in antisemitic situations right here at house, together with utilizing symbols and flags of terrorist organizations to harass and intimidate Jewish New Yorkers at their synagogues, companies and houses, just because they’re Jewish,” Hoylman-Sigal mentioned in an announcement.
“Nobody needs to be allowed to threaten or harass a New Yorker as a result of they’re Jewish, or some other facet of their identification protected underneath state regulation,” he mentioned.
“We’ve lengthy prohibited utilizing symbols of Neo-Nazis and the KKK to intimidate New Yorkers, and now it’s time to broaden that coverage underneath the S.A.F.E.T.Y. Act so as to add the symbols of overseas terrorist organizations.”
Lasher added, “The SAFETY Act will set up an vital new software within the combat in opposition to harmful antisemitism that has sickeningly flourished for the reason that horrific terrorist assault in opposition to Israel on October seventh.”
Eric Goldstein, CEO of the United Jewish Attraction Federation of New York, known as the rise in antisemitic
harassment in New York “alarming.
“Nobody ought to need to face intimidation or the sensation that they’re unsafe due to their Jewish identification,” he mentioned. “The S.A.F.E.T.Y. Act is a obligatory and wise measure to forestall the usage of terrorist symbols as a software of hate and intimidation.”
The introduction of the invoice comes amid persevering with turmoil on New York’s faculty campuses.
Final week, an unruly mob of keffiyeh-wearing anti-Israel protesters took over the faculty administration constructing at Barnard School in Manhattan and assaulted a safety guard.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and CUNY additionally cancelled an occasion final week on the Metropolis School campus in Harlem due to safety issues involving anti-Israel protesters.
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