Anti-Israel protester charged with hate crime for allegedly threatening Jewish man on subway

New York prosecutors have charged a man with an anti-Semitic hate crime allegedly committed around the time of controversial protests against an exhibition about the Nova music festival massacre on October 7, 2023.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday that Christopher Husary, 36, had been charged with attempted coercion as a hate crime and aggravated harassment.

Bragg's office said Husary's alleged victim, a 35-year-old Jewish man, boarded a subway at the Fulton St. station in Lower Manhattan on the evening of June 10 and saw Husary drawing an inverted red triangle. a Hamas symbol, on a subway door.

The Jewish man then allegedly used his cellphone to photograph Husary, who then approached the man, who was wearing a yarmulke, and asked him to delete the photo.

According to Bragg's office, Husary insulted and threatened the Jew, calling him a “Zionist” and saying, “You are not a real Jew.” Then adding, “We will find you and there will be consequences.”

The victim reported the incident to police two weeks later, on June 22, Bragg's office said. On the same day, the New York Post published an article Identification of Husary as a resident of an affluent suburb of San Francisco with a History of legal problems. Soon after, the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force an investigation has been initiated into the incident.

The incident occurred around the time that protesters gathered outside an exhibition commemorating the victims of the Hamas massacre at the Oct. 7 Nova music festival, in which more than 360 people were killed.

The protest was led by the hardline activist group Within our lives, was widely criticized classified as anti-Semitic by government officials and Jewish leaders.

Protesters gathered at Union Square before taking the subway to the exhibition. A man who appeared to fit Husary's description and was wearing a Hezbollah shirt was at the Union Square protest. A New York Post report also said Husary wore a mask and a Hezbollah shirt at the protest.

In another incident on the same day, a protester in a crowded subway car in the same area reportedly demanded that “Zionists” identify themselves. Anas Saleh, 24, was arrested weeks later and charged with third-degree attempted coercion for the incident.

Widespread footage showed a man fitting Saleh's description shouting, “Raise your hand if you are a Zionist,” in a crowded subway car.

“This is your chance to get out,” the man shouted. The call was echoed by other activists on the train, many of whom wore keffiyehs, which are Palestinian scarves often worn by activists, and which covered their faces.

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Anti-Semitic hate crimes have risen sharply in New York City last year.

Prosecutors are pursuing hate crime charges in several high-profile cases, including as part of an indictment announced this week against activists who allegedly spray-painted Hamas triangles on the home of the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum. This incident was also related to a campaign by Within Our Lifetime.