A Brooklyn man wearing a Palestinian scarf was arrested this week after getting into a caught-on-video scuffle on the Upper East Side while trying to callously rip down Israeli hostage posters — the latest incident in a disturbing spate that has been blasted as antisemitism and inhumanity at its “deepest level.”
The man tried to reach over to grab a flyer Tuesday evening, only to be rejected by a group guarding the pole at 68th Street and Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side.
“Get the f–k out of here,” one fed-up man shouted at Mohamed Khalil. “You’re a scumbag!”
The tense exchange ended in Khalil’s arrest, but proved to be another reminder that the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a war of words on local streets prompted by actions that Jewish leaders said are clear antisemitism.
The gut-wrenching images of the more than 200 hostages — many of whom are only children — began emerging days after Hamas’ surprise attacks on Oct. 7, and the appalling act of ripping them down started being seen in Gotham soon after.
Even when there aren’t witnesses to the hateful acts, it’s easy to spot the remnants of flyers that have been partially ripped off of various poles and fences and those that have been vandalized.
“This is antisemitism at its deepest level. It’s an expression of inhumanity at its deepest level,” Rabbi Joseph Potasnik told The Post. “I don’t understand the depth of hatred.
“Antisemitism has never left,” the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis added. “It was below the surface but now it’s in the mainstream.”
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) said the “loathsome” people taking down the posters “obviously hate Jews who, I’m sure, would like to see people like me dead.”
“Who would have imagined this is the place we would be at the moment?” said the pol, who reps a heavy Jewish population in Riverdale.
“The psychology is they hate Jews.”
Mayor Eric Adams called the poster tearing “deeply misguided.”
“As I’ve repeatedly over the last three weeks, the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel were abhorrent, and every hostage should be immediately released to their family,” Adams said in a statement.
“As we see the fallout from this violence spill over into New York City, we must reiterate that hate has absolutely no place here.
“Tearing down a poster of a hostage is a deeply misguided act of disrespect to victims of terrorism,” Hizzoner added. “I stand firmly with all the innocent civilians caught in the middle of a war they did not ask for and the New Yorkers managing the fallout.”
Some of the city dwellers ripping down or altering the posters have been identified as pro-Palestinian protesters speaking out against Israel’s retaliatory strikes after Hamas’ sneak attack on the Jewish state. Many appear to be college-aged students at local universities, which have been a hotbed for anti-Israel demonstrations.
Ryna Workman, the New York University law student who lost a job offer after sending an incendiary pro-Hamas message last month, was caught on camera covering up posters of hostages.
Two other young women were recently recorded ripping down flyers off a vacant storefront on the Upper West Side, according to footage shared on X.
When the woman recording the incident asked them to stop, stressing that the people pictured are “innocent civilians,” one of them replied, “F–k you, f–k Israel.”
One of the artists behind creating the posters, Nitzan Mintz, told The Post that it seems like there are endless fights over the flyers that aim only to bring awareness to the Israelis being missed by loved ones.
Mintz said she believes some people against the signs believe the posters are “propaganda” while others question if the faces of Israelis are even missing. She’s heard one comment that she and the few others originally involved are working with the CIA.
“I cannot justify why people are being so evil and they tear down baby’s faces out of posters,” she said, calling those people “absolutely ignorant.”
“If they really care about the Palestinians and about what’s going on between our countries, we, and our campaign, is not the target,” she added. “This is not political. Tearing down a baby’s poster is not going to do any good for the Palestinians.”
Other New Yorkers who have targeted the posters over the last month include a Broadway theater producer, a Brooklyn man and his wife who tore down posters at Brooklyn Bridge Park as they were berated by a Jewish woman and two teenage girls taking down flyers along Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side.
One Big Apple construction worker gained fame when he confronted a stranger tearing down posters last week in Forest Hills and threatened to “litter the f–king floor” with the individual.
“This is a free country. You can wave your Palestine flag and say death to the Jews and America or whenever you want, but we can put up f–king signs,” the worker identified as Paulie told the man in a thick New York accent.
On Wednesday, a Post photographer videotaped a man hiding behind a mask who was attempting to take a poster down in Columbus Circle opposite a pro-Israel rally. An older man got between him and the pole to stop him.
When the photographer approached the masked man to ask for his name, the person replied, “F–k off.”
“Everybody needs to close their eyes and imagine it could be their own family member who was being brought down into a dungeon and being taken from their own family and being held hostage by a terrorist organization. Yeah, this is just about humanity,” said Devorah Halberstam, the chair of the NYPD’s Civilian Hate Crimes Review Panel.
“I don’t want to think that people don’t understand what they’re doing. If they’re going through those signs, and not the other signs that are on a pole, it’s because they want to tear those signs down. So it’s a very serious commentary on the people who are living among us.”
NYC Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who reps a strong Jewish population on the Upper West Side, called the tearing down of posters “awful.”
“Our prayers go out to those who are kidnapped and focusing hatred on them is particularly awful,” she said.