Jewish Man's Throat Slashed At Protest

But what happened after is even more shocking

It’s been happening all across New York City.

The Israeli-Hamas war leading to confrontations between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Sometimes they shout at one another. Sometimes they shove each other. Sometimes it gets violent.

A video making the rounds on social media shows a particularly disturbing incident at Bryant Park, which abuts the main New York Public Library in Midtown Manhattan. It shows a Jewish man bleeding from the neck. It looks like the wound is superficial but there’s a lot of blood for sure.

A cop, one wearing a white shirt so he’s a command officer, can be seen leading the wounded man by the arm and running away from an angry crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who seemed intent on at the very least further intimidating the wounded man, at the worst, wanting to do him more harm. Some are shouting at him. Others are videotaping.

The officer opens the door to a store across the street from the park and shoves the guy inside and then closes the door. Then he and other officers turn to face the crowd. And here’s the part that is even more disconcerting.

The crowd shoves the cops, seemingly wanting to break through the tenuous and hastily assembled police line to get to the bleeding man inside. One of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators can be heard shouting “break the window.”

Police shove back and then so does the crowd. Profanities are thrown. One of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators tells a cop to “stop fucking touching me,” as he advances toward an officer again.

The officers appear to be holding their ground. And then the video ends. So we don’t see if anyone got their asses kicked by the police (although certainly had that happened the video would have surfaced by now to condemn the cops). And we don’t know if anyone was arrested.

But here’s my point.

Emotions are high over those who support one side and condemn the other over what’s happening between Israel and Gaza. Folks are going to demonstrate. And sometimes there will be counter demonstrations. We can almost expect that the two sides will confront one another. And sometimes there may even be violent interactions.

That’s why the NYPD shows up. To keep the peace. In this case, officers were also doing their duty by protecting an injured man.

What is happening in our society when people attack police officers rendering aid to a man bleeding from the neck? It shows a disregard for policing. And that’s a disregard for public order. It also puts all of us at risk.

I’d like to say this is an isolated incident. But it’s not. Citizens have been posting anecdotal descriptions of police not making arrests where clearly arrests are warranted. Their concerns are even supported by police officers. I try to chat cops up about this issue whenever the opportunity arises. And what I hear from them is that they are reluctant to take enforcement action. Because there’s an anti-cop bias permeating society. And they correctly assume there’s always a camera that might capture them in a moment where they may make a split-second decision they will later regret.

Of course we don’t want cops indiscriminately beating people or violating their civil rights. But do we really want them flying the white flag? And do we really want to develop a society where people feel they can actually attack with imunity police officers who are protecting injured citizens?

I understand the outrage over police overreach especially in the black community. It certainly came to a head with the killing of George Floyd. But Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in Floyd’s murder, has the support of no cops I’ve ever spoken with. They find what he did deplorable, sickening and inexcusable. Just like the rest of us.

Now there are calls to defund the police. That sometimes translates into defund, disrespect and disobey lawful orders of peace officers.

Even the most ardent blanket opponents of the police depend on them whether they want to admit it or not. An example:

In another recent video, protesters decided to express their disapproval of police by demonstrating outside a Bank of America in Lower Manhattan. One of the demonstrators scaled the side of the building like Spiderman spray paint in hand and began defacing the side of the building. D-E-F he spray painted while his cohorts on the sidewalk chanted anti-cop slogans. But then, the daredevil protester lost his grip and tumbled to the sidewalk cracking his head open. There was a LOT of blood. He was definitely seriously hurt.

One of his fellow protesters ran to his side and cried out to onlookers to help. And guess what the first words were out of her mouth?

“Somebody call 911!”

Funny how she had so much disrespect for the police. Until she needed their help.