Former Democratic New York State Assemblyman from Borough Park Dov Hikind on Thursday was arrested for refusing to vacate the West 43rd Street offices of Amnesty International in Manhattan. As Hikind explained: “Came to Amnesty USA to give them the award for moral hypocrisy on International Women’s Day. Unsurprisingly, the cowards they are would not receive this honor and instead arrest me for not leaving their offices.”
Came to @amnestyusa to give them the award for moral hypocrisy on international women’s day. Unsurprisingly, the cowards they are would not receive this honor and instead arresting me for not leaving their offices.. pic.twitter.com/q639m1EmjB
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) March 7, 2024
NY Times columnist Bret Stephens, who in early December 2023 attended a conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, organized by the Israeli mission and Jewish groups, that featured testimonies by Israeli women about the Hamas weaponized rapes, reported, “It took UN Women, the agency that has that mandate to look out for women’s rights globally, eight weeks before issuing a perfunctory statement saying it was ‘alarmed’ by accounts of gender-based atrocities during the attacks of Oct. 7.”
Stephens continued: “As for other so-called human rights organizations, the website of Human Rights Watch – which includes a page ostensibly devoted to women’s rights – has dozens of news releases about the war in Gaza. Not a word about the rapes. From Amnesty International: nothing that can be found on its website. The National Organization for Women denounced the Oct. 7 attacks on the day they occurred and last week issued a news release condemning ‘rape as a weapon of war.’ But it contained no mention of Hamas.”
Hikind tweeted on Thursday: “Many have been asking what happened this afternoon when Karen Lichtbraun and I got arrested at the offices of Amnesty USA while raising awareness of Hamas sexual violence against Jewish women on October 7 in commemoration of International Women’s Day – we cannot be silent about these atrocities! Speak up! Even if they arrest you!”
Many have been asking what happened this afternoon when Karen Lichtbraun and I got arrested at the offices of @amnestyusa while raising awareness of Hamas sexual violence against Jewish women on October 7 in commemoration of #internationalwomensday — we cannot be silent about… pic.twitter.com/GU57ltZo7J
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) March 7, 2024
Americans Against Antisemitism announced the 11:30 “award ceremony,” noting:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on November 29, 2023 delivered a major address on antisemitism on the Senate floor. I recommend that you read the entire speech, it is riveting (Majority Leader Schumer Delivers Major Address On Antisemitism On The Senate Floor). Here are some of Schumer’s main points:
On top of feeling alone, the second dominant feeling that Jewish people have endured throughout history has been the sting of the double standard, which is the way the world has practiced antisemitism over and over again.
To Jewish people, the double standard has been ever present and is at the root of antisemitism. The double standard is very simple:
What is good for everybody, is never good for the Jew. When it comes time to assign blame for some problem, the Jew is always the first target.
And in recent decades, this double standard has manifested itself in the way much of the world treats Israel differently than anybody else.
[…]
This double standard persists today in America, and it is once again leaving Jewish people feeling isolated and alone.
In the immediate aftermath of October 7th, an attack on defenseless civilians, the elderly, women, and babies, a good number of people skipped over expressing sympathy for the victims in their haste to blame the attack on the past actions of the Israeli government. Can anybody imagine a horrific terrorist attack in another country receiving such a reception?
And when Hamas terrorists actively hide behind innocent Palestinians, knowing that many of those civilians will die in the Israeli response, why does the criticism for any civilian deaths seem to fall exclusively on Israel, and not at all on Hamas?
[…]
Many Jewish Americans fear what the future may bring, based on the repeated lessons of history.
Many Jewish Americans see clear antisemitism in the double standard that is being wielded by too many opponents of Israel, and we see it in attacks on Jewish people simply for being Jewish, apart from anything having to do with Israel.
And perhaps worst of all, many Jewish Americans feel alone to face all of this, abandoned by too many of our friends and allies in our greatest time of need, as antisemitic hate crimes skyrocket around the country.
