A Jewish family is speaking out after their teen daughter faced antisemitic harassment for wearing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) jacket to a New Jersey mall.
In the incident caught on video at American Dream in East Rutherford, Palestinian supporters are seen shouting expletive-laced messages while accusing Maya Vaxman-Magid of “supporting genocide.”
“You should be embarrassed,” one unidentified harasser shouted, going on to call the teen a “White piece of s—” while declaring she is from Palestine and is “proud to say it.”
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“I’ve been yelled at before by people in school and just random people, but it’s never turned violent. It’s never been this aggressive,” Vaxman-Magid told “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday.
“It was pretty scary,” she continued. “Me and my mom, we were both shaking. It wasn’t fun.”
The jacket was a gift from the teen’s grandfather, the family said.
Vaxman-Magid told co-host Todd Piro the incident has affected her in some ways since, saying she has been sleeping less and has been stressed.
“But it’s okay. It’s happened before to me,” she added.
Maya’s mother Adi Vaxman also joined the show to discuss the incident along with Liora Rez, director at the non-profit watchdog StopAntisemitism, who first shared video of the incident.
Vaxman, who was raised by Holocaust survivors, said they made her proud to be Jewish and people should be allowed to wear what they want in public without being attacked.
“I was very surprised. I was upset. My daughter was attacked out of the blue,” she said. “We were just walking and they just came at us behind us. We didn’t even see them. It was very unpleasant. It was scary, and it was a testament of what’s happening in the country lately.
“We feel that as Americans, we need to decide if we’re going to be a civilized culture or a savage, barbaric culture and allow for certain groups in the name of free speech to harass other people, to bully other people, to terrorize people in public spaces. That’s not okay. Nobody should be subject to that.”
Rez agreed, calling the incident “mind-boggling” and “horrific,” sounding the alarm about similar rhetoric and vitriol infiltrating other parts of American culture, including college campuses and social media.
The Vaxman family intends to press charges following the incident and hopes there will be consequences for the perpetrators’ behavior.
