Protesters unfairly characterized

To the editor:

One news item featured in The Press’ 2024 "Year in Review" was about legislation proposed by New York State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz to crack down on the unruly behavior often associated with anti-Israel protests with the intent to criminalize certain disruptive activities like blocking public roads and bridges. The photo which accompanies the caption is of a small group of men in Hasidic garb holding signs condemning the state of Israel. The men depicted in the photograph are presumably members of Neturei Karta, a small, fringe religious group within the Jewish community that is notorious for its vicious anti-Zionism. 

As anti-Israel as Neturei Karta is, it represents only a miniscule fraction of the anti-Israel protest movement and if any of its members are engaging in unruly behavior or violence, they are most likely only isolated incidents. The photograph is thus misleading in that it falsely suggests that the typical troublemakers prompting the legislation are themselves Jews and religious ones to boot. 

Alternatively, the photograph -- which includes an elderly man in a wheelchair -- suggests that the proposed legislation is silly because the targeted protesters are actually a small bunch of harmless "Hasidic" Jews. The caption is offensive, if not antisemitic, since the anti-Israel protests that you apparently trivialize often include Hamas-style chants like "Globalize the Intifada" and "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free." A photograph purporting to depict typical protesters targeted by the proposed legislation should have been featured, not people wearing Hasidic garb, but rather keffiyahs and face masks. I think the Riverdale Press owes the Jewish community of Riverdale an apology.   

Zachary Berman