A New York State bill has been introduced that would criminalize the flying of terrorist groups’ flags, imposing penalties of up to four years behind bars.
The “Stand Against Flags of Enemy Terrorists Act” would “expand the definition of aggravated harassment in the first degree — a class E felony — to include instances when a person displays a symbol of a foreign terrorist organization with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or another person,” The New York Post reported on Sunday.
New York recognizes that some symbols “cross the line” from free speech to inciting hate, “and the emblems of mass-murdering terrorist organizations certainly belong in that category,” Democrat Assemblyman Micah Lasher told the Post.
Protesters in the city have waved flags of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and painted their symbols in public spaces, since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
For example, some 150 anti-Israel protesters gathered at Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan, adjacent to the New York University campus, on Feb. 23 for a vigil memorializing Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed in a Sept. 7, 2024 air strike.
Many of the protesters covered their faces with masks and keffiyehs.
They shouted “long live the intifada,” “there is only one solution, intifada revolution” and “resistance is justified when people are occupied.”
Protesters also waved a Hezbollah flag and held up images of Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre, whom Israel killed in Gaza on Oct. 16, 2024.
“Since the October 7th terror attack in Israel, we’ve witnessed a disturbing rise in antisemitic instances here at home, including using symbols and flags of terrorist organizations to harass and intimidate Jewish New Yorkers at their synagogues, businesses and homes, simply because they’re Jewish,” said New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, according to the Post.
“No one should be allowed to threaten or harass a New Yorker because they’re Jewish, or any other aspect of their identity protected under state law,” he added.
“We’ve long prohibited using symbols of Neo-Nazis and the KKK to intimidate New Yorkers, and now it’s time to expand that policy under the S.A.F.E.T.Y. Act to add the symbols of foreign terrorist organizations,” he continued.
The act will establish “an important new tool in the fight against dangerous antisemitism that has sickeningly flourished since the horrific terrorist attack against Israel on October 7th,” said Lasher.
Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York, said the rise in antisemitic harassment in New York was “alarming.”
“No one should have to face intimidation or the feeling that they are unsafe because of their Jewish identity,” said Goldstein, according to the Post. “The SAFETY Act is a necessary and sensible measure to prevent the use of terrorist symbols as a tool of hate and intimidation.”
Last week, keffiyeh-wearing anti-Israel protesters took over the college administration building at Barnard College in Manhattan and assaulted a guard.
The New York City Police Department told JNS that it had a report on file for an assault that occurred at around 4 p.m. on Feb. 26, near West 120th Street and Broadway.
“A 41-year-old male stated he was shoved by numerous individuals and complained of pain about the body,” the NYPD told JNS. “The male was removed by emergency medical services to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in stable condition. There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing.” JNS
{Matzav.com}