An Iranian American who has an Israeli flag in his windshield to show support for his Jewish friends and family was the target of a hateful antisemitic verbal assault last week in Reseda, in an incident that was captured on camera.
The victim, who only wanted to be identified as a Los Angeles resident named Justin, was in his vehicle on May 22 with his daughter and fiancée, both of whom are Jewish, when the unprovoked, hateful tirade unfolded.
Justin told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff that the man rolled down his window and threatened to kill him.
In dashcam footage of the incident, the unidentified man, behind the wheel of a Kia, gets in front of Justin’s vehicle and brakes hard, coming to a stop directly in front of Jason. He then exits his vehicle, cellphone in hand, presumably to film the exchange himself.
The unidentified man proceeds to direct a profanity-laced series of threats, suggesting Justin was “a f****** coward. I’ll beat your ass in front of everybody, okay?”
The man spits toward Justin’s vehicle, accuses him of not being an American tells him, “Go back to your country you Zionist piece of s***.”
The scary public display of antisemitic road rage came one day after a young, soon to be engaged Jewish couple, both members of the Israeli Embassy, were gunned down outside the Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. on May 21.
The gunman in that case has been apprehended and federal investigators are calling the incident a targeted act of terrorism.
As for Justin, who believes instances of antisemitic attacks are increasing, he said he feels it’s important to show solidarity and engage in dialogue.
“I would love to offer this person who accosted me, or someone like him, if you want to debate the merits of the war, we can look at that and analyze things, and we can be as objective as possible and acknowledge our biases,” he explained. “[We can] try to see if we can reason that way in public and then we won’t be so confused about who our neighbors are and prejudge people and feel so righteous to be openly bigoted against somebody who could be perceived to be Jewish.”
The incident, according to Justin who filed a police report, is being investigated as a hate crime, though so far, the man has not been located or arrested.
The post Hateful, antisemitic road rage tirade unfolds on Southern California street appeared first on KTLA.
