News/Commentary

‘Sickening’ NYC street vendors slammed for anti-Israel, pro-terrorist cheers: ‘Hamas defends herself’

October 28, 2023 | | Print Article

New York City’s iconic street vendors are showing their true colors in the wake of Hamas’s savage attack on Israeli civilians, and the result is chilling.

According to the New York Post, “New York City’s omnipresent halal and other street vendors expressed near universal support for Hamas.”

Many, The Post reports, see the attack on Israel as “justified,” and the vendors aren’t shy about spewing their antisemitic views.

“I am Muslim. I am Egyptian. We support Gaza,” Ahmed, a Columbus Circle vendor, stated. “Hamas no attacks Israel. Hamas defends herself. Hamas is self-defense, to protect Islam.”

“Leave our land. No place to Jewish,” he continued. “Israel must leave.”

The slaughter of Israelis at the hands of armed terrorists was a “good thing,” in Ahmed’s eyes.

“I support Palestine and Hamas army is Palestine and she defend her land,” he said. “Our land.”

Times Square vendor Mahmahoud El-Ser sees the Israelis as the terrorists.

“I am so so sorry for Gaza and the people of Gaza,” he told The Post. “F–k terrorism of Israel. Inshallah one day Gaza is free.”

“Israel is bad,” declared an Egyptian vendor in Midtown East.

The Post spoke to “more than two dozen vendors” in Columbus Circle, Bryant Park, Times Square, and Midtown East. Many of them refused to speak publicly on the subject.

One went so far as to say he wouldn’t speak to the outlet because “The Post writes all that Jew stuff.”

In Columbus Circle, one Egyptian vendor, Mohamad Youssef, said Israel is “not a real state” and is getting what it deserves.

“Palestinians are defending themselves. Defending their territory, their land,” he said. “Israelis are attacking them.”

“You can’t give weapons to one side and ask the other side not to respond,” he said.

Midtown East vendor Hamden Elnashar agreed.

“If I come into your apartment, how you feel? What’re you going to do?” he asked. “You’re going to do whatever you have to do . . . to protect yourself.”

He likened Hamas to Japan’s World War II Kamikaze pilots.

“In their land, and in their home, they are heroes,” he said.

GOP City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) suggested those who don’t condemn Hamas be deported to Gaza.

“It is sickening, but not surprising, to learn that Hamas sympathizers and supporters of the most brutal terror regime live amongst us,” she said. “Whether you run a falafel stand, or are brainwashed at Harvard University, if you can’t condemn Hamas, you have no business living in our freedom-loving country. And if you’re a non-citizen terrorist supporter, you should really be deported, preferably to Gaza.”

On X, many echoed Vernikov’s sentiment.


According to one X user, the Big Apple is lost.

“At this point NYC is a different country. What the hell has happened,” the user wrote. “So glad I left Long Island. RIP NY.”

 

Melissa Fine
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