A crowded New York City subway train. Image by ablokhin/iStock

By Aiden Pink December 17, 2019

A Jewish woman suffered apparent facial injuries after allegedly being attacked by a woman screaming anti-Semitic epithets on the New York City subway.

Lihi Aharon, who is from Israel, recorded a video recounting her experience, which included video she took of her alleged assailant apparently being detained by police while yelling anti-Semitic abuse.

Antisemitism Notebook

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Aharon claimed that she entered a crowded train and asked the woman to remove her bags from an otherwise-open seat. According to Aharon, the woman refused and began yelling anti-Semitic slurs at her and an adjacent man who was wearing a kippah, and then scratched her face while trying to prevent the Israeli from recording the incident on her phone.

Aharon also claimed the woman said that she wished more Jews had died in the Jersey City, New Jersey kosher grocery store shooting last week.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount