Orthodox journalist attacked, chased, called ‘Nazi’ at Jewish Borough Park protest
Jacob Kornbluh at work. Image by Jacob Kornbluh
By Helen Chernikoff October 8, 2020
An ultra-Orthodox journalist who covers the religious Jewish community was set upon by participants in a protest against new coronavirus restrictions after the event’s leader ordered the crowd to chase him away.
Jacob Kornbluh, who lives in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was covering an event organized by Heshy Tischler, an aspiring politician. Tishcler has recently risen to prominence as a critic of perceived government overreach in the name of coronavirus against Orthodox Jews.
Tischler has accused Kornbluh of being a “snitch” and posted a tweet in which he held a portrait of the journalist that many reported to Twitter as incitement to violence.
I was just brutally assaulted, hit in the head, and kicked at by an angry crowd of hundreds of community members of the Boro Park protest — while yelling at me “Nazi” and “Hitler” —after Heshy Tischler recognized me and ordered the crowd to chase me down the street
— Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) October 8, 2020
Kornbluh said he was rescued by community members and police and is safe.
Tischler is running for City Council and works in the construction industry. He also does a weekly call-in show carried on YouTube and Facebook in which political discussion is interspersed with plugs for his business.
Kornbluh received tweeted well-wishes almost instantaneously.
This is terrifying news from @jacobkornbluh. While this may be a small minority within a small community, it is disgusting and those responsible must be held to account for such violence. https://t.co/UnpNaFBuPF
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) October 8, 2020
The Forward is free to read but not free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
