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

Helen Chernikoff is the Forward’s News Editor. She came to the Forward from The Jewish Week, where she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website. Before that, she covered the housing, lodging and logistics industries for Reuters, where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in History and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @thesimplechild.

A message from our Publisher & CEO 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