Update March 5, 2020: A Manhattan grand jury indicted a woman accused of perpetrating an antisemitic attack on a New York City subway in December with a hate crime; more here.

*** *** ***

Lihi Aharon got onto the NYC Subway station by Tribeca, Manhattan after her school’s induction ceremony. She got onto the number 2 train and immediately noticed a woman spreading her belongings onto several seats of the busy train.

She asked the woman if she could remove her stuff to sit, but she refused, claiming they were her seats and no one else could sit there.

A few moments later Lihi started to witness the woman insulting a religious Jewish elderly man that was also sitting nearby, realizing that this old man had been getting verbally attacked for a while.

The angry woman began reciting Islamic prayers and yelling horrid things like “it’s good the they killed Jews in New Jersey, they should have killed all of you”.

The Jewish man looked scared, but would not respond. Lihi proceeded to pulling out her phone and the woman began turning the attention onto her. Things quickly escalated and the woman got up and smacked the phone out of Lihi’s hands and began grabbing and striking at her face.

Lihi fought back and knocked the woman down refusing to be physically beaten. The woman lunged herself back at Lihi and the fight continued until they both found each other outside of the train as the doors opened. People started telling Lihi “your face is bleeding, your face is bleeding”, but Lihi was only focused on surviving this attack and finding a way to ask for help.

No one did anything. No words. No Actions. Just dozens of people watching as if they were the audience of a TV show.

Lihi quickly pushed the emergency button and cops arrived to the scene almost immediately. The woman was arrested and as the Police were talking the statements, she continued with her disgusting insults and profanities.