Two major organizations that fight antisemitism — the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County and the Anti-Defamation League — condemned the Feb. 23 harassment of worshippers and staff at the Islamic Center of Melville.
Lawyer Jordan Endler reportedly entered the Islamic Center in the New York City suburb and began shouting, “Free the Israeli hostages now”; called Muslim congregants “racists”; and rubbed his shoes on their prayer rugs, a sign of disrespect. When asked to leave he refused.
This attack “is completely unacceptable and goes against the principles of respect, tolerance, and understanding,” the Holocaust Memorial said in its Feb. 26 statement. “Furthermore, no one can make assumptions regarding anyone’s views simply by what religion they practice.”
“We stand in solidarity with the Islamic Center of Melville and the Muslim community,” it said. The Memorial seeks to spread the lessons that can be learned from the 6 million Jews who died in the Nazi Holocaust.
The ADL of New York and New Jersey said they were “appalled by this incident of harassment at the Islamic Center in Melville. All should feel safe and secure in their houses of worship.”
When the police responded to the call by the Islamic Center, they spoke with Endler, but did not arrest him. Only later, after mosque leaders met with the police and showed them a video of the harassment, was he picked up.
Acts of Jew-hatred have nearly quadrupled since the deadly Hamas pogrom in Israel Oct. 7 while attacks against Muslims have doubled.