An antisemitic organization in Brooklyn, N.Y., that celebrates violence against Jews is planning a protest in the Crown Heights neighborhood on Tuesday evening, blaming a tragic car accident 34 years ago on “Zionist white supremacists from Chabad-Lubavitch.”
On Aug. 19, 1991, two 7-year-old children were struck by a car after a driver ran a red light. The vehicle was part of the motorcade of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the longtime leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement headquartered in the Brooklyn neighborhood.
Gavin Cato died as a result; his cousin, Angela Cato, was injured.
Black residents of the neighborhood rioted for the next few days, carrying out a pogrom against Jewish residents. Australian Chassidic student Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, was stabbed and killed in the melee.
A group called Crown Heights Bites Back is set to hold a protest on the anniversary of Cato’s death at the site of the accident, which it described as “vehicular manslaughter” and noted it sought “justice.”
The event is slated to take place a few blocks from Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway.
The same group held a racially divisive rally in April amid tensions between Jewish and Black residents, saying in a social-media post that it was “waiting for the sleeping giant that is Caribbean Brooklyn, who have long suffered abuse and oppression at the hands of the racist Zionist Chabad-Lubavitch to rise up against them.”
The post added that “Black people in Brooklyn are violently exploited via rents to then feed their genocidal land grabs in Palestine,” posing the question of what would happen if Caribbean Brooklyn “tore down these f**ing monsters!?”
The group has since celebrated Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the shooting murders of a young couple at a Capital Jewish Museum event on May 21, posting another group’s claim that “we need more Elias Rodriguez in the world” and calling his actions “the highest expression of anti-Zionism.”
“Crown Heights Bites Back has been spreading some of the most inflammatory and inciteful content,” read a statement from the Crown Heights-based Jewish Future Alliance, “amplifying calls for more murders, and engaging in overtly antisemitic rhetoric. Now, they are attempting to reignite tensions by exploiting the tragic car accident that claimed the life of Gavin Cato—an event that led to the Crown Heights riots and the antisemitic murder of Yankel Rosenbaum.”
The statement added: “We have seen this dangerous pattern before. While this group may represent a fringe minority, history has shown that rhetoric like this fuels hatred and leads to real violence. It must be unequivocally condemned by all.”
The Crown Heights Shmira neighborhood protection organization called for residents to avoid the site of the 7 p.m. protest at Utica Avenue and President Street. It says it is in contact with the New York Police Department, and that both will provide extra patrols.
“We are advising the community to avoid the area, and if necessary, walk in groups, remain vigilant and avoid interactions,” it said.
