Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has been a staunch defender of Israel since the October 7th attacks. But thanks in part to the Democratic Party’s coddling of anti-Israel activists and New York City becoming a hotbed for antisemitism, Torres has been on the receiving end of targeted campaigns to intimidate him over his position on the war.
This was one of them:
“There’s no issue on which I get more hate, harassment and death threats than on the subject of Israel,” Torres stated in an NY Jewish Week interview earlier this month. “My office has been flooded with hate calls. There’s a concerted effort to intimidate elected officials like me from supporting Israel. And there are elected officials who allow themselves to be browbeaten into silence and submission.”
As further evidence of his point on hate and harassment, the New York Post reported Saturday that real estate mogul and so-called “Palestinian refugee” Mohamed Hadid has been sending Torres hate messages on Instagram for months now:
“You worse than the rats of New York sewage system. They have bigger brains than you. You might get a job as bouncer at gay bar,” Hadid, 75, told Torres in an Instagram direct message sent from his verified account — adding the Congressman was a “slave to whites.”“Make sure you dress as KKK to hide that ugly gray colored face of yours,” the developer added. “I know about Bronx.”Torres, 36, made history in 2021 when he became the first openly gay African American, and first openly gay Hispanic member, of Congress.“You are just unusual Black and colorful mouth for Israeli and AiPAC and looking for payday of over 500K,” Hadid saId in another message, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.
Hadid is the father to internationally known models Bella and Gigi Hadid.
In other messages, Mohamed Hadid leaned in even more on antisemitic tropes about Jewish people and money:
“Sell out. Black out .. he forgot this is not about black and white it’s not about Palestine or the Zionist state .. this is about a great Black man not a little ….kisser to your financial backers. As there will not be a single black person in your community that leaves a nice word about you Mr. Nate .. selling your soul ..”
In a statement, Torres pointed to how it had become acceptable in Democrat circles to hurl racist hate provided the targets also supported Israel:
“Most haters hide behind anonymous social media accounts, but Mohamed Hadid is so proud of his hatred for me that he felt no need to shroud his racism in anonymity. Whether it is dehumanizing me as worse than the rats of the NYC sewage system or telling me to dress like the KKK to ‘hide that gray colored face of yours,’ Mr. Hadid has hurled just about every racist insult at me shorting of calling me the N-word.”The statement continued, “That Mr. Hadid felt so at ease demonizing and dehumanizing a black Member of Congress reveals a tragic truth about our politics: if you are a person of color and pro-Israel, you are fair game for racist invective. Enough with the double standard.”
In response to the reports of his hate-filled harassment of Torres, Hadid—who, incredibly, has also equated Israel to the Nazis—”apologized,” but only for the way his messages were worded. He still managed to insult Torres, calling him a “shill being used by Israel” and insinuating he’s a sellout to “black and brown” communities:
On Twitter, speechwriter Aviva Klompas was among several pro-Israel advocates who noted how incredible it was that Hadid could still claim “refugee status” considering what he’s accomplished here in the U.S.:
Mohamed Hadid is a multimillionaire real estate mogul with dual Jordanian-American citizenship.Yet he is still considered a “refugee” under UNRWA and invokes his “refugee status” in his non-apology / apology note to Congressman Ritchie Torres.UNRWA has raised generations of Palestinians, like Hadid, to believe that no matter how wealthy they are or where they live, they are oppressed victims without agency or responsibility for their own future.That’s supposed to give him a pass to employ disgusting tropes about Jewish wealth and power, while calling Torres a tool.
Others wondered if members of AOC’s Squad would be weighing in on this one:
Methinks the “Persian Jewess” answered her own question there. No way the Hamas Caucus comes to Torres’ defense on this. Not a chance.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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