NJ Jewish family attacked at mall over Israeli military jacket

✅ A teenage girl was wearing an IDF jacket at the American Dream

✅ The family says they were screamed at

✅ The jacket was a gift from the girl's grandfather, an IDF veteran

EAST RUTHERFORD – A Jewish family said they were harassed at the American Dream mall on New Year's Day.

The incident recorded on video showed a woman yelling at a teenage girl wearing an olive green jacket, which her family told the Daily Mail was a gift from her grandfather, a veteran of the Israeli defense forces.

"We were walking at the American Dream mall this evening while these two scumbags attacked my 16-year-old daughter and then us, hit me, knocked the phone out of my hand, called my daughter and I whores, while my husband was physically trying to keep them away from us to prevent further violence. Antisemitism is alive and kicking in New Jersey. Wake up, America," Ali Vaxman wrote on her Facebook page.

Video of the incident shows a  young woman calling them "whores," yelling “free Palestine," and accusing them of supporting genocide.  A second video also shows Vaxman's phone being slapped to the floor. Vaxman said that the other woman tried to punch her but instead hit her phone.

"You're recording me without my permission! It's free Palestine 'til I f***ing die b***h! Free Palestine 'til I f***ing die b***h! Free Palestine, you should be embarrassed you're supporting genocide!"

Vaxman also yells at the woman that Palestine is a "made up lie" and doesn't exist.

The family started an organization that supports IDF troops

Vaxman told the Daily Mail that no shoppers helped or called security.  In the video, people can be seen watching the incident from the second and third floors of the mall and walking by.

According to her Facebook page, Vaxman and her family founded the organization Operation Israel, which collects donations, purchases equipment and donates it to soldiers in the field. Vaxman told the Daily Mail her grandparents are all IDF veterans and are Holocaust survivors.

New Jersey State Police Lt. Jeffrey LeBron said the incident is under investigation. A spokesman for American Dream on Thursday morning did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's request for comment.

Bergen County has New Jersey's largest Jewish population. Edan Alexander, a 2022 graduate of Tenafly High School and IDF soldier, was taken hostage by Hamas after their Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He is believed to still be alive.

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