This story includes details that some readers might find disturbing.<\/p>\n
A 23-year-old registered nurse and Montreal native says \u201cI now understand that every Jew is a target\u201d after she was choked twice, kicked, thrown to the floor and her hair pulled from her scalp by another passenger while on a subway train Sunday in New York.<\/p>\n
The woman recorded the beginning of the assault from her smartphone while riding the C train on the afternoon of May 31. The train was packed with commuters, yet no one intervened initially when a female assailant turned around, cupped her right hand to her mouth and shouted the blood libel: \u201cJews are eating kids!\u201d<\/p>\n
The assailant then leaned toward the nurse \u2014 who is of the orthodox Jewish faith \u2014 telling her: \u201cYou\u2019re a Jew. I smell the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd let out a collective gasp when the assailant shoved the nurse, prompting some passengers to pull the attacker away from the petite woman. In the video, the assailant seems to be shocked that other passengers would disapprove of her actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s okay for her to eat a kid but I can\u2019t choke her down?\u201d she is heard protesting.<\/p>\n
The video of the woman\u2019s assault \u2014 which was posted on the X social media platform by Combat Antisemitism Movement \u2014 has been viewed more than 350,000 times as of Friday morning, was the subject of a New York Post story<\/a> and has led to a reckoning about the rise of antisemitism in the city that never sleeps. <\/p>\n ?? NYC, May 31, 2026: A 23 year old Jewish woman sent CAM footage of her assault on a subway train.<\/p>\n Around 2:15 PM, a woman told her she could \u201csmell the babies\u201d she had eaten and yelled that \u201cJews eat babies\u201d before choking her, throwing her to the ground, and beating her. pic.twitter.com\/4yMygy3EEb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) June 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The woman, who grew up in Montreal but who now lives in New York, agreed to recount details of her assault on condition that The Gazette not publish her name. She also shared videos and photos with a reporter that have not been made public.<\/p>\n I honestly feel terrified and I\u2019ve been just running on fear and adrenalin.”<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tNurse who was attacked \u201cIn the video you also see her choking me for a second before getting pulled off and that was what I was referring to when saying, \u2018I was just assaulted’\u201d the woman recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought that was the end of it, but she came at me again and that\u2019s when the video cuts out. She choked me for a second time, kicked me and shoved me to the ground using the force from grabbing my hair. I was on the floor for the entirety of the next stop getting beaten all the while her hand never left my hair and her grasp was so strong that the clump of hair was ripped out.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman despaired over the fact that only one couple came to her aid as she was being mauled at length.<\/p>\n \u201cI noticed that while I was attacked, before and after I hit the ground, only one couple tried to help me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n NYPD officers later arrested Bronx resident Diana Smith<\/a>. The New York Police Department on Friday confirmed to The Gazette the allegations against Smith and listed the charges she will likely face: assault, criminal obstructing breathing and aggravated harassment \u2014 all three in the context of hate crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cOfficers were informed that a 23-year-old female individual, while onboard a northbound C train, made antisemitic remarks toward a 23-year-old female victim before choking, kicking, and punching her in the abdomen,\u201d the NYPD press office declared in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, the individual pulled the victim\u2019s hair and dragged her to the ground. EMS responded and transported the victim to Lenox Health Greenwich Village in stable condition.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, The New York Post revealed Smith has a history with mental illness<\/a> and run-ins with the police, adding that the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office has yet to indict her.<\/p>\n How the woman views her future<\/p>\n Four days after the attack, the woman was still in a state of shock and struggling to make sense of what happened.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly feel terrified and I\u2019ve been just running on fear and adrenalin. I have not been able to sleep properly or have much of an appetite.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel sick that people can watch another human be attacked and do nothing,\u201d she continued. \u201cThat they can hear dehumanizing words and say nothing. Physically, I know I will be OK. My hair will grow back, the headaches will go away and the soreness will subside. Emotionally though, these scars will never fade.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Jews around the world, the woman was already deeply concerned by a growing number of documented incidents of antisemitism<\/a>. But what happened to her last Sunday has forever altered her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen the videos of others getting attacked and I know antisemitism is on the rise but again, I didn\u2019t really feel it myself,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s stuff I saw on the news but not things that actually happened to people just on the subway home. I now understand that every Jew is a target. It isn\u2019t about Zionism, it\u2019s about Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have hated and persecuted us for years,\u201d she concluded. \u201cAs Jewish people, we have seen where this leads. We said \u2018never again\u2019 after the Holocaust \u2014 and yet.\u201d<\/p>\n aderfel@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n x.com\/Aaron_Derfel<\/a><\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta Montreal native<\/p>\n