A woman who was recorded proudly displaying an overtly anti-Semitic sign – suggesting the world needs to be ‘cleaned’ of Jews – during a pro-Palestinian rally Wednesday, has been identified.
Fahima Karim, a 19-year-old student at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women in Brooklyn, brandished the disturbing sign that featured the words ‘Please Keep the World Clean’ next to a Star of David in a trash can.
The incident occurred as she and fellow students, along with a teacher, skipped class to participate in a ‘walkout’ protest at Washington Square Park, where some NYU students were heard shouting anti-Semitic slurs, highlighting a concerning trend of increasing hatred towards Jews and Israel in New York.
This isn’t the first time Fahima Karim has attracted attention online. She was previously featured in a video expressing a deep disdain for white people, saying she ‘really don’t give a f*** about white lives.’
‘I don’t like white people … I just don’t … for no reason,’ she said in the street interview.
Fahima Karim, 19 (holding pink sign), has been identified as the woman who was recorded proudly displaying a deeply anti-Semitic sign at a pro-Palestinian rally yesterday
Her Brooklyn school, Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women, issued a statement condemning her action and promising investigation
On Thursday, after significant backlash, the Brooklyn public school she currently attends issued a statement condemning her actions and promising a thorough investigation.
‘Our mission at UAI has always been to support the voice and power of our young women.’
‘Unfortunately today, at least one of our community members made a serious error in judgment. She exercised that voice and power to spread hate and anti Semitism. The image was captured and posted to social media, and that is how we discovered her choices.’
‘Our mission is also about equity and rigor, and we vehemently condemn any action by any member of our community that spreads hatred or oppression. We are committed to righting the wrongs that led to this decision, and to embracing both the individual and the work she has before her, and our community and the community at large who was terribly damaged by her actions.’
Many people are now calling for her expulsion from educational institutions and urging colleges to deny her entry based on her openly hateful and discriminatory beliefs
In response to the backlash, Karim appears to have scrapped her social media profiles from online
The incident occurred as she and fellow students, along with a teacher, skipped class to participate in a ‘walkout’ protest at Washington Square Park, where some NYU students were heard shouting anti-Semitic slurs
‘As next steps we will be conducting a thorough investigation to hold those individuals accountable for their actions. In addition, we will be using our restorative justice tools to heal the harm in our community and outside of our school. As we learn more and develop more details about our next steps, we will share that with you.’
Many people are now calling for her expulsion from educational institutions and urging colleges to deny her entry based on her openly hateful and discriminatory beliefs.
‘Your student Fahima Karim is an anti-Semite, please act accordingly. You can not accept these students to be part of your university!’ one said.
‘Please retweet and help make sure that Fahima Karim never gets in to any Western university again,’ another user tweeted on X.
Fahima Karim can either grow from this and treat it as a learning experience — or she can double down and live a life of hatred on the fringes of society; and completely unemployable,’ a third said.
In response to the backlash, Karim appears to have removed her social media profiles from online platforms.
‘Your 9/11 is their 24/7’ read another of the signs at the protest on Wednesday
The young female protester’s sign also read ‘f**k Israel’. She is yet to be identified
Karim (far right) was previously featured in a video expressing a deep disdain for white people, saying she ‘really don’t give a f*** about white lives’
The school said it was working to verify the identity of the students with the offending signs
Another protester with the same sign at the protest in Manhattan on Wednesday
NYPD cops watch the protest in Washington Square Park on Wednesday
The students say they are demanding a ‘divestment’ of NYU funds from Israel
In the middle of the protest, a handful of young Jewish men sang and prayed in the face of the antiSemitic signs
The students gathered for the ‘walkout’ protest that was organized by Ryna Workman, a law student who previously called Hamas’ attack on Israel ‘necessary’.
There were dozens of Gen Z protesters in Washington Square Park, waving pride flags and wearing kaffiyehs, demanding ‘freedom for Palestine’ and a ‘divestment’ of Israel’s ‘genocidal regime’.
NYU spokesman John Beckman told AlertContent.com on Wednesday the school is working to verify the identities of the pair.
‘These signs are antiSemitic, repugnant, and a disgrace. We don’t know the identity of the people pictured, but we take this seriously and will be looking into it.
‘To be clear, antiSemitism violates the University’s rules and violators are subject to university conduct proceedings.’
At the same protest, a young Jewish man was hounded by pro-Palestine supporters who refused to answer him when he asked whether they supported Hamas.
The young protesters screamed and chanted, led by Workman.
It is the latest in a string of antiSemitic or anti-Israel incidents in the city.
Over the weekend, middle-aged adults were filmed ripping up and taking down posters of Israeli child hostages.
Cheddar reporter Katie Sands Bochman, who is Jewish, was walking her dog through the park at the time of the protest.
She approached the young woman holding the antiSemitic sign and asked for her name.
‘She looked really scared and wouldn’t give it to me. They are inciting a lot of violence and they were very aggressive, but mostly wearing masks which is so cowardly,’ Sands Bochman told AlertContent.com.
‘They don’t want their faces shown, but they’re happy to incite violence.’
She said that after confronting the youth with the antiSemitic sign, some of the other protesters asked to pet her dog.
‘I don’t know if they know what they’re chanting or who they’re following. They are so uneducated. It scares me for our country.
‘They are following very dangerous people just, by the looks of things, to feel like they are a part of something.’