A Wall Street banker and his wife who spewed vile anti-Semitic abuse towards a Jewish man while covering up posters of hostages kidnapped by Hamas has issued a groveling apology.
Kurush Mistry and Shailja Gupta were blasted for the attack after a two-minute video of the confrontation on 68th Street and Riverside Boulevard was posted online.
Mistry, who lost his job, and Gupta wrote a groveling apology after the torrents of backlash – admitting their actions were ‘misguided and thoughtless.’
‘After taking time to contemplate and reflect on our recent actions, we want to send our sincerest apologies to the Jewish gentleman we yelled at, gestured to, and said unkind things to, as well as apologize to the global Jewish community for our recent actions in NYC,’ they wrote.
Kurush Mistry and his partner Shailja Gupta have issued a groveling apology after they were embarrassingly caught spewing anti-Semitic abuse at a Jewish man in New York City
‘Our behavior was simply unacceptable and we are ashamed of our actions and words.
‘We hope to have the opportunity in the near future to speak to the gentleman personally and apologize directly to him.’
The couple claim they ‘never supported Hamas’ and have ‘always believed it is a terrorist organization.’
The couple revealed it was their ‘first time engaging in civic protest’ and their goal was ‘to emphasize the plight of Palestinian men, women and children, who are also dying and suffering in Gaza.’
‘Our way of doing so was misguided and thoughtless. For example, our badly-worded poster was construed to support violence, and we apologize profusely for that,’ they continued.
‘We fully acknowledge the pain of the Jewish people in the U.S., in Israel and globally, and we regret that our actions added to that pain.’
After the callous attack on the Jewish man, Mistry and Gupta said they’ve received a slew of violent threats.
Mistry, who lost his job as a result, and Gupta wrote a groveling apology after the torrents of backlash admitting that their actions were ‘misguided and thoughtless’
‘We share this knowledge not for sympathy, but to factually tell the whole truth,’ they said.
‘We have learned a valuable lesson about the need to love all as brothers and sisters instead of highlighting disagreements and causing more pain.
‘We unequivocally denounce antisemitism, violence, and terrorism in every form.’ Reiterating their plight for redemption, Mistry and Gupta finished by apologizing again.
‘Again, we apologize from the bottom of our hearts to all those we have offended and caused pain to, especially the global Jewish community, our fellow Americans, and our fellow Indians,’ they wrote.
‘We hope that by our future actions and words we will slowly earn back your trust in our good intentions for all humanity, and that you can hopefully see that we are more than our worst actions and mistakes.’
In the now viral video, Mistry can be seen sticking a poster to a lamppost with Gupta beside him when they’re approached by a Jewish American man who asks: ‘What’s your name sir? You must be very proud.’
As tensions boil over the couple respond by sticking their middle fingers up at the Jewish man, who has not been identified. The man continues: ‘You’re real proud of yourself.’
Mistry can be seen sticking the poster to a lamppost with Gupta beside him. A man asks him: ‘What’s your name sir? You must be very proud.’ The couple respond by sticking their middle fingers up at him
Gupta records the man on her phone before getting into an argument with him
While looking straight at him, Mistry replies: ‘Very proud.’
As his partner appears to film the man, Mistry then holds up a note that says: ‘Israel is an apartheid state and commits genocide.’
After continuing with the act and doing their best to look unfazed, they then try to usher the man away aggressively yelling: ‘Go back to your country.’
He replies: ‘I’m an American.’
Noting that he is an American Jew he also adds: ‘You also want my country not to exist so where should I go?’
Seething with rage, Gupta replies: ‘You don’t want my f***ing country to exist.’
He asks: ‘What country is that?’
She abruptly responds: ‘Palestine.’
The number of anti-Semitic incidents has quadrupled in the US since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group.
Since October 7, there have been an avalanche of disputes posted online involving residents tearing down posters related to the conflict.
Mistry had worked at Freepoint Commodities for nine years, according to his LinkedIn page.
He has previously been employed at the banks Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Lehman Brothers.
Gupta’s LinkedIn account says that she has been working as a visual artist, film-maker and emerging tech strategic consultant for the last 29 years.
The couple do their best to look unfazed as they continue with the act. They then usher the man off, saying: ‘Go back to your country’
In a statement after the footage circulated online, Freepoint said it was ‘aware of the recent anti-Semitic incident reported on social media, and the individual involved is no longer associated with Freepoint’.
Two people familiar with the matter identified the individual in the video as Mistry and confirmed that he was dismissed from the company, according to the Financial Times.
Freepoint is involved in energy, metals and agricultural markets and the firm is based in Connecticut.
‘We welcome the diversity of views and opinions held by our employees, but Freepoint does not tolerate discrimination and hate speech directed against any group,’ the company said.
In August, high-profile US executives and financiers expressed fury over a statement issued by groups at Harvard University that held ‘the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence’.
Law firms have rescinded offers to students over their involvement in groups criticizing Israel over the war and have called on universities to do more to clamp down on student anti-Semitism.
Academics from some of the nation’s most prominent institutions are set to meet next week to explore ways to defuse the tensions.
Home to between 1.6 and two million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Muslims, New York City has been rocked by demonstrations, rallies and vigils in support of the Palestinians and Israel since Hamas’ brutal and bloody attack on Israel on October 7.
The attack saw around 240 taken hostage by the terrorist group and about 1,200 Israelis have been killed.
There have been more than 11,200 Palestinians deaths – two-thirds of them women and minors – since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Mayor Eric Adams, who governs a city of nearly nine million people, including the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel, has repeatedly assured pro-Israel rallies that Israel’s ‘fight’ is New York’s fight too.