Man charged for hitting Gaza protester with car in Manhattan

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A New York City man has been charged with assault after he allegedly hit a Gaza protester with his car on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Tuesday, according to police.

Reuven Kahane, 57, was reportedly arguing with demonstrators around 9am when he allegedly drove his car into 55-year-old Maryellen Novak.

Demonstrators allegedly reacted by hitting Mr Kahane’s car.

He has been charged with second-degree assault, the New York Times reports.

Ms Novak was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Centre where she was treated for minor injuries. She was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief and unlawful assembly.

A second protester involved in the argument, John Rozendaal, 63, was also arrested and charged with criminal mischief.

Mr Kahane faced arraignment on Wednesday morning. He has been released without bail.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the protesters, according to a statement.

Attorneys representing Mr Kahane, Sara Shulevitz and Mindy Meyer, insinuated that there was more to the story and said they were “confident that our client will be exonerated of all charges”.

The protesters who Mr Kahane encountered were among 25 people protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza near 755 Park Avenue, according to police. The group was reportedly leaving the area when Mr Kahane became embroiled in a “verbal dispute” with two members of the group.

Student protesters rejected the official police account of the incident. They issued a statement claiming that Mr Kahane drove up to the demonstrators and asked for a flier before grabbing the arm of a demonstrator.

They said that as they were leaving, Mr Kahane allegedly “circled the block to drive into our peaceful demonstration,” which is when he hit Ms Novak.

The group said Ms Novak was the second member of their group in a week to have been assaulted and the fourth to be hospitalised since they began demonstrating.

The incident comes on the heels of a numerous crackdowns on Gaza student protesters at New York City universities.

Students protesting Israel at Columbia University kicked-off a near two-week protest movement at universities around the world. Students demanded that their schools divest from Israel as their camped out on their campuses and defied police raids and dispersal orders from school officials.

After Columbia University officials refused to divest and said that negotiations with protesters had “broken down,” the school gave protesters a deadline to leave before police were called in to end the demonstrations.

Students at Columbia defied the order and overtook Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind Hall in reference to 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who — along with her family and a pair of Red Crescent paramedics trying to save her — were killed by Israeli Defence Force tanks.

Mr Rozendaal told the Times that he was assisting the student protesters as a de-escalator, and that his job was “keeping people safe” during demonstrations.

He said that the group was approached by individuals who were “really, really angry” that they were protesting Israel.

“It was a challenge during those two hours to have compassion for everybody on the scene because anger comes from fear and it doesn’t come from nowhere,” he told the Times. “But it also felt like it was making people unsafe.”