Washington, D.C
Jewish man punched and kicked in Washington DC, accused of murdering people in Gaza
A visibly Jewish man was assaulted in an antisemitic incident in Northwest Washington DC on Wednesday, according to US media reports.
The victim, Ariel Golfeyz, 31, looked visibly Jewish, wearing a kippah, when he was attacked by the perpetrator, Walter James 39, who punched Golfeyz repeatedly and injured his jaw, according to the Washington Post.
“I felt very vulnerable,” Golfeyz said Friday. “I don’t feel safe anymore walking around with my Jewish, religious objects in DC.”
ADL regional director Meredith Weisel responded to the attack calling it an “hateful antisemitic assault” which unfortunately confirmed ADL’s data regarding the escalation of anti-Jewish hatred in America.
Read our statement from Regional Director @mermirmanweisel about the recent antisemitic assault in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.https://t.co/UeaNXwzGTM pic.twitter.com/b0xG3ArnLC
— ADL Washington, D.C. (@ADL_WashDC) July 11, 2024
Details of the incident
On Wednesday, at 8:30 in the morning, Golfeyz was returning home from his work as a cyber security manager. Golfeyz told the Post he saw a fist out of the corner of his eye and then heard the sound of his own jaw cracking.
He then fell into a patch of weeds and tried to fight his attacker while being repeatedly punched in the face before a police officer at the nearby hospital intervened.
“After punching me, he jumps on me and starts kicking and punching me, and at that point, it was just fight or flight,” Golfeyz said in an interview with The Algemeiner.
“I just couldn’t get him off of me because he continued kicking and punching,” Golfeyz continued. “I was in mortal physical danger.” He estimated the attack lasted about two minutes.
Talking to The Algemeiner, Golfeyz described his attacker as a medium-height black male of slight build with a beard and said that before the incident, he had been walking behind him for a while.
Golfeyz recounted to The Algemeiner that he ultimately turned to bite James’s neck as a last resort, which enabled him to break free.
Walter James had previously been charged with resisting arrest and assault of a police officer in separate incidents.
The Texas resident is now up against charges of assault with significant bodily injury.
Golfeyz suffered facial contusions, according to The Post, alongside major swelling and severe jaw pain which stops him from chewing.
Antisemitic tropes
“I felt very vulnerable,” Golfeyz said Friday. “I don’t feel safe anymore walking around with my Jewish, religious objects in DC.”
According to a police affidavit, Golfeyz later relayed to the police that James had said, while punching him, “You are not the real Jewish, and you guys are murderers; you guys kill people in Gaza and in America.”
Even after he had been physically reprimanded by the on-site police officer, James continued his antisemitic tirade, said the Post, citing Golfeyz, including accusing the victim of “controlling land, money and government” and blaming him for “murdering” men, women and children in Gaza.
In footage shared with The Algemeiner, James also mentioned being one of the “true children of Israel”, potentially referencing the Black Hebrew Israelite ideology, which suggests that Black people descend from the true Israelites, and Jews are not the real descendants.
In a similar incident on Saturday, an orthodox Jewish man in New York was followed by a man saying, “Black people is the real Jews,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Walter James verbally attacks Jewish man in DC (The Algemeiner via Ariel Golfeyz)
“It’s turned very quickly into a very hateful time. I’ve never seen it in my life,” said Golfeyz. “I feel like it’s just getting to a point where it’s not about Israel, it’s about the Jewish people as well.”
Golfeyz was born to Iranian Jewish parents in the US and grew up Orthodox. As an adult, he still adheres to an Orthodox lifestyle and wears a kippah. He is a frequent member of the local Sephardic minyan.
After the incident, Golfeyz said he messaged his minyan group chat and told them to no longer wear their kippot outside in public, for fear of them suffering similar attacks.
“I don’t think I will be, you know, wearing my religious objects anymore in Washington, DC,” stated Golfeyz in an interview with Fox 5.
Washington, D.C
Police search for suspect caught on camera slashing tires in Georgetown
Washington D.C. police are searching for a vandal who was caught on surveillance video slashing the tires of multiple vehicles in a Georgetown alley on Tuesday afternoon. The suspect, who fled the scene on a red bicycle, targeted a Chevy Suburban and a Ford Escape on the 1700 block of 35th Street Northwest.
Washington, D.C
Reflecting Pool being drained – again – as Trump administration tries once more to fix DC landmark – WTOP News
Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Sunday, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.
(CNN) — Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Sunday, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.
In an interview released Tuesday with Katie Miller, a conservative podcaster and wife of President Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Burgum said they started draining the pool as planned after the July Fourth fireworks show, noting some of the fireworks debris was still in the water.
Asked about the schedule for this round of renovations, he gave no specifics beyond a broad overview.
“Drain the water. Clean up the fireworks stuff. Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again,” Burgum said.
As of Tuesday evening, there was still water in the pool, and it was unclear if it will be drained further. Burgum indicated over the weekend that it may only need to be partially drained.
The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and allegations of vandalism – have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of a national fixation.
Members of the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump, have said vandals caused damage to the Reflecting Pool by gashing the lining, though they have not provided evidence to support that claim. In late June, the president said the pool would be drained after the July Fourth holiday to fix it.
The administration will use the same contractor, Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, for this next round of repairs. Previously, the company landed a no-bid contract worth more than $14 million for their part of the work – sealing the pool and painting the bottom “American Flag- blue.”
Asked about the timeline for his part of the repairs, Eddie Gross, owner of Atlantic Industrial Coatings told CNN that “nothing has been set yet.” He declined to answer questions about his contract and the cost of additional repairs.
The Department of Interior did not respond to questions about the timeline for this round of repairs.
Burgum, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, suggested the repairs could happen with the pool only being partially drained. He sought to portray the costs as minor.
“It’s going to be a small number because the majority of the work was related to the labor and the materials for the liner,” Burgum said.
“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” he said.
Burgum also said the government could “absolutely” prove the damage was caused by vandals, and that there are photographs supporting the claim. But he dodged a question about whether those photographs show anyone damaging the pool.
The secretary also denied that Trump having his motorcade drive through the pool mid-renovation in May did any damage to the site.
“No, I was with him when we came that night … We were driving in a Cadillac Escalade. It is one of the presidential fleet of cars,” Burgum said, adding that the vehicle Trump took on the ride was “substantially lighter” than the armored presidential limousine known as “The Beast.”
“The whole base level of this industrial rubber layer was not yet completed, and so there was no damage that night whatsoever,” he said. “That was one of the questions we asked before we even brought the presidential motorcade there, but not a chance.”
The other contractor involved in the project, Greenwater Services, previously told CNN that when the pool is drained it will not affect their system, which is up and running.
Chas Antinone, the president of Greenwater Services, told CNN the company can shut down and then restart the so-called ozone nanobubbler, as necessary.
Companies involved in the renovation have found themselves at the center of national news as Reflecting Pool issues continued.
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Washington, D.C
DC is second riskiest city for driving, Allstate says
D.C. is the second riskiest city for driving, an insurance company report says.
Allstate said it looked at the number of crashes, how often they happen and certain types of behavior behind the wheel.
“On the phones, bike lanes, people on motor scooters having no regard for the law,” one driver told News4. “It is risky, yeah. I’ve seen a lot of close calls.”
The average driver around D.C. goes just about four years in between collisions. Drivers in the least risky city — Brownsville, Texas — go about 15 years in between collisions.
D.C. also got dinged for bad driving — like being on phones a lot — and plenty of nighttime driving, which increases risk.
Allstate analyzed property damage claims from January 2023 through December 2024 to rank cities. Here’s the Top 10:
- Boston
- D.C.
- Baltimore
- Worcester, Mass.
- Springfield, Mass.
- Glendale, Calif.
- Providence
- Sunrise Manor, Nev.
- Los Angeles
- Philadelphia
But local Allstate agent Rudy Alston says D.C. drivers themselves may not deserve the bad rap.
“I think a lot of it isn’t so much from D.C. natives,” he said. “I think it’s a lot of people coming from outside of D.C. — coming from Maryland and Virginia that commute to D.C. — that maybe aren’t as familiar with the traffic laws in D.C. and how congested D.C. is with the influx of pedestrians, Uber drivers, the Door Dash guys on the scooters, the Metrobuses. So, I just think when they get here, they’re just not familiar with it.”
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