Miss Israel was called a “war criminal,” a “little Zionist,” and threatened with a knife after identifying herself as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in New York City on Monday, according to reports.
Miss Israel Noa Cochva was berated and threatened on the streets of the Big Apple while carrying a poster that read, “I am an IDF soldier. Ask me anything,” the Daily Mail reported.
As Cochva stood in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, next to New York University, one onlooker approached her, saying, “I heard there was a Zionist here,” with a knife brandished at the beauty queen.
“She pulled a knife on us, and we got so scared we actually ran away,” Cochva told the New York Post. “That woman, it looked like she was really aiming to hurt us. I will never forget the hate in her eyes.”
Cochva was doing advocacy work for the pro-Israel group “Facts for Peace.” According to the Post, she was engaged in a “social experiment” to engage with students in “meaningful conversations” about the war they have been so vocal in protesting.
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Jessica Schwalb via Storyful“I’ve been to war, and I know what it looks like from within,” she told the Post. “But none of them wanted to talk or listen.”
“It’s an awful thing to see what’s going on at the universities,” she said. “It’s hard to see a generation of future leaders not even open to asking questions.”
“You’re getting your information from TikTok instead of real-life people who have been to war,” she continued. “To me, that’s ignorance.”
Another passerby barked, “You are a war criminal; how do you sleep at night?”
“I sleep really well because I know that I’m on the right side of history,” Cochva replied.
Military service is mandatory in Israel for all citizens at 18 years old. Women are required to serve for two years, and men are required to serve for three years.
“Of the roughly 100 people she encountered, about 70 percent spewed anti-Israel comments, often shouting or rolling their eyes, she said. Only one person asked her an earnest question,” the Post reported.
“The amount of hate that people had for me today … I was just trying to have peaceful conversations with them,” the beauty queen said in a tearful Instagram post following the ordeal.
“I took an oath to save everyone’s life. I treated Palestinians. I treated terrorists. I treated everyone in Gaza,” she said.
An American military officer stopped Cochva to chat about “the sense of purpose she gained from serving her country,” the Post reported, and another passerby thanked her and told her, “I’m with your people.”
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