NYC Dad of Sisters Who Destroyed Israeli Child Hostage Posters Claims They Are ‘Good Girls’

The father of two women seen in New York City ripping down posters of Israeli child hostages is standing by the sisters.

The incident happened Tuesday on the Upper West Side. Hasan Bakaret, who immigrated from Lebanon, told the New York Post on Friday, “Coming to America now, they are good girls. I used to teach them but never mentioned the religion. It’s not about Jewish and Muslim. It’s about land, power and who can control.”

“And now my daughters are watching pictures of babies dying, buildings collapse on people. It does something,” he added.

The pair, identified as Aya and Dana, were seen by Marilyn Adler tearing down the posters from a store’s window. Adler was with her two adult daughters at the time. The family asked them not to remove the flyers but received curses instead, which made them feel afraid.

Video footage shows the tense encounter:

The Adler family has since filed a police report, according to the Post.

The incident is one among many that have occurred since the terrorist group Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel on October 7, Breitbart News reported.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nation is “at war” and that the terrorists “will pay a price it has never known before.”

A fitness trainer recently told a cameraman he was “proud” to rip down a poster of kidnapped Israeli children while walking into a Gold’s Gym located in Venice, California, the outlet reported on October 26:

“He is apparently uncaring or unaware of the irony of working out at Gold’s Gym – an iconic fitness brand begun by a Jewish bodybuilder named Joe Gold,” the Breitbart News article noted.

Meanwhile, Bakaret told the Post he talked to his daughters about the incident, saying he disapproved of the colorful language they used. He also insisted they are not antisemitic.

“Bakaret said his daughters claimed they had been provoked by Adler, and that she had snatched a photo of a dead Palestinian baby from Aya’s hand,” the Post article stated.

On Friday, Israel warned its citizens to be cautious when traveling abroad and to avoid “openly displaying Israeli and Jewish symbols,” according to Breitbart News.

“There has been a massive surge in antisemitism worldwide since Palestinian Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, killing over 1,400 people. The attacks on Jews, and protests demonstrating support for Hamas, began before Israel mounted a response to the Hamas terror attack,” the outlet said. (Note: the Israeli government has since revised the total number of those killed during the October 7 Hamas attack to around 1,200.)

Editor’s Note:  This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.  The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.