The NYPD arrested an Orthodox Jewish activist and radio host on Sunday night after a journalist was reportedly
assaulted while covering protests against newly implemented COVID-19 restrictions across the city, according to
Newsweek.

The new measures limit gatherings in houses of worship and other areas identified as COVID-19 clusters or hotspots.

You can read more on Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions — as well as the responding protests —
here.

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What are the details?

Authorities took Harold “Heshy” Tischler into custody on Sunday evening in connection with an assault on Orthodox Jewish journalist Jacob Kornbluh.

Tischler, also a candidate for Brooklyn’s City Council, is the host of “Just Enough Heshy” radio show.

Kornbluh was assaulted last week while covering protests in the Brooklyn area.

According to Newsweek, he told authorities that he was “brutally assaulted” during the protests, “hit in the head,” and “kicked at by an angry crowd of hundreds of community members” — all reportedly on Tischler’s ordering.

The crowd, Kornbluh recalled, yelled “Nazi” and “Hitler” at him as Tischler demanded they chase him away from the protests.

According to the Daily Beast, Kornbluh — a Jewish Insider reporter — became the “subject of ire following his reporting of social-distancing violations in neighborhoods where many ultra-Orthodox Jews live.”

“Kornbluh was covering an anti-lockdown protest last week when he said Tischler, one of the most visible critics of lockdown and mask measures in Brooklyn, spotted him and urged supporters to pursue him,” the outlet reported. “Kornblush said he was subsequently hit and kicked by the crowd.”

Last week, Newsweek reported:

On Wednesday, Tischler tweeted a video about the “evil snitch” Kornbluh, referring to him as a “rat” for calling the authorities on him and claiming he “hates the Jewish community.”

During Thursday’s protest, Tischler can be seen yelling at Kornbluh “you’re a moser, everyone scream moser” as a large crowd of people—many of whom are not wearing masks—swarm around him.

Moser is a legal term which refers to a Jewish person who informs on Jews to the secular authorities. Some Jewish legal figures believe mosers should be subjected to the death penalty.

Following the incident, Kornbluh issued a statement thanking the public for their support.

“I want to thank the people who got in harm’s way — and might have gotten injured— to protect me,” Kornbluh said. “I am filing charges against Heshy Tischler for incitement and physical assault and will seek charges against any individual who hit me.”

Kornbluh did, indeed, file charges, prompting Tischler’s Sunday night arrest.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the NYPD told Newsweek, “The New York City Police Department Warrant Squad has taken Harold ‘Heshy’ Tischler into custody. He will be charged with inciting to riot and unlawful imprisonment in connection with an assault of a journalist that took place on October 7, 2020, in Brooklyn.”

You can see some of the videos from the incident involving Kornbluh below.

What happened then?

According to the outlet, protesters swarmed Kornbluh’s home on Sunday night and Monday morning following Tischler’s arrest.

While outside Kornbluh’s home, protesters chanted “No Heshy, no peace!”

The Daily Beast on Monday
reported that protesters outside of Kornbluh’s home on Sunday night also chanted “Shame on you” under the careful watch of police.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the NYPD said, “No arrests [were] effected or summonses [were] issued.”