In March 2024, zionists held an illegal real estate auction of stolen Palestinian land at Keter Torah Congregation synagogue in Teaneck, NJ. The event drew scores pro-Palestinian protestors and around 100 zionists bent on furthering their settler colonialist aims in occupied Palestine. These zionists were largely bused in from all over the tristate area (NY, NJ, PA) and showed up to combat protestors. While the zionists were outnumbered by protesters, there were a number of them that stood out for their racist behavior and attempted assaults on pro-Palestine protesters. Some of the stand out zionists were covered by NJ Hate Watch in March and April 2024, more reading on them can be found here and here.
Since the illegal land sale event and protest, additional zionists from the event have come out of the woodwork due their alarming behavior towards pro Palestinian protesters. Antifascists have been working to identify each of these individuals to ensure they are held accountable.
One such zionist, who used hate speech to intimidate pro-Palestinian protestors, has been positively identified as Tenafly, NJ resident and active Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) soldier Tzvi Atkin.
Atkin is a part of the “elite” Duvdevan Unit, a notorious unit that often poses as civilians to carry out extra judicial killings and kidnappings in Gaza and the West Bank. It is also the same unit that murdered Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022. Atkin has had a long career in the IOF and is currently on deployment, but recently took leave to visit family in Tenafly, NJ. This included visiting the shiva his sister runs as a bit of IOF propaganda.
Atkin also utilized his time on leave from the Duvdevan Unit to harass Palestinians and pro-Palestine supporters during the March 2024 illegal land sale in Teaneck, NJ. In footage from the event, Atkin can be seen multiple times harassing protestors with racial and misogynistic slurs. Atkin also paired up with other identified zionists like far right wannabe commentator Jacob Falach, who gained notoriety for flashing Gazan death toll numbers at protestors.
While Atkin’s behavior during the event was horrific, his actions in occupied Palestine, as documented by his own social media accounts, is even more disturbing and egregious. Like other IOF soldiers, Atkin has taken to social media to brag about his war crimes and to gain social clout as an occupation soldier.
Atkin has documented his role in the Palestinian genocide by referring to his actions as “the destruction of amalek”, a notoriously racist and contextually genocidal term that refers to the mass slaughter Arabs. He has also geo-tagged his location in Gaza as “Gush Katif”, a former settler colonial neighborhood in Gaza, that prior to Israel’s exodus from Gaza in the early 2,00os, served as the base for Israeli settler colonial activity.
Atkin can be seen pictured occupying entire communities, swimming on the shores of Gaza with other IOF soldiers, and destroying individual homes and their contents.
Atkin can not be allowed to continue to terrorize communities in NJ or Palestine. He must be held responsible for his actions. He can be reported for war crimes to the International Criminal Court at: otplink.icc-cpi.int. All evidence from this article can be attached for proof.
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