Former Miss Israel assaulted by pro-Hamas demonstrator in Times Square

25-year-old Noa Cochva was waving an Israeli flag in a counter-protest while a pro-Hamas rally was going on. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A former Israeli beauty queen was hit in the face with a sign by an anti-Israel protester in New York City’s Times Square last month.

Twenty-five-year-old Noa Cochva, who was crowned Miss Israel in 2021, was waving an Israeli flag at a counter-protest across from a pro-Hamas rally.

A man began arguing with Cochva and hit her in the face with a sign before fleeing the scene.

Cochva later recalled that a group of pro-Hamas protesters  “threw down our flag . . . and they came down and one of the guys hit me.”

The former Miss Israel, who served as a medic in the IDF, refused medical care following the incident.

Cochva was visiting the U.S. as part of a Public Diplomacy Campaign.

She took to social media to describe the incident, and wrote, “4 of us Israelis went to counter a protest and were up against 5000 people.”

She continued, “We went straight into the heart of the protest and waved the Israeli flag showing our pride.”

“They can intimidate us, outnumber us, rip our flags out of our hands and even be violent, but they will NEVER take away our pride,” Cochva concluded.

Cochva also mentioned that police officers said they were unable to do anything about the incident.

On April 10th, Cochava filed criminal charges against the assailant.

The news of the attack in New York emerges as many universities, including Columbia and NYU, are being overrun with anti-Israel demonstrations.

In Columbia, students have been encamped on campus for over a week and regularly harass Jewish students who try to walk through campus.

The anti-Israel protesters have been caught on video declaring that they support Hamas and their statement that they aim to commit October 7th atrocities repeatedly.

The tone of these protests has become so severe that Columbia has suspended in-person classes for the time being until the demonstrations have been reined in.

As Jews celebrated Passover seders on Monday night, pro-Palestinian protests overtook the NYU campus which resulted in violence and the arrest of around 133 demonstrators.