Las Vegas Strip Site of Possible Hate Crime Against Jewish Tourist, Suffers Head Injuries

Posted on: May 27, 2021, 11:06h. 

Last updated on: May 27, 2021, 11:28h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A 67-year-old Jewish man was shoved to the sidewalk on the Las Vegas Strip near the Park MGM earlier this week. He suffered a noticeable gash on his head, and one report said he had a “bloody head wound & concussion.”

He fell back from the assault and smacked his head
Paul Lebowitz, shown here. The Jewish tourist was assaulted on the Las Vegas Strip this week in a possible hate crime. (Image: KVVU)

Paul Lebowitz’s family reported Monday’s incident to Las Vegas Metro police. It was classified as a case of battery, and Lebowitz wants it investigated as an anti-Semitic hate crime, KVVU, a local TV station, reported.

Lebowitz is a paramedic in New York who was visiting The Strip as a tourist with his family. He began talking to a second man in a coffee shop near the Park MGM Las Vegas.

The two men later walked on the sidewalk outside of Eataly marketplace near the hotel.

Thrown To Ground

“We talked about Israel-Palestine until he said, ‘The Jews are not going to exist.’ And I said, ‘I’m a proud Jew,’” Lebowitz told KVVU.

That’s when it got violent,” Lebowitz added. “He yells out, ‘Baby killers.’ Puts his hand to my face and throws me to the ground.”

“I fell back. I smacked my head,” Lebowitz told the TV station.

Lebowitz recalled that the assailant was much taller than him. The violence was captured on surveillance video.

Lebowitz was wearing a Jewish Star of David around his neck during the incident. “He’s anti-Jewish. It’s a hate crime to me,” Lebowitz said.

In recent weeks, from Los Angeles to New York City, local police received reports on Jews being violently attacked in the US. There was also damage to Jewish-owned businesses in the US.

“It may have been an isolated incident here in Las Vegas, but it’s happening in New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Boston,” Lebowitz told KVVU. “It has to stop.”

Lebowitz said the assault will not keep him from returning to Las Vegas.

Word of the assault also was picked up by Dov Hikind (D), a former New York State assemblyman who is the founder of a group called Americans Against Antisemitism.

On Wednesday, Hikind tweeted that Lebowitz suffered “A bloody head wound & concussion” from the attack.

The US incidents come with the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group based in Gaza. Hamas terrorists pounded Israel with over 4,000 rockets. Israel responded with a bombardment against Hamas strategic locations in Gaza.

Sheldon Adelson Subject of Social Media Post

In another incident, recently, a new staff member of the Associated Press, identified as Emily Wilder, was fired from the bureau in Phoenix, Ariz. after it came to light she had posted on social media anti-Israel, and pro-Palestinian messages.

While in college, Wilder also allegedly posted that Sheldon Adelson, the late casino mogul who was a major supporter of Israel and US Republican causes, was a “naked mole rat-looking billionaire.”