Muslim woman defends Jewish family from 'racially aggravated' harassment on subway

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/11/26/asma-shuweikh-subway-harassment-jewish-muslim-woman-london-underground/23868369/

Dillon Thompson
Nov 26th 2019 12:46PM

A woman is being heralded for her "special" and "brave" actions after she stepped in to defend a Jewish family from anti-Semitic harassment.

Asma Shuweikh was riding the London Underground on Friday afternoon when she heard another passenger aggressively shouting at a man and his young son, Sky News reported.

The apparently irate passenger read passages aloud from the Christian bible — including one about the "synagogue of Satan" — and directed comments toward the father and son, both of whom were wearing yarmulkes, the traditional, brimless caps worn by some Jewish men.

"Just ignore him," the father says to his son, according to a video of the incident posted to Twitter by a user named Chris Atkins.

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Shuweikh said she had no clue she was being filmed, adding that she simply took a stand because she'd hope to receive similar help if she were being harassed.

"If it had been me, I would have liked someone to stand up for me," she told Sky News.

The video does not show what happened to the passenger making the anti-Semitic remarks, but the British Transport Police reported that he was arrested the following day. Identified only as a 35-year-old male, he was charged with a "racially aggravated" public order offense related to the incident on the train.