NYC synagogue attack witness blasts New York Times as downplaying rampage

An outraged witness ripped the New York Times for downplaying Friday night’s attack on Central Synagogue, “perverting the reality that an extremely violent and frightening incident” took place inside a place of worship, and “diluting the true story and subtext.”Harry Zimmerman fired off a lengthy Facebook screed condemning the Gray Lady’s reporting of the violent attack on the high-profile synagogue that left one congregant with gruesome wounds and a security guard assaulted. “I saw what happened Friday night,” wrote Zimmerman, 70, who was sitting in the sixth row of the “packed” synagogue on Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street.“I cannot emotionally consolidate … the difference between what I witnessed from a few feet away and how The New York Times decided to describe the event,” the shaken witness continued, noting that the hateful perp – Larry Montes, who reportedly seethed, “f–k the Jews” – was charged with a hate crime. The Times article, which described the violent, unhinged attack as “interrupt[ing]” worshippers and “rattl[ing] New Yorkers,” deceptively downplayed the actual event, according to Zimmerman.“I have heard for years that the Times is unfairly critical and biased in its coverage of Israel and issues affecting the Jewish community.People can debate that if they like.

What was different this time was that I did not need anyone else’s interpretation.I was there.

I saw it happen,” he wrote.The hateful attacker “violently disrupted” the Shabbat services attended by hundreds of worshipers, according to Zimmerman, who found it “difficult to reconcile” the Times description of the unprovoked attack with the reality he saw right before him.Zimmerman laced into the Times for whitewashing the actions of Montes, 46, whom the paper described as “agitated” and “struggled” as he “hit” 63-year-old Michele Anenbeg-Poma, who was seen with a busted lip and a bloody gash on her right forearm.�...