SAHAR TARTAK, JEWISH YALE STUDENT JOURNALIST, NOW BEING LABELLED A ‘ZIONIST’? NETIZENS CLAIM ‘SHE FAKED A HATE CRIME’
On April 22, Sahar Tartak, a Yale University student journalist of the Jewish faith, came out on social media with her Yale Fresh Press op-ed piece about allegedly being stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag during an anti-Israel demonstration at the US campus that past weekend.
Penning her purported claims about the “eye-stabbing” incident, the Yale Free Press editor-in-chief addressed supposedly being “taunted” by the “middle finger," raised at her by pro-Palestinian protesters. She wrote about a “six-foot-something male protester holding a Palestinian flag," who first “waved the flag in (her) face and then stabbed (her) with it in (her) left eye.” Appearing for several interviews with leading US media outlets, including Fox News, The New York Post and others, thereafter, she persistently foregrounded this attack targeting due to her “visibly Jewish attire.”
Among a dozen other claims, she persistently pointed out being subjected to a “hate crime" and facing “anti-Semitic” remarks. However, more Internet discussions around her and the recent surfacing video of the alleged on-campus “attack” on her have initiated a heated online debate, with netizens concerned about the credibility of her claims. Once Tartak's existence went viral on social media after the April incident at Yale, past remarks highlighting her supposed one-sided and flawed perception of the matter have also come into focus.
The Internet exposes Sahar Tartak as a “professional pro-Israel agitator posing as a victimized ‘Jewish student’”?
On May 3, Matt Orfalea and Matt Taibbi posted an op-ed piece, titled “Orf vs. The Memory Hole: ‘Stabbed in the Eye’” on Racket News. Therein, they exposed Sahar's ‘tale’ of being “stabbed in the eye" with a supporting confrontational video entitled “Hate Crime Hoax: ‘Stabbed with a Palestinian Flag for Being a Jew.’”
Additionally, Matt Orfalea (@0rf) even shared the video recording of Tartak's “eye-stabbing” horror. It draws attention to a group of pro-Palestinian protesters passing by Tartak (presumably documenting the scene). As opposed to Tartak foregrounding people hurling “anti-Semitic” slurs at her while waving the middle finger, the footage doesn't forward any supporting evidence for her claims. Instead, it pictures demonstrators waving and shooting up the V-sign gesture at the camera.
On the other hand, the actual “eye-stabbing” moment isn't captured on camera. The video abruptly cuts off with Tartak's cries, “Ow ow, you stabbed…” as the Palestinian flag-bearing individual passed by her, waving it near the camera. It remains unclear - as seen in the video - if the flag's end was jabbed into her eye or not, especially since other videos featuring her after that don't show her having sustained an injury.
Some netizens have instead pointed this incident out as an “accident” rather than a consciously pre-meditated “attack” on Tartak for her Jewish faith. The Majority Report, a political talk show, also shared a discussion of the matter, debunking Tartak's claims in an April 26 YouTube video titled “Yale Zionist’s 'Stabbed By Palestinian Flag' Claim Hilariously Debunked.”
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Internet users also drew focus to her interview appearances, highlighting that no such marks of an “eye injury” could be visibly spotted as she joined the Piers Morgan Uncensored show or even her Fox New appearance, wherein she twisted the symbolic meaning of the ‘watermelon’ symbol for the Palestine cause.
In an April 22 YouTube video of her interview with Fox News, Tartak went on to explain the ‘watermelon’ symbol's meaning to the host. She declared its presence as a “symbol… against the Jewish people, like all the other symbols these students are using in favour of violent, terroristic acts against Jews.” However, pro-Palestinian protesters have been communicating their solidarity with the Palestinian cause through the watermelon paraphernalia, as the fruit's colours distinctly reflect the colours of the Palestinian flag.
Sahar Tartak's social media presence has been under severe scrutiny, which also spotlighted another one of her purported claims, accusing Yale University of implementing an “anti-Semitic” action in December 2023.
In a tweet dated December 12, 2023, she wrote: "At Yale, the years-old, popular "Israeli couscous salad with spinach and tomatoes," has been renamed in our dining halls as the same exact dish but without the word “Israeli.”
User @ViktorKagan promptly questioned the potential unreliability of her remarks back then by sharing a picture from the Yale Dining Hall, reporting the retention of the salad's name as “Israeli Couscous Salad with Spinach and Tomatoes."
With the growing distrust in all claims made by the student journalist, recent tweets from Internet users have criticised her as "a professional pro-Israel agitator posing as a victimised “Jewish student.”
Someone wrote on X/Twitter on May 5 (IST), “Like other Zionist youth, she's been indoctrinated to exploit historical Jewish persecution to protect Jewish supremacy over occupied Palestine.”
Another X user chimed in, "Here is the latest Zionist invention. Was this student stabbed in the eye because she was a Jew?
No. In fact there was no stabbing in the eye at all, as can be seen by the fact that she sustained no injury whatsoever. To be fair, she did claim she got a headache."
A third one wrote, “I didn't realize how far this false claim went. There has been such an incredible absence of violence at these protests that it has required fictionalizing and promoting a few cases. Contrast this with the unbelievable levels of violence used to later suppress them.”
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2024-05-06T00:34:08Z dg43tfdfdgfd