Noa Cochva, the 2021 Miss Israel champion, was hit on face with the butt of a protest placard last month during a pro-Palestine rally in New York City, according to a report by the New York Post.
Cochva, who has been serving on the front lines of the Israel-Hamas war as a combat medic since the October 7 attack, was doing advocacy work for Israel in Times Square in New York City when she became the target of the ire of pro-Palestine activists on March 30.
She was visiting for a few weeks and was present at Times Square with pro-Israel activists.
“We just saw a huge pro-Palestinian rally, and we wanted to go and do our own thing… And then they recognized us when they saw our flag and they threw down our flag… and they came down and one of the guys hit me. I had a black eye, I have never had a black eye before,” Cochva was quoted as saying by the New York Post.
Cochva was treated in an ambulance after the assault but she was taken aback by the response given by the New York Police Department (NYPD) cops when she complained about the incident.
“(They said) ‘we can’t do anything’,” she said. “I feel like if you’re a police officer, and you see a woman get hit in the face, you should probably find the guy because that’s your job,” she further added.
She initially let the issue go but decided to press charges on April 10. The NYPD said it does not have a report but later told the New York Post that no arrests were made and the probe was ongoing.
Cochva, who is also a pastry chef, said she served outside Gaza treating not just wounded soldiers but also terrorists from Hamas.
“As a combat medic, you take an oath to swear to save every person’s life, no matter if he’s an enemy or a loved one,” she said.
“When you’re talking with soldiers . . . there’s stages that you have to go through to help them to come back to life because their mind is still in Gaza,” she further added.
She urged Americans to not get swayed by what she described as “Hamas propaganda often published in sympathetic American media outlets”.
“There’s so many things that I’m hearing about people saying there wasn’t any rape … people saying there is no proof. I don’t understand how in 2024 after the ‘MeToo’ movement that people can actually say that they don’t believe women,” she told the newspaper.
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