The cousin of a rescued Israeli hostage was targeted in a shocking antisemitic attack at a Lower East Side restaurant on Saturday — and is still rattled by the assault.
Josh Tepper — whose cousin, Luis Har, was freed from his Hamas captors last year — told The Post he was having a casual business meeting at El Cabron Taqueria on Essex Street when another patron suddenly poured a pitcher of water over his head and yelled, “Free Palestine.”
“It was a very shocking experience,” Tepper said Sunday. “I’ve lived in New York for 28 years, I’m from here. I’m very proud to be Jewish, went to Jewish state school. Never have I ever in that way been accosted for being Jewish.”
“It was aggressive,” he said. “It was jarring, it was upsetting.”
Tepper said he was having a quiet dinner with business partner Carlos Leon — a one-time beau of pop diva Madonna — when he was attacked “out of nowhere.”
The two founded OG Daddy, which Tepper describes as “a lifestyle brand and cannabis brand.”
He said that at one point during their dinner conversation, he mentioned that he wanted to visit Tel Aviv — which was apparently enough to trigger the antisemitic dousing.
“That is not a political statement. I didn’t say I hate any group of people, I didn’t say what side I’m on,” Tepper said. “Literally out of nowhere this guy took a pitcher — swear to God — and poured it on me, on the table. My phone was covered. And he said ‘Free Palestine’ and he said something else that I kind of blocked out and he just walked right out.”
He said Leon got up to confront the alleged antisemite, but the “coward” scampered away.
Restaurant staff comped the two a drink and said the assailant had grabbed the pitcher by telling employees that he was thirsty and just wanted to refill his glass — and dumped it on Tepper instead.
He said the incident caught him off guard, but concedes he’s had to become more vigilant amid heightened antisemitic sentiments in the Big Apple since Hamas’ sneak attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the retaliatory strikes by the Jewish State in the Gaza Strip.
“I’m always on alert because I’m Jewish, especially now. But this was to a new level,” he said. “It’s been like a year and a half, almost two years of things just progressively getting worse, and more and more of my friends are having nuanced experiences like this.”
Har, his 71-year-old cousin, was rescued in February 2024 after 129 days as a Hamas prisoner, thanks to a daring raid by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
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