Editor’s Note: Norwood News is officially on our annual summer hiatus. However, we are continuing to publish some ad hoc stories online that we couldn’t get to earlier this year. We hope you all get to enjoy the last few weeks of summer and thanks, as always, for reading. 

A Bronx Palestinian advocate appears to have been arrested after he heckled Democratic U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15), a staunch defender of Israel, while the congressman spoke at a memorial service in the Wakefield section of The Bronx on Friday, Aug. 1, for fallen NYPD Det. First Grade Didarul Islam of the 47th Precinct, a Bangladeshi American Muslim.

 

As reported, Islam was killed along with three other victims while on a security assignment in Midtown Manhattan on July 28 during a mass shooting by a las Vegas gunman.

 

Several elected officials including NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, in addition to Torres, joined the Precinct commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Muhammad J. Ashraf, and Islam’s colleagues at the vigil, held in front of the stationhouse on Laconia Avenue. Torres represents a large section of The Bronx stretching from the northwest to the South Bronx.

 

The vigil followed the prior dignified transfer of Islam’s body to his local mosque in Parkchester and his subsequent funeral service held a few days before, attended by thousands, including Adams, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Gov. Kathy Hochul whose decision to attend the funeral wearing a headscarf was later questioned by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, as reported.

 

In a video (Video 1) of the subsequent Aug. 1 vigil posted live to social media, longtime Bronx community activist and Puerto Rican Muslim Aldo Rafael Perez is heard at the event angrily commenting throughout most of the congressman’s remarks as he stands facing the elected officials behind a police barricade that had been placed between members of the public and members of the media.

 

In Video 1, Torres is heard addressing the crowd, saying, “Officer Islam prepared for a better life, only to give up his own life to protect our lives and it reminds us that he was an American in the greatest sense of the word. To be an American is not a color but a creed, a service to something greater than yourself, and he led a life [of something] of service to something greater than himself, the safety of our community and our city. For that, we are eternally in his debt.”

 

He continued, “Behind every badge and every uniform is a human being, a father and a mother, a husband and a wife, a son and a daughter, and when you put on that uniform and badge, you have the burden of not knowing if you’re going to come home to the people you love, a burden that most of us will not know, and so when you’re a civilian and you see members of the NYPD out on the streets, we should remember the risk that they take for us.”

 

As Torres is speaking, Perez can be heard in Video 1 saying, “Astaghfirullah” repeatedly, which according to internet sources is an Arabic phrase which has several different meanings. In some cases, it is used to express disapproval or concern when witnessing something inappropriate or hearing something negative.

Also in Video 1, Perez can be heard saying in part in reference to Torres, “This f—ing guy, right here, Ritchie Torres. He’s here today to speak about a Muslim, but over 200,000 Muslims have died by the hands of Israel.” Perez then continues to heckle Torres who at one point raises his voice louder over the public address system.

 

In another video (Video 2) shared with Norwood News by another source who declined to be identified, at one point, a uniformed police officer is seen approaching Perez and appears to grab him as Torres is simultaneously heard almost shouting, “We should thank them [police] for their service and their sacrifice because public safety and those entrusted with protecting it should never be taken for granted.”

 

In Video 1, Perez can be heard saying to the officer, “Don’t put your hands on me! Do not put your hands on me! I’m leaving, but don’t put your hands on me.” Seconds later, more officers are seen entering the frame of Video 2 and Perez is seen being led away from the viewing area. As officers escort him away, Perez turns back towards Torres who is still speaking and yells, “You Zionist!” several times.

 

In Video 1, Perez can be heard again shouting, “You Zionist! You f—ing Zionist! Ritchie Torres is a Zionist!” He is then heard again saying to police, “Get off me!” before a few more officers enter the frame. One officer then instructs him to “keep walking, keep walking” as someone else is heard saying, “Get out of here!” An officer is then heard shouting to fellow officers “92” which is repeated by other officers. The NYPD Code 10-92 is a call for a crime or an arrest.

 

According to the source who shared Video 2 with Norwood News, Perez was upset with Torres “because they have bombed the crap out of other Muslim countries” and “Congress gave all that money to Israel.” Norwood News later spoke with Perez directly about the incident and corroborated with him that this was indeed the rationale for the remarks he directed at Torres.

 

As reported, according to the U.S. government, it spent $6.8 billion in tax payer dollars / foreign aid for Israel in 2024. Accumulatively, the U.S. has spent $300 billion on Israel between 1946 and 2024. On Aug. 7, the U.S. announced a full military takeover of Gaza. For more on this, click here.

Meanwhile, the source who shared Video 2 with us added their own views on the situation in Gaza, saying, “It’s political warfare; it’s politics. This has been going on forever. The only reason we see it more now is because of social media.” [Though Norwood News is a community newspaper rather than an international one, we have long been reporting on the situation in Palestine, including prior to Oct. 7, 2023 and even as far back as 2005 online.]

 

The congressman later wrote that it had been a solemn honor to speak at the vigil for Islam, adding, “In his memory, I arranged for a flag to be flown over the U.S. Capitol as a symbol of our nation’s gratitude for his service and sacrifice. We are forever in his debt.”

 

Meanwhile, in a subsequent social media post, Perez explained he was later released by the NYPD and issued with a criminal court summons. He said he knows Torres personally and vows that he will be defeated in his next election (in 2026). In an earlier social media post, Perez wrote of Torres, “He has been an adamant supporter of Israel’s Zionist narcissistic regime that has paid him well over $1.5 million to continue a genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.”

 

Norwood News previously reported on how the congressman has benefited from AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] funding/spending, along with his response to us on this matter. According to reporting by City & State, based on a review of campaign filings as of June 2024, the Torres’ campaign collected nearly $600,000 from AIPAC.

 

Meanwhile, Perez said he is the vice president of governmental affairs at the Muslim and Immigrant Coalition for Justice, of which he is also a founding member.

 

Norwood News contacted the NYPD for details of Perez’s apparent arrest and we were informed no arrests took place at Islam’s memorial service. Perez later forwarded a photo of his summons (attached) which was forwarded to the NYPD press office as a follow-up to our inquiry. We did not receive an immediate response.

 

A search of the summons number issued to Perez on the New York State Unified Court System’s website was unsuccessful and simply read, “No cases found.” An extract from the website reads, “Summons information is generally not available until several weeks after the date issued.”

After agreeing to a follow-up, in-person interview with Norwood News on the matter, Perez later said, “After consultation with my attorneys, it was advised that I should not make any statements in reference to the arrest due to the litigation factors of the present charge of disorderly conduct and civil actions being taken this week.”

 

Meanwhile, repeated emails and calls to the congressman’s Bronx office for comment on the incident were met with an email autoreply and an answering machine message.

 

During the July 28 mass shooting which killed Islam, the gunman also shot Alain Etienne, 46, a father, son, brother and security guard from the Haitian American community and two Jewish American women, Julia Hyman, 27, a Rudin Management employee, and Wesley LePatner, 43, a wife, mother to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, who was an executive at Blackstone global investment company. Both women had attended school in the north Bronx.

 

The Free Press later reported that some people and groups (including Antifaa) later wrote in reference to LePatner, “Her death, as a valuable instrument to such evil corporations, is nothing to mourn. Thousands of Americans die every day from situations that her company exacerbates, such as the affordable housing crisis.”

 

Meanwhile, members of the 47th Precinct wrote of how they had stood alongside family, friends, and community members during the candlelight vigil to honor Islam and that white balloons were released in a solemn tribute to his life and service. “His courage, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” they wrote. As reported, Islam’s wife, Jamila Islam, gave birth to the couple’s third son, Arham Islam, on Sunday, Aug. 17.

 

According to reporting by the Associated Press as of June 11, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023 by the Israeli Defense Authority [IDF], many of whom are children, and 127,394 have been wounded.

 

According to more recent reporting by Al Jazeera, Israel has killed nearly 19,000 children in Gaza and more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023,

 

Meanwhile, AP reported in June that since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages, more than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals, while Israeli forces have rescued eight, and recovered the remains of dozens more hostages.

 

Perez was recently featured as a respondent in the latest Inquiring Photographer feature of Norwood News, the topic of which was the hunger crisis in Gaza. During an unrelated event in Norwood on Friday, Aug. 15, attended by both Perez and Norwood News, Perez took issue with the publication’s editor, Síle Moloney, for having included a “rebuttal” to Perez’s allegations about Torres in the same Inquiring Photographer article.

 

In the article we had indeed included some X posts by Torres which were relevant to Perez’s allegations and to the topic under discussion. Moloney explained to Perez that journalism ethics and libel laws require that when allegations are made against a third party, they have to be fact-checked and the subject of the allegations must be offered the opportunity to respond.

Perez disagreed saying other publications did not adhere to this practice. Moloney said she could not comment on what happens at other publications. Perez later wrote a disparaging post on social media implying the Norwood News was biased in its coverage of Gaza in favor of Israel.

 

A sample of some of our reporting on Gaza, as well as some published op-eds on the same topic can be read here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. This does not include other reporting on incidents of anti-Semitism on which we have also reported.

 

Torres, a former critic of Hochul, endorsed the governor in her reelection bid on Tuesday, Aug. 19. Both face reelection next year.

 

Perez has since advised that the charges were dropped. We are checking with the Bronx District Attorney’s office and will update this story accordingly upon receipt of more information.