Dozens of New Yorkers gathered Friday at a vigil to mark the 30 years since 16-year-old student Ari Halberstam was tragically slaughtered on the Brooklyn Bridge — all because he was Jewish.
Mayor Eric Adams, New York Attorney General Letitia James and a slew of NYPD and FBI officials were among those who joined the slain teenager’s loved ones at the site of the 1994 antisemitic terror attack.
“On that day, at that moment, my life was forever changed. We became victims of terrorism,” his inconsolable mom, Devorah Halberstam, told the roughly 100-strong crowd of mourners and dignitaries.
The teen was murdered in a hail of bullets when anti-Israel terrorist, Rashid Baz, opened fire on the van Ari and 15 other Orthodox Jewish students were riding in as it approached the Manhattan side of the bridge on the morning of March 1, 1994.
“I cannot fathom the bloodthirsty hatred that permeating the ideological poison that infiltrated his existence that led him down this path,” Halberstam said of her son’s killer.
“Today, as I stand here with you, I want to be clear: hate has seeped into our society like a plague. And we need to make changes,” she continued.
“We have to turn antisemitism — that has a life of its own — into love.”
Baz, the Lebanese-born gunman, was subsequently sentenced to 141 years in prison over Ari’s killing.
More than a decade after his conviction, the terrorist finally copped to opening fire on the students simply because they were Jewish.
“Ari Halberstam’s murder shook our city. Sadly, we continue to see the vile antisemitic hate that stole his life persist in our country and world to this day,” Mayor Adams said in a statement.
“On the 30th anniversary of this vicious act of terror, we stand with the Halberstam family, our Jewish community, and against hate — now and forever.”
In the wake of the bloodshed, Ari’s mother dedicated her life to eradicating hate — including playing an instrumental role in passing the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, which she worked on alongside then-Gov. George Pataki.
The bridge’s southbound ramp — the scene of the antisemitic attack — was later renamed the “Ari Halberstam Ramp” in the wake of his slaying.
