"After taking time to contemplate and reflect on our recent actions, we want to send our sincerest apologies to the Jewish gentleman we yelled at, gestured to and said unkind things to, as well as to the global Jewish community for our recent actions in New York City. Our behavior was simply unacceptable, and we are ashamed of our actions and words. We hope to have the opportunity to speak to the gentleman personally and apologize directly to him. We have never supported Hamas and have always believed it is a terrorist organization.”
The public apology from Kurush Mistry and his partner Shailja Gupta was carried in the New York Post on November 17, 2023, eight days after a video went viral of Mistry covering a lamppost with posters of demeaning messages like "Israel is an apartheid state and commits genocide;” "Occupiers face consequences.” Gupta was seen telling the Jew to "f– off” and accused Israelis of being "rapists.”
Kurush Mistry (l) and Shailja Gupta as seen in the video
Freepoint Commodities, a Connecticut based company where Mistry worked as an oil analyst, had released a statement on Linkedin announcing it was "aware of the recent anti-Semitic incident reported on social media, and the individual involved is no longer associated with Freepoint. We welcome the diversity of views and opinions held by our employees, but Freepoint does not tolerate discrimination and hate speech directed against any group.”
As reported in the Indian newspapers, Mistry is an alumnus of the 2003 batch of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and holds a certificate from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He had graduated in commerce from the University of Madras.
Following the racist incident, the couple had reportedly received many death threats. In their apology, they mentioned, "This was our first time engaging in civic protest, and our goal was to emphasize the plight of Palestinian men, women and children who are dying and suffering in Gaza. We fully acknowledge the pain of the Jewish people in the US, in Israel, and globally, and we regret that our actions added to that pain. We unequivocally denounce anti-Semitism, violence and terrorism in every form.
"We hope that by our future actions and words, we will slowly earn back your trust in our good intentions for all humanity and that you can hopefully see that we are more than our worst actions and mistakes.”