“Being doxed and tied to specific locations was both alarming and nerve-wracking,” Randy Settenbrino told The Jerusalem Post on Monday while recounting his family’s experience of a three-month antisemitic harassment campaign.
The harasser, Donovan Hall, has just been sentenced to 49 months in prison for his campaign of intimidation, terror, and harassment against the Settenbrinos, who own and run the Blue Moon Hotel, a kosher establishment in Manhattan.
“Hall contacted us over a thousand times,” Settenbrino wrote in his impact statement to the court.
“He called our business, our home, and my personal cellphone often dozens of times a day, including in the middle of the night,” Settenbrino continued. “He would say that he was outside our door or ‘on the way,’ threatening to kill us, mutilate us, and rape our staff. He repeated our home address aloud during his threats – a chilling reminder that he knew exactly where we lived.”
“We were living in a state of relentless fear.”
He told the Post that while he endured many sleepless nights, “the greatest pain has been our concern for [our six] children.”
Two of his children are IDF lone reservists, something which seemingly provoked Hall to begin his campaign.
“It is indeed a battle we are all waging,” Settenbrino said. “What we are experiencing is a tailwind from the broader holy war taking place across the world.”
“The fact that it has reared its ugly head here in the United States, cloaked in the guise of righteous indignation, is merely a symptom of how swiftly and deeply this malignancy has spread throughout the Western world.”
This campaign of antisemitic harassment had a huge impact on the business. One employee quit after receiving a phone call from Hall. An intern placement agency withdrew its students, fearing for their safety. Business came to a standstill.
Inverted red triangles – strongly associated nowadays with Hamas – were painted on the hotel. “The toll this took on our family cannot be overstated,” Settenbrino said.
'New York allowed this to fester'
He told the Post that he could no more trust America than he could have Nazi Germany, “Because it’s not the people, it’s the government. It’s what the government allows.”
“The city of New York allowed this to fester. The mayor allowed it to fester. The governor allowed it to fester. They allowed it, and they allow it to fester throughout all the cities throughout the United States.”
Settenbrino worries about Zohran Mamdani being elected as mayor. “It’s not going to be good because he’s going to be weak on crime,” he said. “And with this crime, there’s antisemitism, there’s Jews targeted. You know, two and a half million Jews left the Soviet Union because of the pogroms. It only takes a few incidents to get people up and running.”
He and his family nevertheless remain “proud Jews and proud Americans,” Settenbrino said.
“We have built our lives and our business around community, creativity, and faith. To be targeted so hatefully because of the antisemitic contagion for who we are was a deep violation, not only of our safety, but of our humanity.”