The odds were 10:3. A mob, one of whom had been involved with racist attacks on blacks in the past, attacked three Jews for having the NERVE to wish them "Happy Hanukkah" in response to "Merry Christmas." This occurred on the NYC subway, well within a part of the world considered more or less free of such stupid bigotry. But the ten bigots who mobbed the Jews for wishing them "Happy Hanukkah" included a woman who was the perfect illustration of the stupidity such bigots embrace when she referred to Hanukkah as the day Jews celebrate the killing of Christ.

Hanukkah, of course, pre-dated the birth of Christ by some 200 years, and represented the success of Jewish rebellion against the Syrian Greeks.

Reporting on this a bit late...this happened a week ago, but slipped my mind until reminded of it by an email from the Anti-Defamation League

According to the FBI, hate crimes are on the rise again, up nearly 8% in 2006. This month a particularly nasty group of bigots in New York City attacked four Jews on the subway because those Jews had the unmittigated NERVE to say "Happy Hanukkah."

From Haaretz:

On [December 7th], Four Jewish subway riders who wished other people Happy Hanukkah were pelted with anti-Semitic remarks before being beaten, New York police and prosecutors said.

The incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime.

The four were on a train in Manhattan on Friday night, during the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, when they were approached by a group of 10 people who offered holiday greetings. The victims responded, Happy Hanukkah and were assaulted by the larger group, police said Tuesday.