Tensions erupted Tuesday evening outside a Manhattan synagogue when approximately 100 protesters confronted New York City police during a demonstration against an Israeli real estate event taking place inside Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side.
Video footage captured demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and using drums while positioned about half a block from the synagogue. The crowd voiced chants including “Palestine will never die” and “Stop the sale of stolen land.”
Other slogans heard throughout the evening included: “We don’t want no two states, we want all of it,” “End the settler Zionist state,” “Death to the IDF,” and “There is only one solution, intifada revolution.” Participants also called out in Arabic “From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab” as they marched to drum rhythms.
Recorded footage revealed physical altercations between demonstrators and NYPD officers when protesters tried to break through police barriers that had been set up around the area.
During the demonstration, one participant was observed hitting a photograph of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the deceased spiritual leader of the Chabad Hasidic movement, while other protesters made triangle hand gestures linked to Hamas imagery.
A smaller opposing group assembled in the vicinity, displaying placards that read “Antizionism is a hate movement” and “Antizionism gets Jews killed.” Several counter-demonstrators performed “Hatikva,” Israel’s national anthem.
The anti-Zionist protesters directed hostile language toward the counter-demonstrators, calling them “Nazis,” “pedophiles,” and “baby killers,” and telling them “Go kill yourself.”
The activist organization Pal-Awda NY/NJ coordinated Tuesday’s demonstration. This same group previously organized a protest at the identical synagogue location in November during an event sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh, which helps facilitate Jewish relocation from America to Israel.
Reports indicate that the November demonstration drew approximately 200 participants who harassed attendees as they entered the synagogue for that event.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has been characterized as critical of Israel, had not issued any public statements regarding Tuesday evening’s protest.
