Anti Israel activists held a protest at a New York City synagogue on Tuesday evening, against an Israeli real estate exposition that was reportedly scheduled to be held there.
“There is only one solution, Intifada, revolution,” keffiyeh clad protesters chanted across from a police cordon in an Instagram story uploaded by Palestinian Assembly for Liberation Al-Awda in New York City and New Jersey (PAL-Awda NY/NJ).
PAL-Awda, which had organized a rally against a November Nefesh b’Nefesh Aliyah event at the same site, said on Monday that it would be organizing a protest at the Park East Synagogue. According to the group, the synagogue was hosting an exposition of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, which it believed to be selling “stolen Palestinian land.”
Park East did not respond to a query, but a congregant told The Jerusalem Post that an event was happening at the synagogue on Tuesday, and security barriers were set up earlier in the day. Great Israeli Real Estate organizers didn’t respond to a request for comment, but according to their website an event was indeed planned for Manhattan on Tuesday.
PAL-Awda argued that the event was advertising settlements in the disputed territories, which was ostensibly a violation of local, federal, and international laws.
“We will not be silent as ethnic cleansing is being actively promoted in our neighborhoods,” the anti-Israel organization said on Instagram on Saturday.
The November protest at the synagogue was met with outrage, not just due to the location of the rally, but also due to the rhetoric of the participants.
Activists chanted for Intifada and revolution, and repeated slogans such as “death to the IDF,” and “Resistance, you make us proud, take another settler out.”
A spokesperson for the then New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said at the time that he condemned the language used by protesters, and that residents should be able to enter houses of worship without intimidation, but that “sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
