‘Death to the IDF’ – Pro-terror riot outside NY synagogue

An anti-Israel protest outside a Manhattan synagogue turned violent, leaving a police officer wounded.

By World Israel News Staff

Around 100 protesters chanting pro-terror slogans, waving Hezbollah flags and displaying imagery associated with Hamas rioted outside a New York City synagogue Tuesday night, clashing violently with police.

Officers had set up barriers to protect congregants and visitors at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, where a real estate event promoting properties in Israel was taking place. Demonstrators gathered to protest the event, but the situation quickly escalated as rioters stormed the perimeter and confronted police.

According to the NYPD, one officer was hospitalized with a leg injury sustained during the clashes. Authorities said the officer was treated and is expected to recover.

Chants calling for Israel’s destruction rang out from the crowd, including “Death to the IDF,” “It is right to resist, Israel should not exist,” and “There is only one solution: Intifada, revolution.”

Others held Hezbollah flags and wore clothing with inverted red triangles, a symbol used by the Hamas terror group to signify the targeting of Jews.

Karen Lichtbraun, co-sponsor of the pro-Israel advocacy group Herut New York City, which organized a counter-protest, slammed the demonstrators.

Speaking to the New York Post, she described them as “brainwashed fools.”

“Israel does not occupy anything. It’s the Jewish homeland. And this is all anti-Zionism, which is antisemitism, which is Jew-hate,” she added.

The main organizer of the protest was the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation Al-Awda in New York City and New Jersey (PAL-Awda NY/NJ), an anti-Israel group that regularly employs inflammatory rhetoric against the Jewish state.

The group organized a similar protest at a New York synagogue last November that also ended in violence.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, known for his outspoken pro-Palestinian views, issued a statement condemning the real estate event itself. Through a spokesperson, Mamdani said he was “deeply opposed” to the event because it “includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the ‘Occupied West Bank.’”

However, the mayor did not condemn the protesters or their violent rhetoric, instead stating they were exercising their First Amendment rights. He added that the mayor’s office remains “committed to ensuring safe entry and exit from any house of worship.”