An 80-car convoy snarled traffic going towards John F. Kennedy International Airport for several hours, but protestors were blocked from entering to rally inside.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Car convoys of pro-Palestinian demonstrators created huge traffic snarl-ups Monday on the highways to New York airports for the second time in a week, causing headaches for holiday travelers on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Waving large Palestinian flags out their windows, and shouting slogans for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, some 80 vehicles with protestors crawled towards John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on New Year’s day, honking their horns and reducing traffic at times to only one lane. In the early afternoon, according to police, about six cars stopped traffic completely.
In one video posted to social media, a demonstrator could be seen yelling into a megaphone, “NYPD, KKK, IDF you’re all the same.”
Some vacationers could be seen on traffic cameras getting out of their cars and walking towards JFK, presumably in fear of missing their flights.
After other demonstrators shut down the AirTrain station in Queens for three hours, local media reported, police began checking every car approaching the station to ensure that only tagged employees and those with boarding passes could get through to catch the train to Terminal 4 of JFK. This allowed the station to resume normal operations.
In addition, officials brought large dump trucks to stand crossways on the service roads of the AirTrain terminal to block anyone who might want to get around the checkpoints.
The police were also at JFK, checking people at the entrance to Terminal 4 itself to see that no protestors could gain entrance. Only those who could prove they had a legitimate reason to be at the airport were allowed through.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is in charge of operating the neighboring states’ transportation infrastructure, put out a statement saying that “The Port Authority, in coordination with our local, state, and federal partners, has deployed safety and security measures to help ensure an uninterrupted travel experience at JFK.”
Organizers had called to “Flood JFK for Gaza,” planning to rally in the airport itself. The police contented themselves with thwarting this plan and warning prospective travelers to schedule more time for their arrival, without making any arrests.
This was in sharp contrast with last week, when over two dozen anti-Israel protesters were arrested after they descended onto a highway leading to JFK to stop traffic for only some 20 minutes, holding Palestinian flags and calling for a cease fire while wearing shirts demanding the “Right of Return” of Palestinians, which would destroy Israel as a Jewish state.