NEW YORK — Over 1,000 demonstrators turned out to defend the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan and protest against Jew-hatred Dec. 4. The rally was in response to a provocative threat two weeks earlier when a screaming Jew-hating mob of 200 came right up to the door of the synagogue.
“Resistance you make us proud, take another settler out,” was one of their main chants. Hamas considers all Jews in Israel “settlers” who the Nazi-like group has a right to target. Inside the synagogue a group that provides assistance to Jews wanting to emigrate to Israel was holding a meeting.
Incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the “language” of the pro-Hamas action, then condemned the synagogue, claiming it was promoting activities “in violation of international law.”
The Jew-hating action “was not just an attack on Park East synagogue,” the synagogue’s rabbi, Arthur Schneier, told the crowd Dec. 4. “This was an attack against the Jewish community, to intimidate us, but we’re not afraid.”
“Our grandparents were Holocaust survivors so we know what happens when people don’t stand up,” Jolie Widawsky, a recent graduate of Touro College who came to the rally with her sister, told the Times of Israel. Handmade signs at the rally included “Anti-Zionism kills Jews” and “Anti-Zionism is Jew hate is not OK.”
The protest was initiated by the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York and co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee and the New York Board of Rabbis. Nearly 100 Jewish schools, organizations and congregations from New York City and Westchester County signed on. Buses brought people from Jewish communities throughout the region.