A tense confrontation unfolded Wednesday night outside Manhattan\u2019s Park East Synagogue, where a large group of anti-Zionist demonstrators chanted pro-intifada slogans and shouted at Jewish attendees gathered for an event inside the building.<\/p>\n
Roughly 200 protesters assembled outside the synagogue to oppose a program hosted by Nefesh B\u2019Nefesh, an organization that assists Jews who immigrate to Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout the demonstration, participants shouted phrases including \u201cDeath to the IDF,\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t want no Zionists here,\u201d and \u201cResistance, you make us proud, take another settler out.\u201d At times, the chants were accompanied by drumbeats and calls to \u201cglobalize the intifada.\u201d<\/p>\n
One organizer urged protesters to escalate pressure on Jewish institutions, telling the crowd, \u201cIt is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events. We need to make them scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
A smaller group of Jewish counter-protesters gathered across the street, separated from the main demonstration by police officers and metal barricades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Members of the two groups exchanged insults, shone bright flashlights at one another, and accused each other of intimidation. Some in the counter-demonstration blasted horns and whistles, shouting back at the anti-Zionist crowd.<\/p>\n
Community leaders quickly condemned the scene outside the synagogue. An American rabbi described the gathering as an openly antisemitic display, noting that Park East Synagogue\u2019s senior rabbi is a Holocaust survivor who remembers the violence of Kristallnacht. \u201cToday, he sees outside his own synagogue the same hatred that smashed the windows of synagogues in Berlin and Vienna in 1938,\u201d the rabbi said. \u201cThis is not about Gaza. This is an attack on the Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n
ADL New York also sharply criticized the demonstration, calling it \u201ca display of blatant antisemitism.\u201d The organization said it is in contact with law enforcement \u201cto ensure the safety of the community as protesters harass New Yorkers with chants of \u2018intifada revolution\u2019 and other threatening verbal assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one going to a house of worship or walking the streets of New York City should face such hatred,\u201d the ADL said in its statement.<\/p>\n
Police maintained a heavy presence throughout the evening as the two groups continued to shout across the barricades. No major injuries were reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tense confrontation unfolded Wednesday night outside Manhattan\u2019s Park East Synagogue, where a large group of anti-Zionist demonstrators…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":391663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[99,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-391662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115580668719771630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}