{"id":422762,"date":"2025-12-03T22:37:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/422762\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T22:37:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:37:15","slug":"new-bill-to-create-25-foot-protest-buffer-zone-for-houses-of-worship-enters-new-york-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/422762\/","title":{"rendered":"New bill to create 25-foot protest buffer zone for houses of worship enters New York legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Police\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Police cut the chains of a protester in Midtown.<\/p>\n

Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

A coalition of New York lawmakers introduced new legislation on Wednesday aimed at protecting religious institutions from targeted demonstrations and intimidation directly outside their doors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NYS Assembly Member Micah Lasher and state Sen. Sam Sutton announced the bill on Dec. 3 with support from other state politicians from NYC, notably Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Nily Rozic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed bill, which follows last month\u2019s boisterous demonstration<\/a> led by pro-Palestine supporters outside an Upper East Side synagogue \u2014 in which participants shouted antisemitic phrases and slogans \u2014 seeks to establish a clear 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship and healthcare facilities, restricting protests that directly impede access or create a hostile environment for anyone entering or exiting the building.<\/p>\n

What is the current protest buffer zone?
\n\"ProtestersPro Palestinian protesters rally outside of a synagogue, to protest an organization that promotes Aliyah to Israel, as counter protesters gather in opposition.Photo by Yoav Ginsburg\/ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n

There is currently no requirement or set footage for protesting outside of a house of worship. However, the legislation would amend Section 240.70<\/a> of the New York State Penal Law to prohibit demonstrations within the proposed 25 feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York must always be a place where people can both exercise free speech and express their religious identity without fear or intimidation, and that balance broke down outside Park East Synagogue,\u201d Lasher said. \u201cThis bill will help our city government and other localities across the state ensure that New Yorkers are able to enter houses of worship without having to run a gauntlet of hate speech. Simple decency and mutual respect demand nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 200 protestors descended outside the Park East Synagogue at E. 68th Street and Lexington Avenue on Nov. 19, where an organization that assists Jewish immigration was scheduled to hold an event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Protestors were heard yelling slogans such as \u201cGlobalize the intifada,\u201d and \u201cDeath to the IDF.\u201d The mob was met by angry counterprotestors who shouted back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people walk into a synagogue, church, mosque, or temple, they deserve to feel safe,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cWhen families trying to enter their houses of worship are instead forced to push past hostile crowds gathered just feet from the door, it\u2019s not peaceful expression, it\u2019s blatant intimidation. New Yorkers deserve better. We cannot and will not allow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York, commented on the bill and said the ability \u201cto worship freely and without fear is fundamental\u201d to the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cUJA strongly supports this bill, which takes meaningful steps to ensure that every faith community can gather in safety,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one should ever face intimidation or see their synagogue or any house of worship targeted by protests meant to disrupt or instill fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rabbi Marc Schneier<\/a>, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding<\/a> based in NYC, recently had a conversation with Zohran Mamdani in which he suggested the Mayor-elect support similar legislation once he is in office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told amNewYork that Mamdani \u201cloved the idea.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The bill still needs to progress through the legislative process before it is approved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police cut the chains of a protester in Midtown. Photo by Dean Moses A coalition of New York…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":422763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,197258,197259,197260,197261,405,403,5226,5225,197262,5228,5227,197263,197264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-422762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-healthcare-facilities","10":"tag-houses-of-worship","11":"tag-liz-krueger","12":"tag-micah-lasher","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-nily-rozic","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-protest-buffer-zones","21":"tag-sam-sutton","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115658034488062818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422762","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=422762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}