An antisemitic protest outside Park East Synagogue on East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue drew outrage as demonstrators chanted “globalize the intifada” directly beside the entrance of the synagogue. Police positioned the protest approximately one foot from the building, allowing chants referencing an intifada and the phrase “one solution” to take place at the doorstep of a 135-year-old Jewish house of worship. Protesters also displayed signs reading “Brooklyn out of Palestine,” applying the label of “settler” to Jewish residents of New York City. This was with a permit and within the full view of the New York City Police Department.
The demonstration targeted an event inside the synagogue hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that assists Jews who choose to immigrate to Israel.
The protest was organized by Pal-Awda and widely circulated by Jewish Voice for Peace’s New York chapter, Writers Against the War on Gaza, student groups across the city and several activists with large online followings. Before the demonstration, the National Lawyers Guild sent an email to its membership requesting legal observers. The organization issued a public statement on October 8, 2023 supporting the Hamas attack of the previous day.
Counter-protesters assembled across from the demonstration and chanted “Am Yisrael Chai.” People present on the street estimated the ratio between pro-Israel participants and anti-Zionist protesters as somewhere between equal numbers and two-to-one in favor of the pro-Israel group.
The placement of the protest drew specific attention from community members, given that the chants included explicit references to an intifada and were delivered at extremely close range to a functioning synagogue. Park East Synagogue has stood on the same block since the late nineteenth century, and the protest occurred as attendees arrived for an event taking place inside.
