by Michael Starr
This demonstration will not only be the first major pro-Palestinian protest in NYC since Mamdani took office, but also follows a similar protest in November that shocked NYC.
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Newly sworn-in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces the first real test of his administration's protection of Jewish residents on Wednesday, as anti-Israel activists are set to protest against an Israeli immigration aid event in Manhattan.
The Palestinian Assembly for Liberation – Al Awda New York and New Jersey (PAL-Awda NY/NJ) announced that it is going to protest a Nefesh B'Nefesh “NBN on Tour” event.
This demonstration will not only be the first major pro-Palestinian protest in NYC since Mamdani took office, but also follows a similar protest in November that shocked NYC officials and Jewry with its belligerence and violent rhetoric.
On November 19, Keffiyeh-clad activists led by PAL-Awda heckled and harassed participants trying to attend a NBN event at the New York City Park East Synagogue.
“Settler, settler, go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” anti-Israel activists, according to PAL-Awda’s Instagram. “Death to the IDF.”
There was widespread outrage among American officials and Jewish community leaders about the event, with then-mayor Eric Adams decrying the protests as "antisemitic."
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Not long after the protests, Adams issued an executive order on December 2 to regulate protests outside houses of worship.
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who remains in her position under the new administration, apologized to the Jewish community for not securing the area so that people could easily enter and exit the synagogue.
Yet the response by Mamdani's transition team drew apprehension about his impending administration of the city.
According to CNN and JTA, a spokesperson for Mamdani said he "discouraged the language used" at the protest and
believed
"every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without
intimidation,” but also criticized the synagogue for hosting the NBN
event.
"These sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law," said the spokesperson, who told CNN that the alleged violation involved promoting towns beyond the 1949 armistice line on NBN's website.
NBN has argued that it doesn't direct or encourage Olim to move to any specific community in Israel, and there was no law against providing assistance to Jews making Aliyah.
Indeed, while PAL-Awda has described NBN events as "settler recruitment" fairs, they have indicated in their rhetoric that it is not opposition to settlements in disputed territories that drove them, but the belief that all of Israel was "stolen land" and all Israelis were "settlers."
In a November 24 explanation of its Park East Synagogue protest, PAL-Awda said that it considered all the over 80,000 North Americans aided by NBN since 2003 to be "settlers."
“Palestine is Arab,” PAL-Awda wrote in an Instagram story during the November protest.
After being criticized for the statement, Mamdani's team issued another remark from the future mayor, who assured he would "always protect our Jewish neighbors" and would "use the full force of my office to keep synagogues and all houses of worship safe and free from intimidation and threats."
“We will protect New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights while making clear that nothing can justify language calling for ‘death to’ anyone," Mamdani said, according to CNN. "It is unacceptable, full stop.”
Yet Mamdani has only given Jewish New Yorkers cause for skepticism since taking office last Thursday.
The former Students for Justice in Palestine Bowdoin College leader repealed his predecessor's adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and orders limiting Boycott Divestment and Sanctions activity against Israel.
"Mayor Mamdani pledged to build an inclusive New York and combat all forms of hate, including antisemitism," the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, Jewish Community Relations Council New York, American Jewish Committee New York, Antidefamation League New York and New Jersey, Agudath Israel of America, New York Board of Rabbis, and the Orthodox Union said in a joint statement.
"Singling out Israel for sanctions is not the way to make Jewish New Yorkers feel included and safe, and will undermine any words to that effect."
Mamdani also ordered a review of the law enforcement guidelines restricting protests at synagogues and other houses of worship.
While Jewish groups have held out hope since Mamdani ordered the continuation of the Mayor's Office of Combating Antisemitism, conditions similar to the Park East Synagogue protest are set to truly test the new administration's pledge to protect "Jewish neighbors."
PAL-Awda called on Sunday to protest NBN's "settler recruitment fair" and its work with "over 80,000 settlers" in Manhattan on Sunday, and has already received the backing of several anti-Israel groups.
Healthcare Workers for Palestine, City University of New York for Palestine, and Writers Against the War on Gaza collaborated on social media posts about the protest. Other organizations, such as the Muslim American Society Youth Center, have shared the call to action.
"It is our duty to confront the pipeline of settlement and Zionist colonial expansion that is taking place in our own neighborhoods," PAL-Awda said on Sunday.
Emboldened, the anti-Israel group has planned a Queens protest against an Israeli mortgage company event.
Little has changed between the conditions of the protests in November and January, save for the mayoral administration. Until now, everything that concerned Jewish voters about Mamdani's administration was rhetoric -- now they will be able to see his actions.
Michael Starr
Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-882636
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