As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu connected with leaders from around the world last week at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, protesters emerged to voice their objections, including some elected officials.
On Sept. 22 in Midtown Manhattan, an estimated 3,000 people showed up to protest in an event coordinated by Jewish Voice for Peace, Adalah Justice Project and other groups.
New York state Sen. Jabari Brisport and state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, members of the Democratic Socialists of America that supports the BDS movement against Israel, spoke at the protests.
Brisport, who has previously put forward legislation with Mamdani to bar New York charities from involvement with Israelis in the West Bank, explained that “in Brooklyn, we have a saying: ‘Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way.’ Netanyahu has spread hate and displacement. And that has no place in our city.”
Mamdani said “earlier today, someone asked me: ‘Why should New Yorkers care about what’s happening halfway across the world in Israel?’ There are 3.8 billion reasons for us to care, same as the number of dollars that go from the U.S. to Israel in military aid every year.”
