Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, was referring to Hezbollah flags when he decried “displays of support for terrorist organizations” at protests in the city, a spokesman for the mayor told JNS.
“Protests and counter-protests related to a real estate expo that featured the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank took place outside a synagogue in Midwood,” the mayor told JNS on May 12.
“The violence—alongside antisemitic, anti-Muslim and racist rhetoric, as well as racial slurs, displays of support for terrorist organizations and calls for the death of others—was despicable and has no place in our city,” said the mayor, whose spokeswoman said last year that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events.
“New Yorkers have the constitutional right to protest and to counter-protest, but no one should face violence, intimidation or hatred because of who they are or what they believe,” Mamdani stated. “We can simultaneously protect both public safety and civil liberties, and our city remains committed to doing exactly that by upholding the right to peaceful protest while keeping every New Yorker safe.”
The spokesman for Mamdani told JNS that not only did the mayor have Hezbollah flags in mind, but that at prior protests, there have also been displays of support for the Jewish Defense League.
