In New York City on Nov. 19, Nefesh B’Nefesh conducted an event devoted to aliyah, immigration to Israel for North American Jews. The organization offered information to attendees about the process, as well as to have their questions answered and find out more about what it’s like to live in Israel. It was held at a synagogue, the Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
As it developed, about 200 or so protesters showed up. Since some of the catcalls included expletives (for posted clips, see here), I cannot repeat them all. The agitprop group promoting the rally, PAL-Awda, advertised it under the slogans, “All Out to Demand No Settlers on Stolen Land!” and “Protest the Nefesh B’Nefesh Settler Recruiting Fair!” Claiming that “since 2003, [NBN] has recruited over 80,000 settlers of which over 13,000 served in the IDF,” the Israeli Defense Forces.
Interestingly enough, one comment countering the PalAwada rhetoric deposited at their Instagram account read, “Give Manhattan back to the Lenape and go back to Europe or wherever you came from colonizers!”
The response from Dora Pekec, the spokesperson/press secretary of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, came the next afternoon. In part, it read: “He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
If Mamdani is intent upon upholding international law, as is the basis for his willingness to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he were to visit New York, then he should have been more forceful in condemning what happened at the synagogue.
Shouting out “Zionism is a death cult” and “Death to the IDF!” masked protesters urged the crowd to intimidate those entering the building, repeatedly insisting that it was their duty to “make them scared,” dangerous behavior that could lead to rioting and beating up Jews.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an unequivocal condemnation on Twitter, though not on her official website, that read: “No New Yorker should be intimidated or harassed at their house of worship. What happened last night at Park East Synagogue was shameful and a blatant attack on the Jewish community. Hate has no place in New York.”
While Pekec added in her press release that Mamdani disapproved of the language used by protesters and would continue to discourage such rhetoric, it obviously fell short when compared to current Mayor Eric Adams’s statement, which was toned very differently and contained a stronger and deeper message.
It read: “Houses of worship are where people go to heal, reflect and respect one another. Church, mosque, synagogue—it makes no difference. Screaming vile language outside any of them isn’t “protest”; it’s desecration. It shows how sick and warped these agitators have become. … Pray for our city. … Today, it’s a synagogue. Tomorrow, it’s a church or a mosque. They come for me today, and you tomorrow. We cannot hand this city over to radicals.”
The pro-Hamas and pro-Palestine actions have targeted synagogues previously. In fact, a New York Times story reports that a pro-Palestinian group that protested outside a New Jersey synagogue is being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice. There, the confrontation devolved into violence. An official said there might be more such cases to come.
Oddly enough, the previous evening, a real pro-Judea and Samaria resettlement event was taking place in Manhattan, the One Israel Fund annual dinner. But maybe synagogues, like last year in Queens, N.Y., Livingston, N.J. or Los Angeles, possess a special allure for the pro-Palestine people. In fact, maybe the essential fundamentals of Judaism are what are at the root of the conflict and not any fake infractions or violations of “international law”?
Of course, any assemblies or rallies outside mosques would be termed Islamophobic—and that would be the end of that.
I would add that there is an element of religious hatred involved here. And New York State does provide protection against hate crimes.
A new book by a friend of mine, Tzvi Fishman, provides 700 pages of the centrality of the Eretz Yisrael (the “Land of Israel”) to the Jewish people, and their obligations and responsibilities to it. It joins many other previous volumes.
Living in the land is a religious duty. References to purchasing land, contributing funds to its agricultural development and maintaining Torah scholarship therein are to be found in the Tanach, the Talmud and the writings of rabbis over the past 2,000 years, all codified and commented on.
On the other hand, the only land that can be described as “stolen” and a victim of “imperialism” and “colonization” is that of the Jewish historic homeland, conquered and then occupied by invading Arabs in 638 C.E., who then subjugated the remaining Jewish population. That invasion followed the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, Roman rule, Byzantine rule and Persian rule, followed by the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the Mongols and the Ottoman Empire.
We Jews have returned home, as we did following Cyrus’s proclamation (“the Lord has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people—the Lord his God be with him—let him go up”), and according to the rights of settlement and immigration guaranteed by the League of Nations.
If Muslim Mamdani can live in New York, then Jews can live in Shiloh, in Hebron and throughout Jerusalem. Jews should not be scared. They should learn their sacred duty. And they should demand their rights of protection from hatred as well as the fulfillment of their religious beliefs.
