An anti-Israel protest scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled after organizers claimed the announcement of the protest had succeeded in forcing Nefesh B’Nefesh “into the shadows.”
A spokesperson for Nefesh B’Nefesh told JNS the Manhattan event “took place as planned and the attendance met our expectations,” noting that “there were no changes on the planning side for us and all went smoothly and professionally.”
PAL-Awda—the group that planned the protest as well as the Nov. 19 protest outside a similar event organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh at Park East Synagogue in New York City—wrote on social media that “our planned action tonight to protest the settler recruitment event is being cancelled.”
“Because of our announced protest, settler agency Nefesh B’Nefesh has been forced into the shadows,” the group claimed. “Their extreme vetting of attendees has hampered their outreach and vastly limited their ability to recruit settlers.”
“Although NBN is still holding their event, their reach and attendance has been diminished,” PAL-Awda said, calling it a “win,” and adding that they will “always stand together in vocal opposition to zionist settler colonialism, to all settler recruitment, and genocide.”
PAL-Awda’s cancellation of the protest followed the circulation of a flyer for a Jewish counterprotest. “We must take action and make sure they know, wherever they go, we will show,” the flyer said, calling the protesters “pro-Hamas.”
The flyer, provided to JNS by a source familiar with the event, urged supporters to “go out and counterprotest” at 6:15 pm at the address of the UJA Federation of New York on East 59th Street, despite organizers’ efforts to keep the location private for the safety of attendees.
Less than 30 protesters and counterprotesters still showed up to demonstrate on a police-blockaded street outside the Manhattan event, according to sources at the scene.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the Nefesh B’Nefesh event at Park East a “violation of international law.”
Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS that “there is no ‘international law’ that binds New York City.”
“Mamdani continues to invoke ‘international law’ as if it somehow nullifies American sovereignty,” he said.
He added that Mamdani’s claim “is not only false, it parrots a growing effort to reframe core aspects of Jewish identity and practice as illicit. Aliyah is a foundational concept in Judaism, dating back to Genesis 50:14 and deeply rooted in Jewish law.”
“Religious observance is not a violation of international law. Intimidating worshippers is a violation of federal law,” Goldfeder told JNS. “The mayor either does not know or does not care about these basic facts.”
Goldfeder called PAL-Awda claiming victory a “textbook spin,” noting that “the PAL-Awda extremists cancelled their protest and folded out of fear, then rushed to rebrand their retreat as a ‘win.’”
“Translation: The Jewish community organized and responded, and we were going to be held accountable, so we got scared and went home,” stated Goldfeder, adding, “This is why it pays to demand accountability from our leaders. Because even the fear of that accountability is enough to stop these paper tigers.”
“Straight out of their Hamas-style playbook,” Goldfeder said.
PAL-Awda’s planned protest of an Israeli real estate event in Queens on Thursday happened as scheduled, per the group’s social media account.
