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Anti-Israel protesters turned out by the hundreds across New York City during the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack Wednesday — with students at NYU and Columbia University calling to “keep the intifada alive” and proclaiming “resistance is justified.”
More than 100 people gathered at Washington Square Park for the latest demonstration of the New York University Students for Justice in Palestine’s “Rage Week” aimed at condemning the Israel-Gaza war.
The demonstrators — wearing keffiyehs and holding banners calling for NYU to “divest” and shutter its Tel Aviv campus — were heard chanting, “Long live the intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a common rally cry implying the erasure of the Jewish state.
“Glory to the martyrs and victory to the resistance. Intifada intifada!” one member of SJP shouted, calling for the crowd to “keep the intifada alive.”
Andrew Ross, a professor at NYU’s American Studies program and part of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, justified Hamas’ bloody invasion on Oct. 7, 2023, as a military tactic whose primary purpose was to acquire hostages to free Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
While Ross called the day “very tragic,” he went on to spread a conspiracy theory that the Israel Defense Forces killed some of its own citizens during the massacre — in which nearly 1,200 people, including more than 800 civilians, were slaughtered, with many victims also suffering torture and rape at the hands of Hamas fighters.
“On October 7th, a mass Hannibal Directive was issued, and for the first time, it applied to civilians, Israeli civilians, and as a result, an untold number of them died at the hands of being targeted by IDF forces in vehicles that were being taken back to Gaza,” Ross claimed as he addressed the crowd.
The Hannibal Directive is a controversial procedure used by the IDF to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces at all costs, but its authors have repeatedly stated that it in no way allows for soldiers or civilians to be killed.
Ross also blamed Israel for the length of the war and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of rejecting peace deals for the purpose of destroying the Gaza Strip.
NYU senior Ariella Cojab, 21, interrupted Ross to point out the war crimes committed by Hamas that day, which were documented by members of the terror group themselves on the stolen phones of their victims.
“That, to me, is not resistance. That’s a war crime,” Cojab said. “Rape is not resistance.”
Along with the demonstration at NYU, dozens also gathered uptown at Columbia University with similar anti-Israel chants, including, “From water to water, Palestine will be Arab.”
The students also echoed chants defending Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7, yelling “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”
The Ivy League university was notably the site of the months-long encampment protest that took over the Manhattan campus and spread to other colleges across the nation in 2024.
Meanwhile, about 125 protesters also gathered outside City Hall to criticize Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s alleged “betrayal” of Palestinian causes since taking office, with many of the demonstrators wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags.
The crowd chanted, “Mayor Mamdani take a side, justice for Palestine,” with one protester holding up a picture of the mayor rolling out the red carpet for Netanyahu in response to the prime ministers visit to New York last month.
Rabbi Yitzchok Deutsch, of the Jews United Again Zionism group, claimed the protest was scheduled for Oct. 7 because the anniversary was allegedly being used by Zionist to justify the ongoing war in Gaza.
“They are using our religion to justify all these crimes on the Palestinian people,” Deutsch said. “It’s the movement of Zionism which caused and still causing all these rivers of bloodshed on both sides, Jews and Palestinians.”
John King, of UAW Labor for Palestine — a nationwide group of rank-and-file United Auto Workers union members advocating for Gaza — was among those calling for Mamdani to ensure New York City divests from Israel.
“Other communities are divesting and that’s what we’re hoping Mamdani will listen to and then act.”
NYU did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about Ross’ statements.
— Additional reporting by Steven Vago
