A hateful mob of keffiyeh-clad anti-Israel protesters flooded the streets near a historic Manhattan synagogue Tuesday night — clashing with cops as they repeatedly shouted “Israel should not exist.”
About 100 agitators waving Palestinian flags and banging drums swarmed about a half-block from Park East Synagogue, chanting “Palestine will never die” and “Stop the sale of stolen land” during an event promoting real estate in Israel and the West Bank, according to shocking footage.
While the East 67th Street synagogue was sealed off by police barricades, footage captured the rowdy protesters clashing with cops who were trying to force their way past the barriers into the street.
Police yelled “step back” as they shoved the unruly crowd onto the sidewalk, video shows, while counter-protesters rallied nearby.
One officer suffered a leg injury in the chaos and was hospitalized, the NYPD said.
“They’re a bunch of brainwashed fools,” Karen Lichtbraun, co-sponsor of Zionist group Herut New York City, told The Post of the pro-Palestine protesters.
“Israel does not occupy anything. It’s the Jewish homeland. And this is all anti-Zionism, which is antisemitism, which is Jew hate.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a staunch critic of Israel — has not commented on the protest.
The 7 p.m. protest was led by the anti-Israel activist group Pal-Awda NY/NJ, which promoted the rally with slogans such as “No settlers on stolen land” and “Stop the sale of stolen Palestinian land.”
The antisemitic group previously spearheaded a November rally at the synagogue, where about 200 demonstrators heckled people attending an event hosted by Nefesh B’nefesh, a Zionist group that helps Jews immigrate from the US to Israel.
In response to the first protest, Council Speaker Julie Menin crafted legislation to allow the NYPD to set up buffer zones around synagogues and other houses of worship to protect congregants.
The bill, which faced intense opposition from Mamdani’s DSA allies, passed with a veto-proof 44-5 majority.
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But the mayor dragged his feet and didn’t act on the bill until it automatically became law on April 25.
Under the law, the NYPD must now develop plans to contain the risk of obstruction, injury, intimidation and interference around houses of worship when protests are imminent — including whether a security perimeter is necessary.
The police department has to submit a final plan within 90 days, according to JNS.
Pal-Awda NY/NJ frequently churns out anti-Israel bile on social media and even cheered the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“Two years ago today, the Palestinian Resistance broke the gates of the world’s largest open-air prison, disrupting the norm of decades of dispossession and apartheid imposed by ‘Israel,’” the group wrote on Twitter last year.
Tuesday night’s demonstration quickly spilled into another anti-Israel protest at Hunter College, with about 200 rabble-rousers weaving through the streets carrying signs reading “Labeling people as anti-semites cannot justify occupation and brutality” and “Stop the sale of Palestinian Land.”
Police said water was tossed on officers from a building along the route. No arrests were made.
