Keffiyeh-clad activists gathered outside a Queens yeshiva Thursday night, chanting support for Hamas and calling for “intifada” and “people’s war” while Jewish families sheltered their children inside. The demonstration, led by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (PAL-Awda), targeted an Israeli real estate event in Kew Gardens Hills, a neighborhood where two elementary schools and a daycare closed early in anticipation of the mob. The protesters waved Palestinian flags and brandished signs accusing Israeli companies of “ethnic cleansing” while demanding that “settlers go back home” because “Palestine is ours alone.”
The timing is not coincidental. Since New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office, he has systematically dismantled protections for the Jewish community. Mamdani repealed executive orders specifically designed to protect Jews against antisemitism, sending a clear message to anti-Israel agitators that harassment and intimidation of Jews will be tolerated. His history of antisemitism precedes his mayoralty. Now, emboldened by a mayor who has removed safeguards for Jewish citizens, these activists feel free to gather in residential Jewish neighborhoods and openly endorse a terrorist organization responsible for the murder, rape, and kidnapping of Jews on October 7.
“It is clear that anti-Semites, masquerading as pro-Palestinian demonstrators, feel increasingly emboldened now that Mayor Mamdani is in office,” said Sacha Roytman Dratwa, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement. “The mass chanting of ‘We support Hamas’ means that they support the mass murder, rape and kidnapping of Jews, and to chant this in a residential area populated by many Jewish families is meant to be violent and threatening.”
CAM emphasized that Hamas is a designated terrorist organization responsible for mass atrocities, including the October 7 massacre in Israel, and that public expressions of support for Hamas go far beyond political speech.
The organization called on New York City leadership and law enforcement to respond decisively before extremist rhetoric escalates into physical violence.
The NYPD established a safety perimeter around the protest site. New York State Assemblyman Sam Berger called on Mamdani to condemn the demonstration and fulfill his pledges to protect Jewish community members. Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, wrote to Mamdani warning of risks to Jewish residents and institutions, urging enforcement of statutes prohibiting masked intimidation and disorderly conduct.
The protest targeted companies facilitating Jewish immigration and real estate purchases in Israel. Mortgage Israel and Tivuch Shelly were accused of “selling homes in occupied Palestine on stolen land” and engaging in “colonial expansion of the Zionist project.” The activists labeled Ma’ale Adumim an “illegal settlement,” adopting the language of Israel’s enemies who deny Jewish rights to Judea and Samaria.
The real estate event was not the only target this week. PAL-Awda had planned to protest against Nefesh B’Nefesh’s “NBN on Tour” event in Manhattan on Wednesday but cancelled after claiming they had forced the organization to restrict attendance. Nefesh B’Nefesh, which helps Jews make aliyah (immigration to Israel), reported the event proceeded smoothly with expected attendance. Anti-Israel activists only shared the event location after the protest was cancelled, learning it from advertisements for counter-protests by Jewish groups. PAL-Awda advised its supporters to travel in groups, wear masks, and avoid parking near the protest site, instructions that suggest an awareness of legal consequences for their actions.
PAL-Awda’s chants are not protected political speech. They are incitement to violence. When activists shout “We support Hamas” in a Jewish neighborhood, they are endorsing the October 7 massacre. When they chant “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution,” they are calling for violence against Jews. When they demand “settlers go back home” while protesting a real estate event for properties in Modi’in and Ma’ale Adumim, they are denying Jewish rights to any part of the Land of Israel.
The organization’s February riot in Boro Park, which they called “Flood Boro Park” in explicit reference to Hamas’s name for the October 7 attack (the “Al-Aqsa Flood”), demonstrates their commitment to bringing Hamas’s war to American streets. NGO Monitor has documented PAL-Awda’s celebration of violence against Israeli civilians and glorification of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.
Roytman Dratwa’s reference to Australia is instructive. “We saw in Australia how ‘Where are the Jews?’ turned into mass murder,” he said, warning that the chants in Queens “have the same meaning and intention.” He called on Mamdani to act “before words turn into bullets, because blood will be on the hands of all those who ignored the signs before it is too late.”
The Biden administration and international bodies have pressured Israel to accept a two-state solution, to cede land, to negotiate with those who seek its destruction. This pressure creates the environment in which activists feel emboldened to deny Jewish rights even in America. When world leaders question Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, when they label Jewish communities “illegal settlements,” they give permission for activists to harass Jews in Queens.
Mamdani’s repeal of protections for Jews represents a betrayal of his duty as mayor. His history of antisemitism should have disqualified him from office. Now, his administration’s tolerance of anti-Jewish harassment has created a crisis. Jewish children cannot attend school safely. Jewish institutions must close early when mobs gather. Jewish families must shelter in their homes while activists chant support for terrorists in their streets.
PAL-Awda’s supporters claim to oppose “colonial expansion” and “ethnic cleansing.” This is projection. The Palestinian demand for a state free of Jews is ethnic cleansing. The refusal to accept Jewish sovereignty anywhere in the Land of Israel is eliminationist. The celebration of October 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds more, is genocidal. These activists do not want peace. They want the destruction of Israel and the expulsion of Jews from land that has belonged to the Jewish people for three millennia.
The warning from the Combat Antisemitism Movement is unambiguous: “Mayor Mamdani has to act before words turn into bullets.” This is not alarmism. This is the lesson of Jewish history. Words become weapons. Rhetoric becomes reality. Tolerance of threats becomes complicity in violence.