Pro-Palestinian protesters took over New York City’s Times Square on Sunday – just one day after terrorist organization Hamas brutally attacked Israel, leaving hundreds of civilians dead.
Irate counter-protesters waving Israeli flags clashed with 300 seething placard-clad demonstrators – one of which was spotted holding up a swastika.
New York is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world – and the swastika was the symbol used by Adolf Hitler when he murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust.
The clamorous group in Manhattan’s Midtown chanted ‘free Palestine’ while others in the Israeli kettle yelled back: ‘How can you support this! F***ing murderers!’
As the Palestinian faction in Times Square swelled, so too did the group of around 70 Israeli protesters – who waved flags in retaliation from behind a NYPD-enforced metal fence.
One man charged towards the Palestinian group but was immediately intercepted and escorted away by a cop. There is a heavy police presence at the scene.
Irate counter-protesters waving Israeli flags clashed with 300 seething placard-clad demonstrators – one of which was spotted holding up a swastika (pictured)
One protester in the pro-Palestinian kettle (center) holds up a swastika on his phone and points it towards the hundreds of pro-Israeli demonstrators in Times Square
NEW YORK CITY: Swathes of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of Manhattan on Sunday following rocket attacks, pillaging, and murders on the streets of Israel over the weekend. Hamas, the terrorist organization and de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip, ambushed and killed hundreds of Israelis during their high holiday
Skirmishes have broken out in New York City ‘s Times Square as pro-Palestinian groups gather rally – after Hamas attacked Israel leaving more than 900 dead
An angry bystander already clashed with placard-clad protesters who rallied together at 1pm on Sunday in Manhattan’s Midtown. New York is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world
Pro-Israeli protesters joined the counter-protest on Sunday in NYC
There is a heavy police presence in New York’s Time Square today – as pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Midtown after Hamas launched surprise attacks on Israel
NEW YORK CITY: Pro-Palestinian protesters continued to chant ‘resistance is justified’ into the afternoon – as a sea of signs and posters took over Times Square
Protesters gathered with megaphones and yellow signs reading: ‘Resistance against occupation is a human right’ and ‘end all US aid to apartheid Israel’. They chanted: ‘5,6,7,8 Israel is a terrorist state.’
Demonstrators planned to take over Times Square – the social and symbolic epicenter of New York – just one day after Israeli women and children were dragged from their homes and slaughtered by Palestinian militants.
American citizens are among the dead and captured, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. The total number of fatalities reached 900, but is expected to climb.
On Sunday, protesters waving Palestinian flags on 42nd Street chanted their age-old rallying jingo: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’
The cry is a reference to the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – a territory that includes the State of Israel – therefore implying the dismantling of the Jewish state.
In response, Israeli demonstrators shouted back: ‘Shame on you!’
New Yorker Claudia De La Cruz, 42, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation who joined the Palestinian side today, told DailyMail.com: ‘We’re here in solidarity with the Palestinians understanding that for more than 70 years they have been victims of abuses by the Israel colonial state.
‘Their lands have been occupied, their people have been displaced, there have been several bombings of the Gaza Strip.’
Hundreds of people took over Times Square to protest on Sunday
There were a number of NYPD officers on the scene – as tensions rose in Times Square
NEW YORK CITY: The death toll in the Middle East has nearly reached 1,000
A woman waves an Israeli as part of the counter-protest on Sunday
‘How can you support this! F***ing murderers!’ one man screamed – as a raucous group of around 300 people chanted ‘free Palestine ‘ during the demo
Demonstrators planned to take over Times Square – the social and cultural epicenter of New York – just one day after Israeli women and children were dragged from their homes and slaughtered by Palestinian militants
One woman holds up a sign: ‘Zionism is terrorism.’ The total number of fatalities in the Middle East has reached 900
New York’s Gov. Hochul condemned the protest yesterday – but it still went ahead this afternoon
As the Palestinian faction in Times Square swelled, a group of Israeli protesters began to form – waving flags in retaliation from behind a metal fence
NEW YORK CITY: Protesters hold up handmade signs in Times Square on Sunday
On Sunday, protesters waving Palestinian flags on 42nd Street chanted: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’
Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted ‘resistance is justified’
She added: ‘We know that everyone who is living under colonial rule and who is repressed has the right to self defense and that is what we’re seeing now.’
When asked whether she considered the Hamas killings as ‘self defense’, Ms De La Cruz said: ‘(We support) self defense in any way, shape or form.’
She blasted the Democrats for funding ‘apartheid’ in Israel.
When asked about New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s condemnation of their protest, she said: ‘Of course they (Democrats) are going to condemn what they are calling terrorism when we know the United States is aiding terrorism against Palestinians.
‘This is not an anti-Semitism type of thing, we’re not against the Jewish community – we’re against Zionism which is a whole different type of thing.’
The death toll in Israel is only expected to rise, now that the IDF have launched a fierce counter offensive
Hundreds of people descended on Times Square on Sunday – a day after atrocities took place in Israel
The Israeli protesters started shouting ‘terrorists’ towards the pro-Palestinian faction
TIMES SQUARE: One protester holds up the sign: ‘Free Palestine’
Israeli-American dual national David Needle, 23, told DailyMail.com that he has family and friends who have been caught up in the attacks in Israel.
He has friends who were attending the peace party near Gaza that he has not been able to get in contact with since the ambush.
Needle said on the streets of Manhattan: ‘This is not something that is shockingly new. Hamas is a terrorist organization.
‘How is this self defense? How is abducting an elderly woman and other people that aren’t soldiers helping in your defense?
‘You haven’t defended yourself, you haven’t helped yourself at all.
‘Why is killing civilians increasing your freedom?’
Idan Naol, 39, is from Israel but is currently on holiday in New York. He said that seeing the horrific attacks on his homeland yesterday forced him to take to the streets of Manhattan today.
Naol, who is a former Israeli soldier who now works in Tel Aviv, told DailyMail.com: ‘Yesterday, when I saw my countrymen, my people, get slaughtered, murdered, kidnapped, from their homes…families, children, grandchildren, grandmothers, mothers, fathers….
‘Murdered in the streets. Kidnapped inside Gaza. Yes, this is why I come here to protest.
‘I do not have an issue against the Palestinians. They don’t understand. I have issues against the terrorists that take my family from their homes. Against Hamas, against the terrorists.
‘How can I sit down and be quiet while I see these kind of pictures. Children put inside cages. This is not a horror film. This is real.
‘This is 9/11 style. And the world needs to know that.’
Pro-Palestinian protesters continued to chant ‘resistance is justified’ into the afternoon – as a sea of signs and posters took over Times Square.
WASHINGTON DC: Palestinian Mai Dawod, from the West Bank city of Ramallah, joins pro-Palestinian demonstrators as they rally outside the White House in Washington
ATLANTA: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators chant slogans outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta on Sunday
THE WHITE HOUSE: Demonstrators stand with placards outside the White House in Washington DC
WASHINGTON DC: Israel, reeling from the deadliest attack in half a century, formally declared war on Hamas Sunday
THE WHITE HOUSE: In Washington DC, demonstrators stood outside the White House with placards reading: ‘No $ to Israel,’ ‘End Gaza siege,’ and ‘Palestine should be free’
WASHINGTON DC: Hamas, the terror group that runs Gaza, declared war on Israel on Saturday
ATLANTA: Cities across the US, including New York and DC, have seen protests on Sunday
People holding Israeli flags shouted back ‘terrorists!’ while police manned the gap in between the two demonstrator groups.
New York City was not the only place in the US that erupted in protest on Sunday.
In Washington DC, demonstrators stood outside the White House with placards reading: ‘No $ to Israel,’ ‘End Gaza siege,’ and ‘Palestine should be free.’
Young children – brought to the protests by their parents – stood in lines holding signage while pro-Palestinian crowds chanted in unison.
One protester said outside the White House: ‘October 7 is the beginning of our victory…our return home.’ Supporters cheered the speaker.
Chanting with the crowds, they shouted: ‘There is only one solution: Intifada, revolution!’
Similarly, pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta on Sunday following the conflict that has killed hundreds and wounded thousands in the Middle East.
Yesterday, Gov. Hochul described the rally as abhorrent and morally repugnant after Hamas militants invaded Israel and slaughtered hundreds of citizens.
A poster for the rally occurring on Sunday at 1pm, following the Hamas attack on Israel
She wrote: ‘The people of Israel are facing violent terrorist attacks and civilian kidnappings. I condemn plans to rally in Times Square tomorrow in support of the perpetrators of these horrific actions.
‘The planned rally is abhorrent and morally repugnant.’
NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who is on a vanity tour of South America to discourage migrants from crossing the border, condemned the attacks in Israel.
There is an estimated 1.6million Jewish people living in New York City – half of whom reside in Brooklyn.
One of the Americans caught up in the tragedies unfolding in Israel is Hersh Golberg-Polin – a 23-year-old born in Berkeley, California.
Golberg-Polin sent his mother and father a text reading ‘I love you, I’m sorry’ at 8.11am on Saturday – as callous Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, took dozens of people as hostage and killed hundreds during the Jewish high holiday.
He was attending an all-night ‘nature party’ near Kibbutz Re’im – not far from the Gaza Strip. The rave was infiltrated and ambushed by Palestinian terrorists.
