Two hundred demonstrators, shouting particularly virulent anti-Israel slogans, protested an event at a New York City synagogue on November 26, 2025. The event, held at the iconic Park East Synagogue, was put on by Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that helps Jews "make aliyah" (move to Israel).

Despite police barricades, protesters blocked participants from entering the synagogue while shouting slogans including, “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada!” “Resistance, you make us proud, take another settler out!” “Death, death to the IDF!” and “We don’t want no Zionists here!”

No arrests were made, even though blocking access to a place of worship is a federal offense.

The protest was organized by Pal-Awda, Within Our Lifetime (WOL) and the New York chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, all anti-Zionist groups that have wreaked havoc on the streets, bridges and tunnels of New York City since the October 7, 2023 terror attack by Hamas in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 more taken hostage (of which 83 were later murdered in captivity).

One of the leaders climbed up on a platform and told the crowd, “It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events. We need to make them scared! We need to make them scared! We need to make them scared!”

Canary Mission Identifies Protesters

Canary Mission has identified and profiled the following protesters:

Reminiscent of Prewar Europe

On X, Rabbi Elchanan Poupko posted that the synagogue’s rabbi is a Holocaust survivor who is seeing the same hatred today that Jews faced in prewar Europe.

A small group of Jewish counter-protesters rallied behind police barricades on the opposite side of the street.

Mamdani’s Response: Victim-Blame

Responding to the protest, mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who ran on an anti-Israel platform that he says is central to his “liberation” ideology, chose to blame the victims.

According to his spokeswoman, Mamdani asserted that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” It was a shocking statement, particularly considering that in the same breath, the spokeswoman acknowledged that the protesters had violated federal law, saying, “The mayor-elect … believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation.”

Mamdani also made no distinction between the state of Israel and the so-called “disputed territories.” Apparently, Mamdani believes that Jews living anywhere in the state of Israel are violating international law (despite the fact that the land was allocated to Israel by the United Nations in 1947).

In contrast, outgoing NYC mayor Eric Adams posted his support of the Jewish community, saying that “screaming vile language outside any [house of worship] isn’t ‘protest’ it’s desecration. It shows how sick and warped these agitators have become.”

Adams, who, at the time, was on an overseas trip that included a stop in Israel, said he planned to visit the Park East synagogue when he returned to the city.

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who was filling in for Adams while he was abroad, ripped into the NYPD for failing to keep the protesters from the entrance of the synagogue.

“[The demonstrators] were targeting New York Jews who were simply going to a synagogue to practice their religion,” Mastro said, adding that while protests are legal, "hate"-screaming demonstrators should never have been allowed by the entrance to harass Jews entering the synagogue.

On the Shabbat following the incident, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch spoke to the synagogue’s congregants, issuing an apology. Tisch contended that the protest was legal, but admitted that the police failed to keep the entrance clear to ensure “people could easily enter and leave shul.”

“That is where we fell short, and for that, I apologize to this congregation,” she said in a 10-minute speech that was met with a standing ovation. “Our plan didn’t include a frozen zone at the entrance. As a result, the space right outside your steps was chaotic,” she explained.

Justice Dept. to Investigate

The incident caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, prompting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to post, “New York may have failed to protect these congregants, but our [Department of Justice] most assuredly will not!”