A pro-Palestinian crowd with their faces covered tore apart an Israeli flag in Manhattan on Monday and chanted their wish for Israelis to die, as they faced a pro-Israel group shouting at the Palestinians: They must all die now!’
A large number of NYPD officers were stationed between the rival gatherings, keeping them apart.
Some in the pro-Palestinian camp blamed Israel for last weekend’s terror attacks launched by Hamas that killed 900 Israelis.
One pro-Palestinian demonstrator stirred up the crowd with a chant: “When Palestine is attacked. What are we doing?’
Their colleagues responded: “We are fighting back.”
Another group began tearing up the Israeli flag, amid widespread cheering. Some have left a mark on it.
Pro-Palestinian activists are seen tearing up the Israeli flag in Manhattan on Monday
A pro-Palestinian woman shouts into a loud megaphone during the tense Monday meeting
Pro-Palestinian protesters are seen outside Israel’s consulate on Monday
Pro-Palestinian protesters stomped on the Israeli flag and appeared to set it on fire
In Boston, another pro-Palestinian group stood on the American flag and called the United States “legitimate gangsters.”
In Manhattan, near the Israeli consulate, a member of the pro-Palestinian group shouted The New York Post: ‘We have to kill them all! We’re going to kill them all! You better leave our country! You better get out of there!’
Jesse, 45, of Nolita, told the newspaper he thought Hamas’ attack was justified.
“Fighting back is not terrorism,” he said, waving a sign that read: “End aid to racist Israel.”
“They don’t just occupy. They control, they kill. They are bulldozing schools. They fill wells with cement.
“They have every right to fight back.”
Jesse compared the Israeli government to slave owners.
‘You can’t compare. “It’s like comparing what the slaves did to get out of slavery,” he said.
One pro-Palestinian activist shouted at the Israeli contingent to prepare for a “barbecue.”
“We are going to liberate Palestine,” the protester said Fox news.
‘We have already liberated parts of it. So get ready to barbecue.”
Pro-Israel protesters light candles in Manhattan on Monday
The pro-Israel crowd responded with taunts of their own.
“They must all die now!” according to The New York Post, a man shouted at Palestinian supporters.
‘We must protect Jews here and in America!’
Karen Lichtbraun, who heads Yad Yamin New York, where members “encourage Jewish self-defense,” told the newspaper that Hamas are terrorists and not pro-Palestine.
“They are bombing our homeland,” she said.
‘They kidnapped our people. They torture our people. They have invaded our homes. They drag our women through the streets. They grab children straight from their mother’s arms.
‘There is nothing pro-Palestine about it. They’re terrorists.
“They just committed war crimes,” she added, comparing the group to the Nazis.
Pro-Palestinian activists are seen outside the Israeli consulate on Monday
A crowd of pro-Palestinian activists confronted the pro-Israel demonstrators
Several pro-Israel activists performed the Am-Yisrael-Chai, a religious celebration dance, as music played
On the pro-Israel side of the protest, demonstrators waved the national flag
There was tension within the pro-Israel group over the rhetoric, The New York Post reported.
A young pro-Israel supporter shouts: ‘Death to Hamas!’ silenced in a megaphone by another pro-Israel woman.
“Please stop,” she said. “You make us look psychotic.”
The man replied, “That liberal stuff has to stop now.”
