A pro-Palestinian and a pro-Israel rally were held in New York on Sunday. The first denounced Israel's "violence" and the second "was in favor of this ally of the United States. Two million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Muslims live in the city.
In the aftermath of the war unleashed by Gaza's Islamist movement Hamas, about 1,000 people waving Palestinian flags gathered in Times Square, one of the emblematic squares in the Manhattan neighborhood famous for its giant electronic billboards.
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Peacefully, the demonstrators marched to the Israeli consulate general on Second Avenue and then to the UN headquarters on the East River. The UN Security Council was holding an emergency meeting. The United States, Israel's "steadfast" military ally, called on all member states to "strongly" condemn Hamas' offensive.
'An Israeli regime based on violence'
"We are here in solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been fighting for 75 years against Israeli colonialism, settler violence and 16 years of blockade of Gaza," said Munir Atalla, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement who organized the rally. "What we saw yesterday was the people of Gaza escaping from their open-air prison," the 30-year-old activist said. For him, "it is impossible to look at what happened without taking into account the context: an Israeli regime based on violence, based on the erasure and annihilation of the Palestinians."
Counter-demonstrators followed the procession of pro-Palestinians from opposite sidewalks and called them "terrorists." The two groups, who never came into contact, were separated by a strong police presence.
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At a separate rally in Manhattan, a few hundred people waving Israeli flags denounced a "cruel and treacherous Hamas." "They kidnap small children, babies and ... use them as bargaining chips to try to free their terrorists. It's insane," said New York resident Ellen Weisman.
'New York Jews support Israel'
"They want to take us back to the fourth century, they don't care about human beings," she added, referring to Hamas. Another protester, Ofer Jacobawitz, said he wanted "everyone to know that New York Jews support Israel no matter what it does to defend itself."
Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York state, which has a population of 20 million, called the pro-Palestinian rally "abhorrent and morally abhorrent" and said she was "proud that the largest Jewish community outside of Israel resides" in her state. She ordered that the World Trade Center, rebuilt in lower Manhattan after it was destroyed in attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and Niagara Falls, on the Canadian border 800 km to the north, be illuminated in blue and white, the colors of Israel. The mayor of New York City, Democratic congressman and former African-American police officer Eric Adams, who recently visited Tel Aviv, Israel, also denounced "atrocious attacks against Israel" and said he "strongly disagrees with any form of celebration" of the violence.
In the city, left-wing peaceful Jewish organizations, such as Jewish Voice of Peace and IfNotNow, also voiced their support for the Palestinian cause and marched to the Brooklyn area, some of which is emblematic of New York City. They marched to the home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to demand "an end to all U.S. military funding to Israel."
While official religion-based censuses are not possible in the United States, the country has the highest number of Jewish people in the world, behind Israel. In 2020, according to the Pew Research Center, there were 5.8 million Jewish adults, whether religious or not, in addition to 2.8 million adults who claim a Jewish parent. There are 4.5 million Muslims in the United States (out of a population of 335 million in 2022), including between 600,000 and 750,000 in New York City.