(The Center Square) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is blasting “despicable” anti-Israel protesters who demonstrated outside a Manhattan exhibit memorializing the Oct. 7 terror attack.
The exhibition on Wall Street was organized to commemorate the estimated 370 people who were killed at the Nova Music Festival when Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israel.
But the event was targeted by several pro-Palestinian groups, who held demonstrations outside the building, according to the New York Police Department. Adams said protesters waved Hezbollah and Hamas flags. Some carried banners reading, “‘Long live October 7,'” he said. One protester was caught on video yelling that he if “‘Hitler was still here. He would have wiped all of you out,’” Adams added.
“These are reprehensible and vile comments,” Adams, a Democrat, said in a recorded video posted on social media. “This is pure anti-Semitism. I, and every New Yorker stands for peace, stand united against them.”
Other New York City politicians also blasted the anti-Israel demonstrations outside the Nova exhibit, saying it showed sympathy for terrorist organizations and a lack of empathy for the Israeli victims of Hamas’ attack.
“These people are parading their bloodlust. Cheering the organized murder of civilians. Celebrating the taking of child hostages,” New York City Councilman Joe Borelli posted on social media. “These people should be regarded as the scum they are, and treated as such.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said the violence perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7 was “abhorrent” and that “officials at every level of government should be condemning these violent acts along with the rioters who are supporting it.”
“There’s absolutely no place in the United States for the flying of terrorist flags, especially in New York City, one of the most diverse and welcoming cities in America,” she said.
The pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, which organized the protests, criticized the memorial to those killed at the music festival as Zionist “propaganda” and argued that the exhibit glosses over the civilian death toll in Gaza since the war began.
“It’s not enough to boycott it. Protest it,” Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of the group, posted on social media ahead of the demonstrations. “Make sure everyone going in there knows they are supporting the propaganda arm of the genocidal army killing thousands of Palestinian children.”
The NYPD says there have been about 1,300 protests in New York City related to the Israel-Hamas war, with nearly 2,900 people arrested at those demonstrations.
“As I have said before, we will never allow the city to descend into lawlessness,” Adams said in his remarks. “While peaceful protests will be allowed, the city will never cower in the face of those trying to divide us. Hate has no place in our city.”
