Around 2,000 protesters gathered for a pro-Palestinian rally at Washington Square Park Friday with a laundry list of demands, including calling for a “permanent end to the occupation” of Gaza and dismantling the Israeli government.
The assembled crowd railed against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Hamas-controlled territory, waving Palestinian flags and holding up signs bearing messages like “Free Palestine,” “Cease fire now” and “Israel thinks killing babies is collateral damage.”
Protesters called on people to rebel against Black Friday by disrupting it and boycotting companies that support Israel. Chants from the crowd included, “1, 2, 3, 4, Occupation no more. 5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a racist state,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which the Anti-Defamation League classifies as an antisemitic slogan.
The rally included members of multiple organizations, such as the Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine, The People’s Forum, Nodutdol, Al-Awda-NY, the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) – NJ, the ANSWER coalition and the International Peoples’ Assembly.
Manolo De Los Santos, a member of The People’s Forum, told The Post that his group showed up at the protest because they “refuse to be silenced,” and consider Israel responsible for the war.
“This war didn’t start on Oct. 7th. This war started when the state of Israel was imposed on the peoples of the Arab world,” he said.
“We want a permanent cease-fire, a permanent end to the occupation. We are shutting it down in New York City today.”
A Palestinian Youth Movement member who would only identify himself as Samar said today’s march and rally would be just the beginning.
“We are solidly committed, and every single day we will double, we will triple, we will quadruple that commitment until Palestine is free,” he said.
Layan Fuleihan, education director of The People’s Forum, excoriated the White House for its unwavering support of Israel, which President Biden has vowed will continue.
“We are the White House’s worst nightmare. They dream of nothing but blood and violence and exploitation of dignified people across the globe,” she said.
“We are going to keep fighting, keep raising our voices, until our demands are met. The White House are a Zionist instrument, they are puppets, their military bases, their corporate best friends, their conspirators all gathered together and orchestrated together the massacre of 14,000 beautiful Palestinians.”
She also referenced the protests that disrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade by drenching themselves in fake blood and gluing their hands to Sixth Avenue Thursday.
“They cannot deceive us with their Thanksgiving meals and their upcoming holiday celebrations. On Thanksgiving day, the Macy’s parade was stopped multiple times. No genocide then, and no genocide now.”
At the fringes of the rally, a small counter-protest of about a dozen people held Israeli flags while speaking the names of hostages abducted by Hamas terrorists and chanting, “Bring them home.”
The group was occasionally shouted down by the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who taunted them by yelling out, “It’s your bombs that killed them” and reading out the names of Palestinian children who have been killed since Oct. 7.
The opposing groups at times shouted at each other, as a wall of cops kept them apart. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators screamed “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) while those supporting Israel chanted, “Long live Israel” and sang in Hebrew.
One protester yelled toward the pro-Israel group, “Go back to Poland” but declined to speak to The Post about what he meant.
The pro-Palestinian faction broke off into a march up Sixth Avenue, chanting “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada” as well as repeating earlier rallying cries.
The group stopped in front of Macy’s at Broadway and 34th Street, the entrance of which was lined with cops, chanting, “While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping,” “Shut it down” and “You will see you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Friday’s Manhattan rally comes amid increased global scrutiny of Israel’s war against Hamas, which began Oct. 7 after a surprise rocket attack that killed 1,200 Israeli civilians.
The terror group also seized some 230 hostages, about two dozen of which were freed Friday under the terms of a temporary ceasefire agreement between the sides.