Dueling crowds of protesters rallied outside a pro-Israel event at one of New York’s most prominent Modern Orthodox synagogues for the second time in six months on Tuesday, sending the city down a familiar and acrimonious path as the conflict in the Middle East once again spilled over into its streets.
A few hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the synagogue, Park East on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, after it was advertised as the location of “the Great Israel Real Estate Event.” The evening promotes American real estate purchases in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which most of the world considers to be illegal. Dozens of pro-Israel counter-demonstrators also assembled at the site.
Demonstrators traded chants and insults, while a heavy police presence kept the groups away from each other and from the synagogue. Intermittent scuffles broke out throughout the evening, mainly between the police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, but there were no arrests, the police said.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted “Long live the intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” slogans that many pro-Israel groups view as calls for violence. Some counterprotesters chanted, “There is no Palestine.”
Nearby, a man slowly walked around the pro-Palestinian crowd, filming them, while wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the Jewish Defense League, an extremist group of which an offshoot was linked to the attempted assassination of a Palestinian activist in March.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the event on Tuesday. Sam Raskin, his spokesman, said Mr. Mamdani was “deeply opposed” to the event because it “includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank.”
“These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians,” Mr. Raskin said.
He added, “Our administration has also been clear that we are committed to ensuring safe entry and exit from any house of worship, and that such access never be in question while all protesters are able to exercise their First Amendment rights.”
Other elected officials saw it differently. Micah Lasher, an assemblyman who is running in the Democratic congressional primary for the district that includes Park East, said the protest was “intended to create fear in the hearts of Jewish New Yorkers and stigmatize our community.”
“This is part and parcel of the rising antisemitism that we are facing,” he said. “Whatever your politics, whatever your views, this is not the New York way and should be condemned.”
New York has experienced at least two other protests outside synagogues in recent months, which helped propel the passage of two City Council bills intended to address concerns about demonstrations outside houses of worship and schools.
The “buffer zone” bills require the Police Department to publicize plans to deploy security perimeters during protests. Both measures have drawn criticism over free speech concerns, and Mr. Mamdani vetoed the measure that applied to educational institutions last month.
The second bill, which applies to houses of worship, passed the Council with a veto-proof majority. A spokesman for the mayor’s office said it would not go into effect until June.
A spokesman for Julie Menin, the speaker of the City Council, who championed both bills, said Ms. Menin was monitoring the protest. “The right to peaceful protest must be protected, and so must the ability of individuals to safely access a house of worship without fear or intimidation,” the spokesman said.
The protest on Tuesday came after a series of events that some Jewish leaders said had left the community on edge.
On Monday, swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti were found spray-painted on homes, synagogues and Jewish institutions in Queens. The Police Department said on Tuesday that no arrests had been made, and the Hate Crimes Task Force was investigating.
And last week, Mr. Mamdani released a statement on the Israeli interception of a humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters, which resulted in the arrests of almost 200 activists. He called it “brazen violation of international law.”
Mark Treyger, the chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, criticized Mr. Mamdani after his comments about the Israeli raid on the flotilla and accused him of not focusing enough on Jewish concerns in New York City.
“Foundational to advancing any mayoral agenda is ensuring that New Yorkers of every background feel seen, heard, and protected by their mayor, which includes Jewish New Yorkers,” he said in a statement.
But progressive Jewish groups have supported the mayor’s stance. On Tuesday, Jewish Voice for Peace applauded him for expressing opposition to the event at Park East Synagogue.
“This event, open to Jews only and promoting that Jewish New Yorkers move to ‘Anglo neighborhoods,’ is racist, exclusionary, and perpetuates the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” the group said on Tuesday. “No one should enable the sale of stolen land, let alone a house of worship.”
The event at Park East on Tuesday was organized by Tivuch Shelly, a firm that markets real estate in Israel and the West Bank to English speakers. It did not respond to a message seeking comment, but said online that it planned several more events in the New York area in the coming days. A representative for Park East also did not respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday night.
In November, Park East was the site of an event held by a different group, Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit organization that promotes American immigration to Israel. That was the first flare-up related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since Mr. Mamdani’s election as mayor, and his response — which included chastising both the synagogue and the demonstrators — alarmed many Jewish leaders.
The police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, apologized at Shabbat services after the first protest for not doing more to shield the entrance to Park East from the protest’s “turmoil.” This time, the police presence was far greater.
A second high-profile protest outside a synagogue happened in Queens nine days after Mr. Mamdani took office in January. It was organized in opposition to the firm behind the event on Tuesday, Tivuch Shelly, and turned deeply acrimonious.
Anti-Israel demonstrators briefly chanted in support of Hamas, and pro-Israel demonstrators hurled slurs and death and rape threats at protesters and journalists. Mr. Mamdani condemned the behavior and language of both groups.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
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