Members of the Jewish community are demanding answers from the New York Police Department after a mob of anti-Israel activists were permitted to stage a protest just steps away from a historic Manhattan synagogue.

The scene unfolded Wednesday night outside of the Park East Synagogue, where roughly 200 protestors gathered around the entrance to oppose an event hosted by an organization that helps Jews in America and Canada emigrate to Israel, Nefesh B’Nefesh. 

The keffiyeh-clad demonstrators shouted chants like “Death to the IDF,” “We don’t want no Zionists here,” “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada,” and “Resistance you make us proud, take another settler out,” according to the Times of Israel. Phrases like “one solution” and “stolen land” were also reported.

At one point a protest leader shouted into the crowd: “It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events. We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared.”

The protest was organized by Pal-Awda, an anti-Israel group that billed the event as “No settlers on stolen land. Protest the settler recruiting fair.” The event was also advertised by several other organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace and student groups from Columbia University, though the student groups are not recognized by the university itself. Nefesh B’Nefesh facilitates Jewish immigration across Israel and does not specifically direct immigrants to move into West Bank settlements.

The demonstrators were confined by barricades and there was a heavy NYPD presence, though shoving matches broke out on the sidelines between the anti-Israel agitators and counter-protesters. The activists also heckled police officers at the scene, but no arrests were reported.

Anti-Israel protests in New York City have been commonplace in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, though it is less common for such demonstrations to take place outside synagogues. Videos of the scene show the anti-Israel protesters were staged just steps away from the synagogue’s entrance. 

The protest was denounced by pro-Israel advocates and Jewish leaders who condemned the demonstrators for targeting a place of worship. Others questioned why the protesters were permitted to gather so close to the synagogue to begin with. The NYPD has not yet responded to requests for comment on its decision to authorize the protest location.

New York City law permits protesters to assemble outside a house of worship so long as they don’t block the entrance or obstruct pedestrian traffic. However, a 1994 federal law, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, prohibits using force, threats, or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health services or places of worship.

The Justice Department in September filed a civil complaint under that law against individuals who targeted a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, during a November 2024 protest that turned violent. 

Some commentators viewed the protest as a preview of what may come under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who has drawn criticism from Jewish community leaders for his history of anti-Israel activism and refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“Screaming for the death of Jews outside a synagogue. Who would ever have believed it of New York? Islam is rising in America. The Mamdani era has already begun,” remarked Jewish columnist Melanie Phillips. Eylon Levy, a former spokesman for the state of Israel, warned that “This will only get worse in Mamdani’s New York. These are his people.”

A New York City councilwoman, Vickie Paladino, shared a similar sentiment. “The Mamdani Effect is just getting started, and Jews are in for a bad time. No other way to put it,” she stated on X.

Mayor Eric Adams, who is currently traveling in Uzbekistan and Israel, released a statement in support of the synagogue. “Houses of worship are where people go to heal, reflect, and respect one another. Church, mosque, synagogue, it makes no difference,” he wrote on X. “Screaming vile language outside any of them isn’t ‘protest’ it’s desecration. It shows how sick and warped these agitators have become.”

Mr. Adams further vowed to visit the 135-year-old synagogue upon his return to New York. “We cannot hand this city over to radicals,” he added.

Mr. Mamdani had not addressed the protest as of Thursday afternoon. Rather, the mayor-elect posted on X to mark “Trans Day of Remembrance” and pledged to “honor them by building a New York where every trans person can live safely, fully and freely.”