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NYC Protest at Synagogue
About 100 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Tuesday evening for the second time in six months to demonstrate against an Israeli real estate event called “the Great Israel Real Estate Event,” which featured properties for sale in the occupied West Bank.
“A few hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside a New York synagogue on Tuesday”
The event’s website referenced listings in Gush Etzion, a group of settlements in the West Bank located southeast of Jerusalem that are considered illegal under international law, and organisers at the synagogue promoted properties in Kfar Eldad and Karnei Shomron.
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the expo, saying, “When we have a real estate expo that is promoting the sale of land which includes the sale of land in occupied West Bank, in settlements that are a violation of international law, that that is something that I firmly disagree with.”
Demonstrators and counter-protesters clashed as police tried to keep groups separated, with protesters also clashing with police after trying to bypass security barriers and move closer to the synagogue.
In the same reporting, the United Nations’ position that the occupation since 1967 is illegal was invoked to frame settlements as illegal under international law, while Pal-Awda NY said the event’s location and vetting process were part of a broader effort to displace Palestinians from their homes.
Police, Buffer Zones, and Quotes
Pal-Awda NY said the New York Police Department “violently kettled and barricaded pro-Palestine protesters while protecting Zionist counter-agitators,” and also accused officers of “pepper-sprayed demonstrators, and brutally grabbed and pushed those present,” in a statement sent to Middle East Eye.
Mamdani told reporters he has “made it clear time and time again that we in this city believe in the sacrosanct nature of the right to protest,” while adding, “The police ensured [both rights] yesterday,” as he defended safe access to houses of worship.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency described Tuesday’s scene as confrontations in the general vicinity of Park East Synagogue, with chants including “Death, death to the IDF,” and “Settlers settlers go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” while police showed up “in full force” to prevent a repeat of November’s demonstration.
Mitchell Silber, CEO of the Community Security Initiative, said, “And everything we’ve seen since then has been, you know, a tremendous NYPD presence, preparation, since that event,” as the article described East 67th and 68th Streets being barricaded.
The JTA account also tied the heightened police posture to the City Council’s subsequent “buffer zone” legislation, while noting that the police response on Tuesday was not the result of that legislation because it does not take effect until June.
Legal and Political Stakes
The dispute over the expo’s legitimacy is tied to how the properties are marketed and where they are located, with the event described as promoting the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank that are “illegal under international law” and “deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.”
“These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.”
In a statement carried by The Intercept, Mamdani’s spokesperson Sam Raskin said, “These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians,” as the mayor’s office condemned the event at Park East Synagogue.
Al Jazeera reported that the demonstration was organised by Pal-Awda NY and that the New York City Council passed legislation restricting demonstrations near religious institutions, requiring police to publish plans establishing buffer zones during protests outside places of worship.
The Mary Sue framed the expo as a “private, invitation-only affair” while citing the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s 2024 complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice over alleged discriminatory practices.
Across the coverage, the event’s West Bank listings—such as Gush Etzion, Kfar Eldad, and Karnei Shomron—were repeatedly used to argue that the expo is entangled with the broader political question of settlement expansion and displacement, even as the organizers’ website maintained that the expos are “private, invitation-only events”.
