Zohran Mamdani Condemns Great Israel Real Estate Event at Park East Synagogue Ahead Protest

A real-estate expo promoting land sales in Israel and the West Bank drew a rebuke from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ahead of a Tuesday night protest outside Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side.

“Later tonight, the Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side is scheduled to host an event promoting the sale of land in Israel, prompting an expected protest by organizations who say the event will involve the sale of stolen Palestinian land”

Hell Gate

The event, called “The Great Israel Real Estate Event,” was scheduled to take place at Park East Synagogue on East 67th Street between Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue, with the protest set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Hell Gate

The New York City Police Department set up barricades outside the synagogue as the neighborhood braced for demonstrators, according to Patch.

Mayor Mamdani’s office said the expo included “the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank,” and that “These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians,” through spokesperson Sam Raskin.

Raskin also said the administration was “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.”

The Hell Gate report described the anticipated confrontation as the first such event since City Council passed legislation restricting protest activities near houses of worship, while noting that the law had not yet gone into effect.

The Intercept reported that the expo advertised services to help people in the United States, Canada, and the U.K. purchase land in Israel and the West Bank, and that it was hosted at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Tuesday.

The reporting described how the expo was marketed and how organizers and critics interpreted what it meant for Israel’s occupied territories.

Patch said the event was “called "The Great Israel Real Estate Event,"” and that it “aims to sell real estate to Jewish people in Israel and the West Bank,” taking place at Park East Synagogue on East 67th Street between Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue.

Patch

Hell Gate added that the event’s website advertised “an opportunity to "explore the best Anglo neighborhoods to find your dream home,"” and that it “doesn't explicitly state that land is being sold,” instead inviting registrants to indicate which areas they were interested in buying land in.

Among the options listed, Hell Gate said, was Gush Etzion, described as “a cluster of settlements in an area of the West Bank illegally expropriated by Israel in 2014.”

The Intercept reported that the expo was sponsored by a group called Home in Israel and that, just inside the synagogue, “a large welcome sign specified that the event was for "information purposes only."”

It also described how more than a dozen tables advertised real estate services, “most of which promoted glitzy luxury buildings in Tel Aviv, Netanya, and other cities inside Israel’s internationally recognized borders,” while at least one company, Harey Zahav, displayed a map of properties in Kfar Eldad and Karnei Shomron and other settlements in the West Bank.

In the same Intercept account, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, said that “Gush Etzion is the Israeli term for an area of the West Bank located south of Jerusalem” and that “under international law, all Israeli construction, all Israeli communities are considered illegal under international law.”

Multiple voices framed the protest as both a question of legality and a question of how political conflict should be handled at houses of worship.

“A roving real-estate expo for land sales in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories held an event at a New York synagogue on Tuesday, drawing a rebuke from Mayor Zohran Mamdani over the potential for land sales that violate international law”

The Intercept

Shraddha Joshi, a member of PAL-Awda of New York and New Jersey, told Hell Gate, “They're soliciting interest in illegally stolen land,” and said, “We are going to be outside because we are protesting illegal violence, the violation of human life and international law.”

The Intercept reported that Pal-Awda announced plans on social media for a protest on Tuesday outside Park East Synagogue and wrote, “We will not be silent as ethnic cleansing is being actively promoted in our neighborhoods.”

Council Speaker Julie Menin, described by Hell Gate as the driving force behind the council’s legislation, said in a statement Tuesday that “As the City Council made clear in passing our safe access legislation with overwhelming support, safe access to the building should be ensured while fully protecting the right to peaceful protest.”

Patch quoted Upper East Side Councilmember Virginia Maloney and Assemblymember Alex Bores saying the protest was “in response to a real estate expo” and that it “is not an official Park East Synagogue event,” while also warning that it “naturally conjures painful memories of when people have been harassed while entering houses of worship.”

Governor Kathy Hochul, cited by Hell Gate, said earlier protests of land sale events at New York City synagogues involved antisemitism, stating, “Targeting a Jewish community this way is antisemitism.”

Sophie Ellman-Golan of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice pushed back on that framing, telling Hell Gate, “There are real reasons to oppose events like this that have nothing to do with antisemitism,” and adding, “It's pretty distressing to see synagogues—sacred places where Jews gather to pray or be in community—used for purposes like the sale of stolen land in illegal settlements.”

The three reports differed in how they emphasized the event’s details and the surrounding political dispute, even while describing the same setting at Park East Synagogue.

Patch focused on the logistics and political context in New York City, saying the NYPD set up barricades outside an Upper East Side synagogue and that the Tuesday night protest was “in response to a real estate expo aiming to sell land in Israel and the West Bank.”

Hell Gate

It also stressed that the protest was “organized by PAL-AWDA” and that it was “not an official Park East Synagogue event,” quoting Virginia Maloney and Alex Bores that “This will be the first protest outside Park East since a similar protest at the shul, organized by the same group, sparked accusations of antisemitism in November.”

Hell Gate, by contrast, foregrounded the legal and political controversy around protest buffers, stating that the anticipated showdown would be “the first such event since the City Council passed controversial legislation restricting protest activities in close proximity to houses of worship,” while also saying “That new law has not yet gone into effect.”

Hell Gate also described the event website’s language about “explor[ing] the best Anglo neighborhoods to find your dream home,” and it highlighted Gush Etzion as an option listed on the website.

The Intercept provided a more on-the-ground description of the expo itself, reporting that “Just inside the synagogue, a large welcome sign specified that the event was for "information purposes only."”

It also described the tables and locations of properties advertised, including Tel Aviv and Netanya, and named Harey Zahav and the settlement locations Kfar Eldad and Karnei Shomron.

The reporting tied Tuesday’s confrontation to a broader sequence of New York City political actions and to the possibility of further clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.

“UES Braced For Protest Outside Synagogue The Tuesday night protest is in response to a real estate expo aiming to sell land in Israel and the West Bank”

Patch

Hell Gate said the anticipated showdown would be “almost certainly” followed by counter-protesters, and it described the event as “the first such event since the City Council passed controversial legislation restricting protest activities in close proximity to houses of worship.”

Patch

It also said “That new law has not yet gone into effect,” and added that the NYPD was on record stating that in its final, “watered-down” form it “won't make a meaningful change in how the department polices protests at events like this.”

Patch likewise pointed to City Council passing a bill to create security perimeters for protests outside houses of worship after a November protest, and it said the Tuesday event would be the first protest outside Park East since that earlier incident.

In the Intercept account, the expo’s sponsor Home in Israel and the presence of real estate companies advertising properties in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Kfar Eldad, and Karnei Shomron set up a continuing dispute over what is being promoted in the city.

The Intercept also described how Pal-Awda planned to protest outside Park East Synagogue and how a counter-protest flyer urged, “All members of the Jewish community need to come out and protect the synagogue,” while noting that the call did not appear to come from Park East Synagogue itself.

Mayor Mamdani’s office repeatedly emphasized safe access and free speech, with Sam Raskin telling Patch that “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.”