Menashe Manzouri watched in horror on Monday as anti-Israel rioters swarmed a Manhattan memorial to the Oct. 7 terror attacks, violently chanting the slogans of the terrorists who killed his two daughters.
“I can’t find the right words to describe how it makes me feel when someone screams and supports the people who murdered my daughters,” Manzuri said Tuesday.
“It was like they were killing me over and over again.”
The protest, which took place at the Nova music festival exhibition site on Wall Street on Monday, upset exhibition-goers, including survivors of the festival attack and family members of the victims.
They said they had been holed up inside while pro-Hamas protesters rampaged outside.
At least four survivors of the October 7 attack “panic[ed]” as protesters swarmed outside, igniting flares and chanting “Long live the intifada.”
Clutching photos of his daughters, Loia, 22, and Norelle, 25, Manzli, 58, told Mayor Eric Adams, who visited the exhibit on Tuesday, how they were massacred and burned by Hamas terrorists armed with grenades.
He broke down in tears and collapsed into Adams, who embraced him.
Nova festival co-founder Ofir Amir, 41, who was shot in both legs while fleeing from Hamas terrorists, left the exhibition site on Monday five minutes before protesters arrived, lighting flares and shouting “Long live the intifada!”
This callous act left Amir wondering how he could face such a scene in the United States.
“We’re here for the love of music and the festival. It has nothing to do with politics,” he told the Post.
“Why do you hate us so much?”
He said he hopes to talk to those taking part in the protests. “They don’t want to talk,” he added.
Tal Simonyi As he finished telling the audience of 100 about his escape from terrorists at Nova, a producer delivered the shocking news: “Outside, there’s an intifada going on.”
“It was a catalyst,” Simonyi, 25, said.
“I panicked. I was shocked. I thought, ‘Why is this happening?'” the Israeli said, adding that he saw rioters outside carrying Hamas and Hezbollah flags. “I thought, ‘Why is this happening again?'”
Even people who have not experienced a terrorist attack were shaken by the protesters’ actions.
Jessica Brooker, 29, a sales manager who organises events for Biznow, said she found the exhibition itself particularly “profound” because of her Jewish heritage and love of music.
But she had little time to think about it, because by the end of the exhibit, security guards had blocked the exits to keep visitors safely inside until the protests had subsided.
“People are going out there and lighting fires and hoping more people die,” she said. “I don’t understand that.”
“Honestly, the best word to describe it is just ‘sad.'”
The following day, visitors to the exhibition condemned the contrast between the memorial and the behaviour of those protesting outside.
“I think they should be arrested or put in a mental hospital,” an emotional Dennis, a Manhattan resident, said after leaving the exhibit. “I don’t think they have a clue.”
