Shocking images and video show the moment three anti-Israel protesters set two American flags and one Israeli flag on fire outside the Israeli consulate on Wednesday.
The American flag was barely visible beneath the flames of the Firebirds (one of whom has led to several arrests in the past two months). I was standing outside The building is located at Second Avenue and East 42nd Street.
A man wearing kefir and a “Gaza” shirt stood in the bike lane directly in front of the NYPD booth, holding a burning flag, the bright yellow flames reflected in the booth’s glass.
Another disguised man then set fire to the Israeli flag, which quickly withered and fell off the flagpole, according to the video.
According to the New York Police Department, one of the three arsonists has been arrested.
Jaki Lodgeson-McRae, 20, of New Jersey, was charged with second-degree endangerment, third-degree menacing, disorderly conduct and failure to use sidewalks.
It is unclear whether he was one of two people holding an American flag or the third who held an Israeli flag.
The NYPD said this was Lodgeson-McRae’s fourth arrest in recent weeks, having previously been charged with trespassing and resisting arrest in May.
The identities of the remaining flag burners remain a mystery.
The shocking scene came shortly after other vandals on Wednesday splashed red paint across Manhattan, including a Palestinian mission and a luxury building on the Upper East Side.
Photos show them throwing bright red paint at an NYPD patrol car.
Earlier this week, paint-wielding protesters targeted the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish director and several board members.
