A crowd of anti-Israel protesters chanted “Long Live the Intifada” Monday night during a depraved celebration in downtown Manhattan outside an exhibit commemorating the victims of the Oct. 7 murder and rape at the Nova music festival, where 364 people were killed by Hamas terrorists.
On what organizers billed as a “citywide day of rage against Gaza,” a crazed pro-terror crowd lit flares in front of the Nova Music Festival exhibition on Wall Street and waved flags linked to the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, according to video footage from the scene.
Protesters chanted “Go to hell, Israel” and clashed with police during the unrest, which drew swift backlash from Israel supporters.
“How evil must it be to protest outside the memorial to the 1,200 victims of October 7th,” tweeted Aviva Klompas, a former Israeli government speechwriter.
“Tonight’s vicious attack on the exhibit does not support peace. It is disgusting and vile. I condemn it in the strongest terms,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine added in a post on X. “I condemn it in the strongest terms.”
New York Republican Rep. Michael Lawler also called the protesters’ actions “repulsive.”
“We marched in front of the Manhattan Fair for one reason only: to honor those who died at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th,” Kiryas Joel School Superintendent Joel Petrin said in a social media post.
“They support the terrorists who committed this crime and want it to happen again.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in April that the call for an intifada was a “call for violence against Israelis, Jews and Israel.”
The Nova exhibit opened in April to educate New Yorkers about the horrors Hamas has inflicted on Israel, including the Oct. 7 attack on the “Nova Tribe” festival in southern Israel.
“The installation aims to recreate the event dedicated to peace and love that was cruelly interrupted on that fateful day by a Hamas attack from Gaza into Israel,” the website states.
The exhibition is scheduled to continue until the end of this week.
In addition to the killings of hundreds of concertgoers at the festival, a UN envoy said in March there was “sufficient evidence” that Hamas terrorists had committed rape and “sexual torture” during a horrific attack in southern Israel.
The demonstration, organised by pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, began in Union Square, where some protesters held up banners that read “Live October 7th”, according to social media footage.
A few blocks away at the Zuccotti Park exhibit, a man described as a supporter of Israel was surrounded by about a dozen protesters who yelled at him as a Zionist.
At another point, police and protesters faced off as officers demanded that protesters step outside barricades along the road.
Video showed several smoke bombs were fired during the protest and the limelight flag of the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah was raised.
Protests against Israel have been ongoing since the Jewish state was attacked by Hamas terrorists last year, killing 1,200 people, and the Israeli army launched a military operation in Gaza.
Protesters chanted “shame on you” at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on the Upper East Side earlier this year, and last year they denounced Alec Baldwin as he walked past a demonstration.
Anti-Israel activists have blocked roads and occupied transport hubs in the city during months of protests.
Additional reporting by Dorian Geiger
