On Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams reacted with anger and disgust after anti-Israel protesters vandalized a World War I monument in New York City.
The monument to the American 107th Infantry, located along Central Park on the Upper East Side, depicts the seven soldiers who fought their way through the Hindenburg Line, the last and strongest German defense line, in September 1918. Depicts a U.S. Army soldier.
Anti-Israel protests were underway Monday in areas near Hunter College and the star-studded Met Gala, with demonstrators pasting pro-Palestinian stickers on monuments, spray-painting “Free Gaza” and holding American flags at the scene. burned.
Adams, whose uncle died while serving in Vietnam at age 19, offered $5,000 of his own money to capture the vandal. NYPD Crime Stoppers is offering an additional $10,000 reward.
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Anti-Israel demonstrators vandalized a World War I monument in Central Park depicting the U.S. 107th Infantry in combat. (Rashid Umar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
“We will treat this crime with the seriousness it deserves,” Adams said Tuesday in front of the memorial. “I will not stand by while people desecrate monuments to those who fought for democracy and human rights. This is the right they (pro-Palestinian groups) want.”
Video footage posted online shows a group of anti-Israel supporters planting flags on statues and using spray paint to defend Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Fox News Digital has reached out to multiple veterans organizations for comment on this story.
Anti-Israel demonstrators burned an American flag on the site of a World War I memorial. (Rashid Umar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
Officials noted that the monument is different from many other monuments that typically honor military dignitaries.
“this is [monument] Doughboys,” said Zachary Iscol, director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, referring to the nickname of a unit of Army Gen. John Pershing’s American Expeditionary Forces.
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Three suspects are being sought for vandalizing a monument honoring a Civil War general. (New York City Police Department)
“Terrorist sympathizers are violating the Veterans Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act by desecrating this monument,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a U.S. Army infantry officer, wrote in an online post. He committed a serious crime.” 107th Infantry. ”
New York City Councilmember Vicki Palladino, who represents part of Queens, said her friends cleared the site of “Hamas propaganda” and planted an American flag.
“He and another veteran sprang into action as soon as images of what happened here emerged. Sadly, this is not over yet,” she wrote online.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, an advocacy group with chapters across the country, pointed Fox News Digital to a May 1 statement regarding anti-Israel protests.
“The First Amendment recognizes the people’s right to free speech and peaceably assemble, the same rights that members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) swore an oath to support and defend.” said VFW Cmdr. Duane Sarmiento: “We also support the rule of law in our country and those who strive to uphold it. Without them, parts of our population would be left with their rights violated. It will be.”
The New York City Police Department removes the Palestinian flag from the General Sherman statue near Central Park. (Rashid Umar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
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Elsewhere Monday night, protesters raised a Palestinian flag on a statue honoring Union General William Tecumseh Sherman near Central Park. NYPD officers arrived to stop the crowd, and officers climbed ladders to clear the crowd.
The monument was also defaced with spray paint. Three suspects are being investigated for this vandalism.
