By: Emily Goldberg

Some 150 anti-Israel protesters gathered at Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan, adjacent to the New York University campus, on Sunday evening for a vigil memorializing Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed in a Sept. 7, 2024 air strike.

The gathering, in which many of the protesters covered their faces with masks and keffiyehs, came hours after a funeral for the terror leader was held in Beirut.

Those who stood on one side of the Washington Square arch shouted “long live the intifada,” “there is only one solution, intifada revolution” and “resistance is justified when people are occupied.” Anti-Semitic protesters waved a Hezbollah flag and held up images of Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks whom Israel killed on Oct. 16, 2024.

A pro-Nasrallah protester, who gave her name only as Julia, 62, of New York, told JNS that the late terror leader ought to be commemorated, because he resisted Israeli actions toward Palestinians and in Lebanon.

Julia, who wore a pin that said “Zionist” with a red line crossing it out, told JNS that she is a “very vehemently anti-Zionist Jew” and claimed that Nasrallah kicked Israel out after “occupying Lebanon for 20 years.”

She also said that many Jews are “brainwashed” and that because she doesn’t believe in ethnic cleansing, Jews who have lived in the “illegitimate” country can stay there, as long as it is no longer a “Jewish supremacist state.”

JNS asked about Nasrallah’s responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Americans. “I don’t think the United States should have bases in other countries,” Julia said. “I think they are occupation bases. I think resistance against foreign forces occupying your country is totally legitimate all over the world, not just in Lebanon.”

On the other side of the arch, some 100 pro-Israel ralliers held Israeli, U.S. and Lebanese flags and chanted “you are Hamas,” and “am Yisrael chai.” They also sang the American and Israeli national anthems.

“Radical pro-Hezbollah terrorist sympathizers and anti-American extremists have taken to the streets of New York to glorify and praise Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose reign of terror resulted in the butchering of thousands of innocents around the world,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), President Trump’s nominee as U.S. envoy to the United Nations, told JNS.

“It has never been more important to condemn this moral depravity, demand accountability and implement President Trump’s America First peace through strength agenda,” Stefanik added. “As President Trump has made clear, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hate will never be tolerated.”

A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told JNS that the governor “launched America’s first-ever statewide plan to combat anti-Semitism and has repeatedly condemned disgusting, unacceptable actions that glorify terrorism or hate.”

“Granting permits for protests and demonstrations is handled by local governments, not the state, and Gov. Hochul stands ready to provide New York City with any assistance necessary to protect the public and keep the community safe,” the spokesperson said.

Kayla Mamelak Altus, press secretary for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, told JNS that the mayor “has been clear that hate has no place in New York City.”

(JNS.org)