By: Fern Sidman

In an unflinching and highly visible rebuke of the anti-Israel protests roiling American campuses and city streets, a coalition representing over 2,500 Orthodox rabbis across the United States is preparing to unveil a towering digital billboard in the heart of Times Square this week, branding the “Free Palestine” movement as a domestic terror campaign rooted in genocidal antisemitism.

As reported by The New York Post on Saturday, the billboard—located on Broadway near West 42nd Street, outside the Times Square Plaza office tower—will go live on Monday. Standing 1,060-by-512 feet, the massive screen will project a 10-second high-resolution animated clip multiple times per hour for 30 consecutive days, delivering a message as bold in its visual language as it is in its political charge.

Commissioned by the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), a nonprofit Orthodox rabbinical group, the billboard features two provocative visual statements. One depicts a composite image: a Hamas terrorist clad in the group’s signature green headband beside a Columbia University protester donning a white keffiyeh. The caption reads: “FREE PALESTINE = SUPPORT HAMAS = CALLING FOR GENOCIDE.”

The second image features a yellow star reminiscent of the Holocaust-era badges forced upon Jews in Nazi Germany. Its caption is equally stark:  “AMERICA WAKE UP. IT NEVER ENDS WITH THE JEWS!”

According to the information provided in The New York Post report, the campaign marks the first time a major Jewish organization has deployed such a large-scale, public-facing media platform to confront what it describes as a dangerous and unchallenged narrative sweeping across college campuses and progressive activist spaces.

“This is unprecedented,” said Rabbi Yaakov Menken, CJV’s executive director, in a statement to The New York Post. “Everyone recognizes the hate symbols of previous generations, but too many fail to see that the Hamas flag is no less murderous than that of the Nazis.”

The Coalition for Jewish Values, long known for its unwavering support of Israel and advocacy against antisemitism, is making clear that it sees the current political moment as an existential one—not just for Jews in Israel, but for Jews in America. Rabbi Menken said the campaign is not tied to any political figure or event, though it comes just days after House Speaker Mike Johnson declared that “Free Palestine” chants amount to a “violent movement that has found common cause with Hamas.”

“Too many Jewish organizations are afraid to say what Speaker Johnson finds obvious,” Menken told The New York Post. “The cry of ‘Free Palestine’ is a call of domestic terrorists.”

The billboard’s timing is also politically charged: it appears during early voting in New York City, ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary. One of the leading mayoral candidates, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, has faced backlash for his vehemently anti-Israel stance and affiliations with radical pro-Hamas groups. While Rabbi Menken emphasized that the campaign was not coordinated to target Mamdani, it is clear the themes of the billboard reflect widespread Jewish alarm over the mainstreaming of anti-Israel rhetoric.

“This ‘Free Palestine’ movement has revealed itself as nothing short of a propaganda machine for terror,” an anonymous CJV donor told The New York Post, emphasizing that the funding for the billboard came from private donations.

The billboard’s imagery and messaging follow in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel, which claimed over 1,200 lives—most of them civilians—and involved gruesome acts of torture and rape. In the days and weeks following that attack, “Free Palestine” rallies erupted across U.S. campuses and major cities, often dismissing or denying the atrocities and, in many cases, celebrating the attackers as “resistance fighters.”

As The New York Post has extensively documented, Columbia University, Mamdani’s alma mater, became a flashpoint in the national debate over antisemitism in academia. Protesters not only glorified armed struggle, but many wore paraphernalia identical to that used by Hamas terrorists, raising fears among Jewish students and faculty.

The CJV’s billboard draws a direct connection between these demonstrations and the ideological machinery of terrorism. “You cannot claim to support peace while marching under the banners of those who butcher babies and burn homes,” Rabbi Menken said in comments to The New York Post.

The campaign will include CJV’s website and QR code, allowing passersby to access further information and organizational initiatives. If additional funding is secured, Rabbi Menken indicated the billboard could remain in place beyond the initial 30-day run, potentially expanding to other cities with high levels of anti-Israel activism.

“This is a wake-up call to all Americans, not just Jews,” he told The New York Post. “Antisemitism is a signpost. When it is tolerated—when it is celebrated—it never stops at the Jews. History has taught us that lesson. Our Times Square billboard is here to make sure we don’t forget it.”

The billboard is certain to generate national attention and fierce debate. Some will call it inflammatory; others will call it necessary. But in a political and cultural environment where antisemitism has surged under the guise of anti-Zionism, the Coalition for Jewish Values has decided that silence is no longer an option.

As The New York Post indicated in its coverage, this bold campaign cuts through the fog of euphemisms that too often obscure the stakes: “Free Palestine” may sound benign to the uninitiated, but to those who understand the context, the chant has become the rallying cry of those who would see Israel dismantled and its people erased.

In the epicenter of New York’s commercial and cultural landscape, the message now shines in 1,060-foot clarity: “It never ends with the Jews.”