By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

In a decisive display of communal resilience, several of New York City’s most prominent  Jewish organizations have announced a large-scale solidarity rally for Thursday evening in the vicinity of Park East Synagogue, the landmark Manhattan congregation that was besieged by an aggressive anti-Zionist protest late last month. According to a report that appeared on Tuesday at VIN News, the planned gathering is intended as both a repudiation of escalating intimidation directed at Jewish institutions and a public affirmation of the community’s unwavering commitment to Zionism and Jewish self-determination.

The event, scheduled for 6 p.m. on East 67th Street, is being organized by the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) New York–New Jersey regional office, and the New York branch of the American Jewish Committee. Together, these four organizations represent the backbone of mainstream Jewish institutional life in the city, a coalition uniquely positioned to issue a unified response at a moment of growing anxiety for Jewish New Yorkers. As VIN News reported, Jewish neighborhoods across the city have endured a troubling surge of harassment outside synagogues, schools, and community centers—demonstrations that many leaders argue have crossed the threshold from political protest into targeted hostility.

In a joint statement released ahead of Thursday’s gathering, organizers articulated what they described as an urgent need for solidarity and communal visibility. “Join us as proud New Yorkers, proud Jews, and proud Zionists as we send a clear and powerful message: We will always defend our community’s values, and we will never waver in our support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland,” the groups declared. The report at VIN News noted that the language was intentionally unapologetic, seeking to counter a climate in which Jewish identity, Zionism, and support for Israel have increasingly become flashpoints exploited by agitators.

The upcoming rally is a direct outgrowth of the alarming demonstration that took place outside Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a neighborhood long considered one of the safest and most established centers of Jewish life in the United States. According to the information provided in the VIN News report, the late-month protest saw an anti-Zionist group surrounding the synagogue, blocking entrances, and heckling congregants as they arrived for a community event.

Videos circulated online showed demonstrators chanting incendiary slogans and confronting passersby in a manner many Jewish leaders have characterized as threatening and unmistakably antisemitic in tone.

The Park East incident struck a particularly sensitive nerve because of the synagogue’s symbolic importance. Founded in 1890, Park East has hosted generations of Jewish leaders, diplomats, activists, and heads of state. It also maintains a deeply respected early childhood and elementary school, frequented by young families who were reportedly among the most shaken by the aggressive demonstration. As one rabbi told VIN News in the aftermath, “This was not a political protest. This was an attempt to terrorize a Jewish space.”

Thursday evening’s solidarity gathering comes amid a broader pattern that Jewish institutions have been forced to confront since the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre and the subsequent Israel–Hamas war. As VIN News has repeatedly chronicled, Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens have seen a marked increase in hostile demonstrations—many of which have taken place directly outside synagogues during Shabbat services or holiday gatherings. These protests, often coordinated via social media, have featured chants accusing Jews of genocide, calls for an intifada “from New York to Gaza,” and, in several cases, attempts to blockade entrances to Jewish buildings.

Law enforcement has maintained a visible presence outside many synagogues since the Park East episode, but Jewish leaders say the emotional toll on congregants persists. “This isn’t just about physical safety,” one community representative told VIN News earlier this week. “It’s about maintaining a sense of belonging, of dignity, of security in our own city. We cannot allow targeted intimidation to become normalized.”

Organizers of Thursday’s rally hope the event will serve multiple purposes: a morale-boost for a shaken community, a show of force against those who seek to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers, and a public reminder that support for Israel remains a central element of Jewish identity for the vast majority of American Jews.

According to the information contained in the VIN News report, the decision to host the gathering near Park East Synagogue was deliberate. It signals that Jewish New Yorkers will not be pushed out of their own spaces or cowed into silence. The location is also meant as a reassurance to families whose children attend the synagogue’s school, many of whom were alarmed by the demonstrators’ attempt to use the institution as a backdrop for political theater.

UJA-Federation, JCRC, the ADL, and AJC emphasized that the rally is not a counter-protest but an affirmation—an opportunity for Jews and allies to gather peacefully and publicly. Nevertheless, the organizations expect thousands of attendees, many carrying Israeli flags or signs expressing solidarity with the Jewish state. NYPD community affairs officers have already coordinated additional security, according to the VIN News report, though organizers have stressed that the event will be entirely peaceful.

If the Park East protest marked a turning point in the city’s understanding of the intensity of anti-Zionist activism, Thursday’s gathering may represent the beginning of a new communal strategy—one focused not only on security but on visibility, unity, and unapologetic pride.

As one organizer told VIN News, “We are not hiding. We are not stepping back. We will meet hate with unity, ignorance with truth, and intimidation with solidarity.”

In a city where nearly two million Jews live, work, study, and pray, the message is unmistakable: New York’s Jewish community is not retreating. Instead, it is gathering—in strength, in dignity, and in full public view—to assert its place in the life of the city and its unbreakable bond with Israel.