Angry clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups at Brooklyn demonstration draw condemnation
NEW YORK — Hundreds of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters angrily confronted each other on the streets of a mainly Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood Tuesday night as officials said Jews were targeted with antisemitic rhetoric.
One person was arrested, police said.
The hate-filled language drew swift condemnation from elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul.
'Last night we saw protesters in Boro Park targeting Jewish New Yorkers with hateful rhetoric and antisemitic chants,' Hochul wrote on X. 'This is unacceptable. We are grateful to @NYPDnews for their diligent work keeping all New Yorkers safe.'
Members of the pro-Palestinian group Pal-Awda were demonstrating outside a Borough Park real estate event at 37th St. and 14th Ave. at which land in what they decried as 'occupied Palestine' was up for sale about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when pro-Israel counterprotesters confronted them, officials said.
The competing protests soon became heated with pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanting, 'Settlers, settlers go back home! Palestine is ours alone!' and 'Zionists go to hell!' according to the Times of Israel.
During the chaotic scene, a 61-year-old man approached police and said he was punched in the face by a protester. Cops quickly arrested Anthony Frausto, 42, for the attack, charging him with misdemeanor assault.
It wasn't immediately clear which group Frausto belonged to, cops said.
Frausto's arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending. The attack is not being treated as a hate crime, police said.
No other arrests or injuries were reported to police, officials said.
The Israel Real Estate Expo that Pal-Awda was protesting against was sponsored by The Getter Group, a Jerusalem-based real estate company that offers what it advertises as Israeli land to American Jews: 'Discover properties throughout the country,' a flier for the event said.
When the expo learned that Pal-Awda was protesting, it moved the event from Lumiere Hall on 50th St. — which is close to several schools — to 37th St., which is in a more commercial area. The Getter Group didn't want protesters to intimidate students coming out of school, the group said on Instagram.
'We will not be intimidated,' the group said, noting that the anti-Israeli protest was in Borough Park, 'an almost exclusively Jewish neighborhood.'
'[That] doesn't matter to them,' the group said on Instagram. 'In fact, it maybe made it all the more appealing. Perhaps they thought that they can come and intimidate the whole neighborhood.'
Scores of anti-Israeli protests have been held in the city since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks but protests of this type are rare in Jewish neighborhoods.
Pal-Awda also took to Instagram after the protest, affirming that they were not protesting a neighborhood, but the real estate event.
Jewish counterprotesters, they said, kicked, spat on and assaulted Pal-Awda members during the demonstration and as they made their way home.
'They were threatened and chased for hours,' the group said. 'From inside the event, Zionists threw jugs of water from over 15 feet high to protesters below. Zionists engaged in blatant Islamophobia in an effort to incite violence.'
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