Anti-Israel mob chanting ‘Long live Intifada’ lights flares outside NYC exhibit that memorializes Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival victims
A mob of anti-Israel protesters chanted “Long live the Intifada” during a depraved celebration Monday night outside a downtown Manhattan exhibit that memorializes the murder and rape victims of the Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival, where 364 people were killed by Hamas terrorists.
The deranged pro-terror crowd lit flares and waved a flag associated with the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in front of the Nova Music Festival Exhibition on Wall Street during what was billed by organizers as a “citywide day of rage for Gaza,” according to video from the scene.
The protesters also yelled “Israel go to hell” and clashed with police during the gathering that drew swift backlash from Israel supporters.
The demonstration, organized by pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, began in Union Square, where some protesters unfurled a “Long live October 7th” banner, according to social media footage.
One of the exhibit’s organizers, music mogul Scooter Braun, condemned the demonstration in front of the venue late Monday in a social media post.
“I don’t understand why protesting a memorial for innocent music lovers who were raped and butchered and kidnapped helps,” he said in an Instagram Story. “Go see the @novaexhibition and see the truth instead of standing outside listening to yourself.”
Others offered sharper words for the protesters.
“How utterly evil do you have to be to protest outside a site that memorializes the 1,200 victims of October 7?” former speechwriter for the Israeli government Aviva Klompas tweeted.
“Tonight’s vicious targeting of the exhibition is not pro-peace. It is repulsive and vile,” added Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine in a post on X. “I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
US Rep. Michael Lawler (R-NY) also called the actions of the protesters “disgusting.”
“There’s only one reason why these protesters would march in front of a Manhattan exhibit in memory of those killed at the Nova music festival on October 7th,” Joel Petlin, superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District, said in a social media post.
“They support the terrorists who perpetrated it, and they want it to happen again.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in April that a call for intifada is to “call for violence against Israelis and Jews and Israel.”
Following Monday’s protest, the Nova Exhibit announced it would remain open until June 22 after it was supposed to wrap up on Sunday.
The exhibit was unveiled in April to give New Yorkers an idea of the terror that Hamas inflicted on Israel on Oct. 7, including when the “Tribe of Nova” festival in southern Israel was attacked.
“The installation sets out to recreate an event dedicated to peace and love that was brutally cut short by Hamas’s attack on Israel from Gaza on that fateful day,” according to its website.
On top of the hundreds of concert-goers killed at the festival, a United Nations envoy said in March there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Hamas terrorists committed rape and “sexualized torture” during the horrifying assault in southern Israel.
A few blocks from the exhibit at Zuccotti Park, one man who was purportedly an Israel supporter was surrounded and taunted by about a dozen protesters who called him a Zionist.
At another point, police and protesters also faced off when officers demanded protesters get outside the barriers lining the street.
Several smoke bombs were set off and a yellow-and-green flag of the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was raised during the protest, according to video.
Six people were issued summonses during Monday night’s madness — three for disorderly conduct and three for jumping turnstiles, the NYPD said.
The protests against Israel have been ongoing since the Jewish state was attacked by Hamas terrorists last year, leading to the slaughter of 1,200 people and an ensuing military campaign in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces.
Protesters shouted “Shame” at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on the Upper East Side earlier this year and also berated actor Alec Baldwin last year as he walked by a demonstration.
Anti-Israel agitators have also blocked city roadways and occupied transit hubs during the months of protesting.
Additional reporting by Dorian Geiger
