Anti-Israel activists in NYC target Israeli candlelight vigil marking Hamas' Oct 7 attack

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters disrupted a candlelight vigil in New York City’s Union Square Park on Wednesday, marking the third anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, with some participants openly celebrating the massacre and rejecting calls for peace with Israel and the Jewish people.

The protesters targeted members of the left-wing group Israeli for Peace, which organized the vigil. One protester chanted at the group’s members, “We don’t want peace with Israelis, bro! We sent your people to hell on October 7.”

Other protesters played drums and used megaphones to chant slogans including “Gaza will be liberated!” Some held Hamas flags and portraits and pictures of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is widely considered a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and hundreds more were taken hostage.

The protesters also turned their attention to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who attended the peace event despite his strong opposition to Israel and Zionism.

Once protesters learned that Mamdani was present, they chanted “Traitor!” and “Zohran, what do you say? How many boots did you lick today?” Mamdani, who kept a low profile at the event, neither addressed the vigil nor responded to the protesters.

Some protesters also called Mamdani an “ambassador of Zionism” despite his longstanding criticism of Israel.

“He’s 100% Muslim but as of now, he stands as an ambassador of Zionism and U.S. imperialism,” one protester chanted.

Last month, Mamdani called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “architect of genocide” ahead of Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

Israel and the United States have strongly rejected accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The Israeli military has said it seeks to minimize civilian casualties and has accused Hamas of deliberately using civilians as human shields.

The Israeli candlelight vigil, which was protected by police barricades, eventually moved to another location in the park as protesters continued chanting. Speakers struggled to be heard over the demonstrations.

Vigil participants held electric candles and signs reading “not one more life,” referring to deaths on both sides of the conflict. They also heard testimonies about Gazans killed during the war, and the group included a Muslim prayer.

Brad Lander, a Democratic nominee running to represent parts of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn in Congress, repeated the words of a mother whose 20-year-old son was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival. Lander appeared disturbed by the protesters' conduct.

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry claims that more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. The figure has not been independently verified, and the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its reported death toll.

The Israeli military has estimated that it has killed between 23,000 and 25,000 combatants from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other terrorist organizations.

At the end of the vigil, participants raised their candles and recited the Mourner’s Kaddish, a traditional Jewish prayer honoring the dead. In the background, protesters chanted “Death to the IDF!”

Despite the hostile chants and threats directed at the event, no arrests were reported.