New York City — What appears to be a disorderly and extremist protest from the outside can feel to participants like a party full of like-minded comrades fighting for justice.
National Review embedded itself Monday afternoon into an anti-Israel demonstration that disrupted parts of Brooklyn, in order to capture the scene and the perspective of the hundreds of far-left activists dedicating themselves to creating chaos for the sake of their cause.
The protest began near the New York Stock Exchange in downtown Manhattan, at the heart of the financial district. Demonstrators proceeded to the Brooklyn Bridge, where they were met by a significant NYPD presence meant to prevent them from closing off the bridge.
A large, diverse group of mostly young protesters chanted anti-Israel messages accompanied by drums and horns from the protesters and honks from the cars they blocked as they poured into Brooklyn’s streets.
When the cars and buses honked at the protesters, the crowd became louder and further emboldened with the sense that their demonstration was working as intended.
For the youthful rebels seeking to disrupt the system, anger and frustration from outsiders was part of the plan.
The group shouted a variety of slogans ranging from the typical inflammatory leftist chants “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “We will free Palestine within our lifetime” to more insidious slogans comparing the NYPD to the Ku Klux Klan and justifying “resistance” against the “occupation” by Israel, which some marchers called a “terrorist state.”
Many of the protesters in attendance held up the Palestinian flag and pro-Palestinian signs. A flag for Iranian-proxy organization Hezbollah was easily visible alongside a cluster of leftist signage expressing support for Gazans and opposition to the U.S.–Israel relationship.
Some activists used masks and the traditional Muslim keffiyeh to cover their faces and avoid identification. But plenty of the attendees were proudly displaying themselves in public as they participated in chants and obstructed traffic.
Roughly 15 minutes into the Brooklyn march, the group made its way toward the City Point residential and shopping center in downtown Brooklyn. A young man stood on top of a bus waving a Palestinian flag when his comrades turned a corner and walked toward the shopping area.
“Five, six, seven, eight . . . Israel is a terrorist state!” protesters exclaimed as they began pouring into the shopping complex. Demonstrators flooded the complex with chants chastising customers for buying products while bombs were being dropped in Gaza.
“While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping!” they shouted, drowning out any other noise and overwhelming the shopping area.
When the protesters left City Point, a portion of the crowd toward the back began chanting “Intifada, intifada” and “Globalize the intifada” in reference to Palestinians’ armed uprisings as the group headed toward Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.
Once the crowd got to the arena, they were met by a significant police presence meant to deter them from deliberately stopping traffic. A female demonstrator was arrested for doing just that.
Along the way, National Review entered a conversation with a masked black female activist who identified herself as “E” and spoke at length about her views of the protest and the Gaza war as a whole.
In her view, it is not antisemitic to oppose Zionism and the existence of a Jewish state, which she described as an “ethno-state.” Hamas is a “resistance group” born out of oppression, she said, and the mass slaughter by Hamas terrorists on October 7 was an act of resistance. She also believes the unprecedented Iranian attack against Israel last weekend was justified because of the Israeli attack that killed Iranian military commanders at an Iranian compound in Damascus, Syria, two weeks earlier.
Her belief in Palestinian claims to the surrounding land was based on vague references to DNA testing, and she dismissed biblical or historical claims by Jews.
She attributed U.S. support for Israel to the American military–industrial complex and a desire for greater resource control over the Middle East more than any moral values or national-security strategy. Rather than supporting U.S. strength abroad, she would prefer the government spent money on health care and wiping out student-loan debt, noting the existence of universal health care in Israel.
This group of politically disillusioned protesters seemed to consist of people more likely to support Cornel West’s 2024 presidential campaign than get behind President Joe Biden.
Perhaps the most emblematic scene of the entire march took place at the Brooklyn Public Library, where the protest reached its celebratory conclusion before petering out. Upon arrival at the library, a group of police officers in riot gear greeted the protesters and sought to stop them from shutting down traffic.
Officers guided the crowd across the street and arrested about a half-dozen protesters for getting in the way of traffic. Organizers attempted to redirect the group’s focus toward the steps of the library as anti-police chants erupted and a portion of them stayed lined up face-to-face with expressionless police officers. In front of a food vendor, an emotional female participant began screaming at an officer who took the insults and condemnations without flinching.
“Resolution, resolution” the protesters shouted to the beat of loud horns and drums. “Revolution, revolution,” they followed up. A sign reading “Israel is over” and another sign accusing the Jewish state of conducting 75 years of bloodshed were displayed prominently among the flags.
National Review spoke to a masked teenage participant at a table outside the library to learn why a young American would be spending his Monday afternoon on political activism. He said he became a socialist through exposure to Marxist theory during the Covid-19 lockdowns, particularly The Communist Manifesto.
“We are shutting down the normalcy that genocide is acceptable, occupying people is acceptable,” said an older woman. “Israel is following in the footsteps of the United States, who has committed genocide and occupation for the past 500 years.”
She likened terrorists to “freedom fighters” and claimed Americans have been indoctrinated to oppose them. “Hamas are freedom fighters,” she emphasized, without giving her opinion on Hamas’s tactics. “Resistance is justified when people are occupied, and if that resistance means riots, disrupting normalcy in daily life, I’m here for it.”
Anti-Israel activist group Within Our Lifetime posted footage on social media from the New York City protest and said police arrested over 50 protesters, including the group’s leader. Police said it arrested protestors who attempted to shut down transportation on the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hour.
The disruption in Brooklyn was one of many anti-Israel protests that took place nationwide on Monday in metropolitan areas including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Antonio. Left-wing activist organization A15 Action was the primary organizing force behind the protests, being formed specifically for that purpose.