The Shift: NY lawmakers condemn Palestine protest, ignore Zionist violence

On Tuesday night activists showed up in Brooklyn’s Borough Park to protest another Israeli real estate sale.

The Getter Group organized the real estate event. If its clients desire, the group offers to inquire into properties located in the illegal West Bank settlements.

The protest, which was organized by Pal-Awda, faced backlash before it even happened because the park is located in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. This inevitably led to charges of antisemitism, all of which conveniently omitted the real estate angle.

The framing was pushed by multiple New York lawmakers.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) retweeted a flyer promoting the protest and wrote, “This ‘protest’ is in fact targeted harassment aimed at a neighborhood with one of the highest populations of Orthodox Jews in the US. To harass and intimidate Jews because of the actions of Israel is textbook antisemitism. True progressives must speak out against this hate.”

Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein called it a “hateful, targeted protest against our local Jewish community” and called on the NYPD to stop it from happening.

A counterprotest was organized by the far-right Zionist group Betar USA, which has made recent headlines for harassing Palestine supporters on the street and giving the Trump administration a list of students they want to be deported. Betar encouraged participants to bring “wear masks and bring pitbulls.” One of the organization’s members waved the flag of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), which has been classified as a terrorist group by the FBI for over 20 years.

Clashes broke out between the two groups and the NYPD said a pro-Palestine Brooklyn resident was arrested for punching an Israel supporter in the face. The Zionist group claims that the Palestine protesters tried to drive through them, creating much of the violence.

“There are mass fights in Brooklyn,” said Betar USA on their Twitter page. “A pogrom has taken place..Betar leaders have been attacked.”

The group also called on pro-Israel council member to launch an investigation into the events.

However, an in-depth thread from reporter Talia Jane documents what actually happened. One of the videos shows a Zionist counter-protester allegedly stabbing a Palestine activist with a flagpole. The assaulted party is then taken down and arrested by police.

Pal-Awda also put out a statement describing what they witnessed from counter-protesters in detail. Here’s some highlights:

Protest attendees were spat on, kicked, harassed, maced, and even physically struck and punched by Zionists as they made their way to the protest and as they tried to go home. Protestors were followed by foot and car by Zionist mobs including the shomrim. They were threatened and chased for hours. From inside the event, Zionists threw jugs of water from over 15 ft high onto the protestors below. Zionists engaged in blatant Islamophobia in an effort to incite violence.…

One counterprotestor held a lighter to a Quran, another made sexual gestures with a Quran, and others mocked our call to prayer. Zionists also attempted to infiltrate the crowd during the protest and attack protestors multiple times but failed...

At the conclusion of our protest, we marched and dispersed several blocks away from the location of the sale. One group of protestors left together, escorting several Jewish allies to their car. They were approached by a Zionist with a metal stick and several others followed, encircling and threatening them, and ultimately assaulting the group. Two young men were taken to the hospital as a result of the attacks...

Our group needed to surround and protect one of the Neturei Karta elder rabbis, in a wheelchair, as the Zionist mob tried to attack him. This type of violence highlights the hypocrisy of the false attacks that slander our protest as antisemitic. ..

Shortly after, as several protest attendees were driving home, tens of Zionists followed them. Multiple Zionists first tried to rip the Palestinian flag from a passenger’s hands as the car was traveling. They then began attacking the driver of the car, and eventually, up to a hundred assembled into a mob, chasing the car on a narrow, one-way street...

As they assembled into an even bigger group, they surrounded the vehicle. They tried to pull the driver out while the car was moving, opened doors, banged on the roof, trunk, and windows from all sides, and threw objects into the vehicle. The driver tried to get away and to safety, but was surrounded by Zionists attacking the vehicle from all sides, who only retreated when the NYPD appeared. Zionists then of course manufactured outrageous accusations, painting themselves as the victims rather than the aggressors...

None of this information has altered the aforementioned narrative put forward by lawmakers. In their telling, people didn’t show up to protest a real estate sale amid a wider campaign of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. They assembled to protest a Jewish neighborhood. The violence from the pro-Israel camp is completely ignored.

“It should come as a shock to no one that the pro-Hamas mob targeting Jews and promising to ‘flood’ Boro Park has descended into violence,” tweeted Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) “Violence is not a bug but a feature of the so-called ‘Free Palestine’ movement, which has no desire to free Palestinians from Hamas.”

“Anti-Semitism has no place in New York City, and bringing it to Borough Park is disgraceful. Protests must be civil and peaceful,” tweeted indicted NYC Mayor Eric Adams. “We will not tolerate attacks on Jewish New Yorkers or any other diverse community across our city.”

New York Representative and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries also put out a statement condemning the protest.

“The vile and antisemitic rhetoric directed at Jewish residents in Borough Park is unacceptable and unconscionable,” he said. “We will not tolerate the egregious behavior on display that was clearly designed to intimidate and harass Jews in the Borough Park neighborhood. People of goodwill across our City and throughout the nation must continue to do everything possible to protect our Jewish brothers and sisters who are under assault and fight the cancer of antisemitism with the fierce urgency of now.”

“Last night we saw protesters in Boro Park targeting Jewish New Yorkers with hateful rhetoric and antisemitic chants,” tweeted New York Governor Kathy Hochul. This is unacceptable.  We are grateful to the NYPD or their diligent work keeping all New Yorkers safe.”

Hochul’s description doesn’t line up with videos or reporting from the protest, but there’s no chance of this version of events being corrected.

Ossoff NYT Story

Continuing with the theme of deceptive narratives, let’s turn to a recent New York Times piece on Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff.

The title is undeniably captivating: “Georgia’s First Jewish Senator Is Losing Jewish Support.”

“Four years ago, Senator Jon Ossoff was sworn in using a book of Hebrew scripture as he proudly became Georgia’s first Jewish senator,” begins journalist Katie Glueck’s report. “Now, some of his fellow Jewish Democrats have not only turned on him — they are also encouraging the most formidable Republican who could challenge him in next year’s marquee Senate race, Gov. Brian Kemp, to do just that.”

Glueck quotes the letter, which was signed by leaders in the metropolitan Atlanta Jewish community specifically.

“Should you decide to run in the 2026 election you would find no better friends, more loyal allies or stronger supporters than us and our community,” it reads.

Ossoff has been extremely supportive of Israel since he ran for office and that support has largely continued since he’s been in power. However, the signatories’ beef is fueled by a Senate vote from last November. Bernie Sanders had introduced a series of resolutions aimed at blocking further weapon sales to Israel. The effort was expected to fail and it did, but it represented the first such vote to take place.

Ossoff for the measure and gave a floor speech explaining his reasons. He began by recounting how Ronald Reagan had blocked cluster munitions to stop Israel’s attack on Lebanon in 1982.

“I tell this story to remind my colleagues that in the pursuit of America’s national interests, to use the leverage that comes with the provision of arms is not just sometimes necessary — it is expected and appropriate,” he said. “..No foreign government, no matter how close an ally, gets everything it wants, whenever it wants, to use however it wants.”

“No one in this body or the American government has suggested that Israel lay down its arms and be overrun, or that Israel does not have a right, and indeed an obligation, to defeat its enemies and defend its people,” continued Ossoff. “Rather, the United States has insisted that Israel’s conduct of the war respect our interests and our values — the interests and values of Israel’s closest ally. And yet, for the most part, that insistence has been ignored.”

I wrote about the speech in the newsletter at the time. Not because I believe it marked some decisive political shift or that I believed Ossoff would suddenly become a consistent critic of Israel, but because I found his framing interesting.

Here was a lawmaker invoking the tenets of liberal idealism to argue against sending even more weapons to Israel. No, it didn’t really make a lot of sense or go far enough, but we so rarely hear Democrats make any kind of argument against supplying Israel with whatever it wants.

We can now point to dozens upon dozens of polls showing that politicians like Ossoff voice such opinions with the support of most Democratic voters.

Back to NYT piece, which purports that Ossoff’s Jewish support is eroding.

Is there any supporting information in the article, beyond the letter from pro-Israel Jewish leaders in Atlanta, which Glueck admits is “small.”

Yes. The article points to letter signed by about 50 Jewish groups and synagogues criticizing Ossoff and fellow Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock for backing the Bernie bill. It was signed by the local chapters of pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and AIPAC.

The article also cites a report from the American Jewish Committee (AJC) that says Jewish people are more likely to disapprove of Democrats responding to antisemitism than Republicans. The piece doesn’t mention that the AJC is a pro-Israel organization opposed to anything resembling Palestinian self-determination and run by former Democratic House member Ted Deutch. Before he took the job the AJC called him “Israel’s best friend in Congress.”

Deutch auditioned for his current gig on the House floor in 2021, when he smeared Palestinian Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) as an antisemite because she cited reports Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem saying that Israel practices apartheid.

The article also alludes to the fact that antisemitism has experienced a “surge” across the United States since the October 7 Hamas attack. This statement is backed up by a link to another New York Times story. This one covers and ADL report on antisemitism that came out last year.

As outlets like Jewish Currents have documented, the ADL relies on a misleading methodology when compiling such stats, conflating actual antisemitic incidents with anti-Zionist actions.

Odds & Ends

🚓 Miami Beach man arrested after shooting 2 Israelis he thought were Palestinians

🇯🇴 Arab states will have to stand up to Trump to avert ethnic cleansing of Gaza

📺 The liberal establishment is finally criticizing ethnic cleansing in Gaza now that they can blame Trump

🗣️ Rubio’s first Mideast trip reveals Trump plans for the region

🐘 Ceasefire maintains fragile hold as Trump pushes ethnic cleansing plans

📖 Palestine and politics of anti-appeal: an interview with Mohammed El-Kurd

📄 What anti-Palestinian legislation to look out for in the new Congress

🚔 Zeteo: Jewish Man Allegedly Shot Two Israelis He Thought Were Palestinian in Confused Hate Crime Where Both Victim and Culprit Blamed Arabs

🚫 Arab News: Illinois legislators sponsor bill to repeal anti-BDS law

🇶🇦 New York Times: Alarmed by Trump’s Gaza Plan, Arab Leaders Brainstorm on Their Own

🪖 Responsible Statecraft: For old guard & neocons, Colby is an ‘America First’ bridge too far

🇺🇸 Electronic Intifada: ‘Bombs Away’ bigot Randy Fine is likely to join the US Congress

🗺️ Counterpunch: Making Old-Style Imperialism Great Again

🇮🇱 PBS: Israel’s Netanyahu signals he’s moving ahead with Trump’s plan to move Palestinians from Gaza

🇮🇷 NBC News: Rubio says Iran is ‘behind every terrorist group’ as he vows full U.S. support for Netanyahu

🗽 Haaretz: Pro-Palestinian Protesters, Far-right Jewish Group Clash in ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn Neighborhood

🇪🇬 Middle East Eye: Would Trump aid cuts kill Egypt – or make Sisi stronger?

⛔ Jewish Insider: Steve Fulop says he would not sign New Jersey IHRA legislation

🏫 Truthout: Princeton Students Behind Gaza Solidarity Encampment Head to Trial

🎒 ABC: Protest held at UCLA in support of suspended pro-Palestinian groups

Stay safe out there,