{"id":367521,"date":"2026-10-08T03:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367521\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T03:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:38:10","slug":"pro-palestinian-protesters-throw-nyc-vigil-for-victims-of-oct-7-hamas-attack-into-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367521\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestinian protesters throw NYC vigil for victims of Oct. 7 Hamas attack into chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"

A vigil at Manhattan\u2019s Union Square to remember the 1,200 Jews killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel three years ago was thrown into chaos Wednesday when pro-Palestinian demonstrators swarmed the plaza,<\/a> squared off with mourners and blasted Mayor Mamdani, who briefly attended the service.<\/p>\n

Waving Palestinian flags and screaming \u201cNormalize the intifada!\u201d and \u201cThere is only one solution\u2026 Revolution!\u201d more than 200 pro-Gaza demonstrators began taking over the seats set aside for attendees at the 7 p.m. vigil.<\/p>\n

There were four times as many protesters as the 50 who attended the vigil, which was organized by Israelis for Peace, who have repeatedly demanded an end to the ongoing assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n

Although the event was briefly sidelined, mourners lit candles and held signs reading \u201cNot one more life\u201d as they faced off against Palestinian protesters. Speakers tried their best to read texts and emails from survivors and relatives of victims of the Hamas attack.<\/p>\n

Comptroller Brad Lander was cursed out by the protesters as he stood with vigil attendees.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Comptroller Brad Lander attends a prayer vigil \u2014 in which pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters faced-off \u2014 in Manhattan’s Union Square on Oct. 7, 2026, on the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Mayor Mandani, who was scheduled to attend but not speak, showed up with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams about an hour after the program started \u2014 only to be jeered by the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who felt he was siding with supporters of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cZohran, you can\u2019t hide! We charge you with genocide!\u201d Palestinian demonstrators screamed over and over. \u201cMamdani, what do you say? How many boots did you lick today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (center) and Comptroller Brad Lander (far left) attend a prayer vigil \u2014 in which pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters faced-off \u2014 in Manhattan’s Union Square on Oct. 7, 2026, on the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Mamdani, holding an electric candle, stood stone-faced as he listened at the vigil and shook hands and embraced speakers who were drowned out by pro-Gaza demonstrators.<\/p>\n

After the texts and emails were read, Jewish religious leaders tried to address the crowd, but were again drowned out by the demonstrators\u2019 sound system.<\/p>\n

\"Pro-PalestinianPro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters face off in Manhattan’s Union Square on Oct. 7, 2026, during a vigil to mark the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Within an hour, Mamdani was hustled back to his car. Pro-Gaza protesters tried to swarm him, but were held back by police as he made a hasty getaway. Protesters tried to chase after the car, which sped off.<\/p>\n

\"Pro-PalestinianPro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters face off in Manhattan’s Union Square on Oct. 7, 2026, during a vigil to mark the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

No violence occurred at Union Square, and no arrests were immediately made at the Wednesday night protest and the earlier protest by City Hall, an NYPD spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

The Mayor was expected to end the night meeting with Palestinian New Yorkers at a private event, according to his schedule.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople attend a prayer vigil \u2014 in which pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters faced-off \u2014 in Manhattan’s Union Square on Oct. 7, 2026, on the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Tamar Glezerman, a co-founder of Israelis for Peace who lost his aunt in the Oct. 7 attack, organized the vigil for Jewish New Yorkers to mourn those lost on Oct. 7 and demand an end to Israel\u2019s bombardment of Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The attack) quickly became a horrible war of revenge, and quickly after that, what we define along with international scholars as a genocide,\u201d said Glezerman, who hoped that Mamdani listened carefully to the eulogies and texts that were read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a political event. There are people in charge, there are people that made decisions that brought us here,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is an event of grief, and is an event of honoring the dead without omitting the horrific retaliation that followed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani faces criticism from both Jewish and Palestinian New Yorkers who each feel the Mayor isn\u2019t supporting their side in the ongoing Middle East controversy.<\/p>\n

He has faced intense criticism from prominent Jewish groups, who have said his rhetoric about Israel fuels growing antisemitism.<\/a> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has leveled sharp attacks against Mamdani,<\/a> particularly over the mayor\u2019s assertion that the government\u2019s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople attend a prayer vigil \u2014 in which pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters faced-off \u2014 in Manhattan’s Union Square on Oct. 7, 2026, on the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Some critics on the left have also claimed the mayor has betrayed the pro-Palestine cause by allowing a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d bill targeting areas around houses of worship to become law and by forming a \u201cStrategy to Combat Antisemitism\u201d report.<\/p>\n

New waves of criticism came crashing down on Mamdani Wednesday when he\u00a0called the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel<\/a> a \u201cprofoundly painful\u201d day for many New Yorkers while also criticizing Israel for carrying out what he called a \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A vigil at Manhattan\u2019s Union Square to remember the 1,200 Jews killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7199,262,263,75,84,83,607,9,24,12,63,3851,530],"class_list":["post-367521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-area","tag-city","tag-county","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-national-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-region","tag-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}