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Jewish security group warns Jews to stay away from pro-Palestinian rally on Shabbat calling to ‘Flood Brooklyn for Gaza’
(New York Jewish Week) — A local Jewish security group is advising Jews to avoid the area near the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday afternoon, where a hardline pro-Palestinian group will hold a rally advertised as “Flood Brooklyn for Gaza.”
Crown Heights Shmira, a local patrol group that works closely with the NYPD, shared a social media post “advising the community to stay away from the area of the Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway this Shabbos, October 28th, at 3:00PM where a pro-Palestinian protest is scheduled to take place.”
Crown Heights is the home base of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, whose Eastern Parkway headquarters are a little over a mile away from the museum.
The rally, held by the activist group Within Our Lifetime, comes after protests featuring rhetoric celebrating Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel have unnerved some Jewish New Yorkers. On the day of the attack, in which terrorists killed and wounded thousands, and took hundreds captive, Within Our Lifetime posted on Instagram, “Supporting Palestinian liberation is supporting whatever means necessary it takes to get there.”
Another of the groups backing Saturday’s rally, Decolonize This Place, has in recent days shared videos of the Hamas invasion under the caption, “Palestinian anti-colonial struggle: 101.” Saturday’s rally’s name recalls the name of the Hamas operation, “Al-Aqsa Flood.” It comes three weeks into Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, in which Israeli airstrikes have killed thousands, and as Israel’s military has expanded ground operations in the coastal territory.
The protest will begin Saturday afternoon at the Brooklyn Museum. Pro-Palestinian rallies typically feature speeches followed by a march down city streets accompanied by police. The NYPD said Friday that the route for most rallies is not determined until the day of the event.
Demonstrations in recent weeks in New York have not seen significant physical violence or injuries, unlike those held during and after Israel’s 2021 conflict with Gaza terror groups including Hamas. Mitch Silber, director of the Community Security Initiative, a local Jewish security group, told the New York Jewish Week earlier this week that police had exercised stringent enforcement this year during and after protests.
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in New York City and the United States in recent weeks, according to data collated by the New York Police Department and Jewish security groups.
Within Our Lifetime holds protests that are attended by thousands, calls for the eradication of Israel and also calls on followers to “Globalize the intifada.” Palestinian terror attacks during the second intifada, two decades ago, killed approximately 1,000 Israelis. Activists who have protested with the group have been convicted of hate crimes against Jews.
Within Our Lifetime has previously expressed support for U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The group led a large protest in Lower Manhattan on Thursday and has held a series of other events since Oct. 7. Its “rally toolkit” includes the chants “Resistance is justified” and “Smash the settler Zionist state.”
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The post Jewish security group warns Jews to stay away from pro-Palestinian rally on Shabbat calling to ‘Flood Brooklyn for Gaza’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.