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Protesters brandish swastikas at pro-Palestinian rally outside Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting
(New York Jewish Week) — At least two protesters brandished signs with swastikas at an anti-Israel protest targeting the annual Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday night.
One demonstrator held a sign with the Nazi symbol and the words “Israeli military.” The protester was forcibly ejected from the event by other participants who shouted at him and trampled his sign, prompting police to separate the two sides.
Another protester carried a sign that compared Jews to Nazis via a blood-spattered swastika intertwined with a Star of David and the words, “The irony of becoming what you once hated.”
The protest took place at 47th Street and 6th Avenue, near but not at the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting ceremony, which was attended by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and featured performances from Cher, Barry Manilow and others. More than 1,000 protesters instead crowded onto the block next to another massive Christmas tree at the News Corp. company headquarters. The protest coincided with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Wednesday. Dozens of police cordoned off the crowd on the sidelines of the event as tourists passed by, and traffic was blocked off on adjacent streets.
The organization that led the protest, Within Our Lifetime, has led near-daily protests of Israel during its war against Hamas in Gaza. The group calls for Israel’s destruction and endorsed the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel in which terrorists killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped some 240, along with committing other atrocities. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims 14,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counter-offensive, a figure that is not verifiable and does not distinguish between combatants and civilians or denote casualties from misfired Palestinian rockets.
The leader of Within Our Lifetime, Nerdeen Kiswani, indicated her support for Hamas on Instagram last week, posting a picture of a boy kissing a Hamas fighter under the caption “Do you condemn Ham-.”
“We must defend the Palestinian right to resist zionist settler violence and support Palestinian resistance in all its forms. By any means necessary. With no exceptions and no fine print,” the group said on Instagram on Oct. 7.
Anti-Israel demonstrators hold a rally against the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting, in New York City, November 29, 2023. (Luke Tress)
Within Our Lifetime billed Wednesday’s protest as “Flood the tree lighting for Gaza,” evoking Hamas’ name for the Oct. 7 attack, “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.”
A passerby who questioned protesters about the Hamas attack was berated and driven away from the rally, with police intervening between the two sides.
“NYPD, KKK, IDF they’re all the same,” the protesters chanted at police.
After protesters started marching, scuffles broke out between demonstrators and police. The NYPD said seven people had been taken into custody for one felony, five misdemeanors and one juvenile report.
In addition to the swastikas, other rhetoric and signs at the demonstration employed antisemitic imagery. Signs at the event said, “Zionist donors and trustees hands off our universities,” and showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding President Joe Biden on a dog leash, evoking stereotypes about Jewish money and power.
Protesters also lashed Biden for his support of Israel, chanting, “Genocide Joe has got to go.”
Protesters explicitly called for the destruction of Israel, chanting, “End the settler Zionist state” and “We don’t want no two states, we want all of it.” Signs in the crowd read “Victory to the Palestinian resistance” and “Globalize the intifada,” which protesters also chanted, a reference to a campaign of terror attacks 20 years ago that killed an estimated 1,000 Israelis.
The crowd also chanted in favor of a ceasefire. A temporary ceasefire, agreed upon in exchange for Hamas releasing Israeli hostages, was in effect at the time of the protest.
Anti-Israel demonstrators hold a rally against the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting, in New York City, November 29, 2023. (Luke Tress)
Organizers claimed Jesus — a Jew who, according to Christian scripture, was born in Bethlehem in what is today the West Bank, and lived in the Galilee in what is presently Israel — as a Palestinian. They called to “suspend Christmas celebrations” due to the war alongside a protest by some churches in Bethlehem.
“Palestine is the birthplace of Christianity, Jesus was a Palestinian, how can celebrations go on as normal when his birthplace is being attacked,” Within Our Lifetime said in a post announcing the event. One protester carried a sign saying, “Jesus was a Palestinian Jew.”
Within Our Lifetime also targeted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. During that event, protesters defaced the facade of the New York Public Library, causing $75,000 in damage.
The group sparked backlash earlier this month by posting maps online showing the location of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations in New York and encouraging its followers to target the institutions.
Jews are consistently targeted in hate crimes more than any other group in New York City, with over 230 antisemitic incidents reported to police so far this year. Anti-Jewish hate crimes have surged since Oct. 7, according to NYPD data.
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The post Protesters brandish swastikas at pro-Palestinian rally outside Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting 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.