NYC police tell Elisha Wiesel to put away Israeli flag at anti-Israel protest
Police made several arrests at the protest, which began at Grand Central Station and continued onto Penn Station, stopping along the way at Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Police in New York City “insisted” that Elisha Wiesel put away an Israeli flag on Tuesday, as Weisel, son of the late writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel, attempted to counterprotest a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian demonstration in the city’s Penn Station, Wiesel said on X.
The protest was organized by Within Our Lifetime, an activist group that has led near-daily protests since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel’s south, initiating the ongoing war between Israel and the terror group that has controlled Gaza since 2006.
Within Our Lifetime expressed support for the attack, defending “whatever means necessary… with no exceptions and no fine print.”
Video of the Penn Station incident. 500 Hamas supporters shouting slogans surrounded us. I put on an Israeli flag I carry with me. The cowards hid behind their masks. NYPD insisted I remove the flag as situation was getting dangerous. pic.twitter.com/mr9Hb0k87Z
— Elisha Wiesel (@ElishaWiesel) December 18, 2023
The group also organized a demonstration against the lighting of the Christmas tree in New York’s Rockefeller Center, calling the protest “Flood the tree lighting for Gaza,” evoking Hamas’s name for the October 7 attack, “Operation al-Aqsa Flood.”
“NYPD insisted I remove the flag,” Wiesel wrote, “as [the] situation was getting dangerous.” He included a video in which he is seen draped in an Israeli flag arguing with a masked demonstrator.
Protest disrupted traffic, targeted transit hubs in New York
Police made several arrests at the protest, which began at Grand Central Station and continued onto Penn Station, stopping along the way at Port Authority Bus Terminal. Demonstrators marched behind a banner reading “From Gaza to Jenin: Revolution until victory.” The demonstration was billed as part of a “global strike” on that day, December 18.
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