Dozens of anti-Zionist protesters rallying against land sales in the West Bank in Palestine on Thursday were caught on camera shouting a pro-Hamas chant in front of the Yeshiva of Central Queens synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, according to a viral video posted on social media.
“Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here,” protesters can be heard chanting in the video, posted by X (Twitter) user Luke Tress, a reporter for the Times of Israel. Many of the protesters, including members of the Hasidic Jewish community, held signs that read pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messages, although none of them have been confirmed to contain any pro-Hamas messages.
The pro-Hamas chant had community members and elected officials fuming. Some claimed the protesters were “antisemitic” and “terrorists.” Others claimed the use of the offensive chant did not represent the pro-Palestinian movement, which has repeatedly denounced the terrorist organization in the past and separated itself from its actions.
Human rights groups in support of the pro-Palestinian movement that have condemned Israel have also condemned Hamas, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Association of Genocide Scholars.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a vocal supporter of Palestine, released an official statement about the pro-Hamas chants Friday evening, as Tress also posted on X.
“As I made clear, the rhetoric and displays that we saw in Kew Gardens Hills last night are wrong and have no place in our city,” Mamdani said. “My team is in close touch with the NYPD regarding last night’s protest and counterprotest. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest.”
The protest comes a week after Mamdani signed a blanket executive order voiding all executive orders issued by then-Mayor Eric Adams between the date of his criminal indictment, Sept. 26, 2024, and the end of his term, Dec. 31, 2025. One of those voided executive orders, which Adams signed last month, had directed the NYPD to examine ways to prohibit protests near synagogues and other houses of worship in the wake of a pro-Palestine protest outside an Upper West Side synagogue in November.
‘This is vile antisemitism,’ officials say of pro-Hamas chant
Other public officials took to the social media platform to denounce the protesters’ apparent support of the terrorist organization.
“No, we don’t support Hamas in Queens,” wrote Congresswoman Grace Meng on X Thursday night, thanking the New York Police Department’s 107th Precinct and Assemblyman Sam Berger for “updates and for working hard to keep everyone in the community safe.”
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the genocide of Jews,” Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on her account. “No matter your political beliefs, this type of rhetoric is disgusting, it’s dangerous, and it has no place in New York.”
Even Brad Lander, former comptroller of NYC and a vocal critic of Israel, criticized the chants on X.
“Let’s be crystal clear: this is vile antisemitism,” he wrote. “This should not have to be said: you can oppose land sales in the West Bank, without supporting terrorism & the mass murder of Jews.”
As of press time, the community group that organized the protest, PAL-Awda NY/NJ, did not respond to comment regarding the video. It did announce it would publish a statement on its social media accounts addressing the protest and the chants captured in the recording later in the evening.
The organization was founded in March 2024. It claims land sales transacted by Israeli real estate agencies are limited by ethnicity and only granted to buyers who pass pro-Zionist screening questions, which the group says violates the federal Civil Rights Act of 1965, Fair Housing Act of 1968, and state and international law.
“PAL-Awda and our community members are out here in Queens, New York, in protest of an illegal sale of Palestinian land,” said a protester in a video posted to the organization’s Instagram account on Jan. 8. “We’re here in protest of Tivuch Shelly, which is selling homes in occupied Palestine on stolen land. We are here to say that we will not be silent in the face of this colonial expansion of the Zionist project, which is a blatant violation of international law and is contributing to the displacement and the possession of the Palestinian community.”
Tivuch Shelly, a real estate agency that helps English-speaking individuals find homes in Israel, has marketed several properties within the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory. The agency was founded in 1989.
