Anti-Israel protesters target NYC cancer hospital; police escort Jewish woman to safety
An elderly Jewish woman said that she felt as if she were in 1930s Germany as a pair of police officers escorted her through a crowd of anti-Israel activists demonstrating in New York City, where the protesters targeted a cancer hospital for its alleged "complicity in genocide."
The 74-year-old woman was walking her dog when she came across the crowd of chanting pro-Palestinian protesters near East 87th Street. On Monday, a day commemorating civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., thousands of protesters assembled in Manhattan, and the police had to escort the woman and her dog to safety.
"I'm astounded. I think it's horrific," the woman, who opted to remain nameless, said in a statement published by The New York Post.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
As the outlet reported, the protesters pounded on drums and yelled out slogans at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center while patients were inside. The cancer center also serves as a pediatric hospital.
The anti-Israel organization CODEPINK organized the demonstration alongside Within Our Lifetime and Healthcare Workers for Palestine, advertising it as "Flood Manhattan for Gaza: MLK Day March for Healthcare."
According to the description on CODEPINK's website, the organizers asked people to gather first at Union Square before beginning the march.
CODEPINK, Within Our Lifetime and Healthcare Workers for Palestine, did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
In addition to protesting MSK, the demonstrators also targeted a Starbucks and a McDonald's. The protesters reportedly accused McDonald's of making "meals for genocide," according to The Post.
Danny Morris of Community Security Trust, a nonprofit that protects British Jews from antisemitism, shared a video of the event outside of the hospital on Monday, stating that the footage is "[n]ot a good look."
In the video, multiple activists are seen holding banners that read "NYC Workers for Palestine" and "End All U.S. Aid to Israel! Fund Healthcare!"
"Make sure they hear you; they're in the windows," one of the protest leaders said through a bullhorn as other attendees shouted "Shame!" at the hospital building.
The video shows various demonstrators waving Palestinian flags as the leader with the bullhorn described the cancer center as a "complicit institution."
As the demonstrators walked through the street, with some congregating around the entrance to the building, several individuals could be seen watching the proceedings through the windows.
"MSK, shame on you, you support genocide, too," the protest leader shouted, leading the group in the chant.
At one point during the protest, police arrested a protester in the street. In additional footage shared on social media Monday, police officers are heard telling people to back up as an individual is restrained on the ground.
As Fox News reported, one of the three people police arrested at the demonstration was a 13-year-old boy.
The protest is one of many that have taken place after Israel declared itself in a state of war and launched a counter-attack in Gaza to eradicate the terrorist group Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007. On Oct. 7, Hamas militants attacked Israel, slaughtering at least 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and seized around 240 individuals as hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says over 24,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began, a figure that doesn't differentiate between combatants and civilians nor people killed by Israel or by Gaza terror groups' rockets misfiring.
One anti-Israel protest that took place last month in Philadelphia received condemnation from the Biden administration after demonstrators gathered outside of a Jewish-owned business, accusing the shop owner of genocide.
The event, organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition, consisted of activists gathering outside of the Goldie falafel shop on Sansom Street as part of a larger demonstration effort calling for a ceasefire and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. Video footage shared online shows protesters chanting: "Goldie, Goldie, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide."
"This behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of Antisemitism," White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates declared in a statement at the time.
"President Biden has fought against the evil of Antisemitism his entire life, including by launching the first national strategy to counter this hate in American history," he added. "He will always stand up firmly against these kinds of undignified actions."
Demonstrations against the Jewish people and their ancestral homeland have taken place throughout the world, with attendees at some events calling supporters of Israel "pigs" and chanting slogans like "Gas the Jews."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
