Bella Hadid, the well-known Palestinian-American model, took part in an anti-Israel protest in Bay Ridge on Saturday afternoon, Pix11 reported.
The Brooklyn neighborhood has a large Arabic-speaking community. Social media showed people climbing street lights to wave Palestinian flags and others setting off fireworks, Pix11 reported. Protesters shut down traffic on Interstate 278 in at least on direction, according to video posted online.
Separately, hundreds of members of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace – NYC marched in Brooklyn Friday evening, starting in Grand Army Plaza and ending up near the Brooklyn home of Senate Majority Leader Schumer demanding the he “work to end U.S. support for the Israeli military violence against Palestinians.”
Many thousands of people protested against Israel in major America and European cities over the weekend as the latest Israel-Gaza conflict reached new heights.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) called on the Biden Administration Friday to “do more to stop the pain and suffering of Israelis and Palestinians.” He led a group of Jewish House members on a letter to urging “immediate de-escalation and diplomatic engagement.”
By contrast, influential progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx-Queens) called Israel an apartheid state in a tweet on Saturday that marked an inflection point in her increasing criticism of Israel.
“Apartheid states aren’t democracies,” she wrote in a tweet that garnered 275,000 likes.
On Sunday, Israel’s Acting Consul General in New York, Israel Nitzan, issued a statement, saying, “We ask our friends in New York and all over America to to stand strong behind Israel. The world must stop Hamas terrorism. Our human outrage over these deaths and injuries needs to fall squarely on Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and those who support them.”
