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Julia, who wore a pin that said “Zionist” with a red line crossing it out, told JNS that she is a “very vehemently anti-Zionist Jew” and claimed that Nasrallah kicked Israel out after “occupying Lebanon for 20 years.”
She also said that many Jews are “brainwashed” and that because she doesn’t believe in ethnic cleansing, Jews who have lived in the “illegitimate” country can stay there, as long as it is no longer a “Jewish supremacist state.”
JNS asked about Nasrallah’s responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Americans. “I don’t think the United States should have bases in other countries,” Julia said. “I think they are occupation bases. I think resistance against foreign forces occupying your country is totally legitimate all over the world, not just in Lebanon.”
On the other side of the arch, some 100 pro-Israel ralliers held Israeli, U.S. and Lebanese flags and chanted “you are Hamas,” and “am Yisrael chai.” They also sang the American and Israeli national anthems.
“Radical pro-Hezbollah terrorist sympathizers and anti-American extremists have taken to the streets of New York to glorify and praise Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose reign of terror resulted in the butchering of thousands of innocents around the world,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee as U.S. envoy to the United Nations, told JNS.
“It has never been more important to condemn this moral depravity, demand accountability and implement President Trump’s America First peace through strength agenda,” Stefanik added. “As President Trump has made clear, antisemitism and anti-Israel hate will never be tolerated.”
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A spokesperson for New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul told JNS that the governor “launched America’s first-ever statewide plan to combat antisemitism and has repeatedly condemned disgusting, unacceptable actions that glorify terrorism or hate.”
“Granting permits for protests and demonstrations is handled by local governments, not the state, and Gov. Hochul stands ready to provide New York City with any assistance necessary to protect the public and keep the community safe,” the spokesperson said.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, press secretary for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, told JNS that the mayor “has been clear that hate has no place in New York City.”
“While we support everyone’s right to free speech, this antisemitic protest truly went beyond the pale,” she said. “Honoring a terrorist is despicable, abhorrent and goes against everything we stand for as New Yorkers.”
Anti-Israel protesters attend a vigil honoring the former Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah in Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan, Feb. 23, 2025. Photo by Emily Goldberg.
Sgt. Matt Evans of the New York City Police Department told JNS that no arrests were made that evening and no injuries were reported.
“We have adequate personnel that were assigned to this protest, as we do with other protests, whether they are scheduled or unscheduled,” Evans told JNS. “If we see that there is a need to assign additional personnel, then we have the resources where we can provide sufficient resources.”
Sammy, 25, of California, came to Washington Square Park to show unity. (He declined to provide a last name.)
“I am disappointed and shocked and wish that the world would see how crazy it is,” he told JNS of the anti-Israel demonstration. “To have people waving flags of designated terrorist organizations with the World Trade Center in the background shows how far down we have come.”
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One pro-Israel rallier at the park held a sign stating, “I stand here today for Jewish community,” with pictures of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were 4-years-old and 9-months-old when Hamas killed them in captivity in November 2023.
Shamim Elyaszadeh, 19, an NYU student whose parents are from Iran, told JNS that she thinks that it is “crazy” that anti-Israel protesters were sympathizing with terrorists, who are funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“It’s really upsetting for me as an Iranian Jew to be seeing this type of behavior, and this demonstration in New York and in the United States,” she told JNS. “This demonstration is antithetical to what America stands for. It does not represent what America values.”
Judah Hartman, 57, who is from Israel, called the anti-Israel protesters “lunatics,” who have “no understanding” and said that most of the country does not support their cause.
“America and Israel are joined by common ideology, common goals,” Hartman, who wore a yellow ribbon for the Israeli hostages, told JNS. “People are coming to America, who don’t understand what the Founding Fathers are, don’t understand the history, and they are just taking it apart.”
“He killed hundreds of Americans,” Hartman added, of Nasrallah. “At the end of the day, they will see it. The truth always comes out.”
