zohran mamdani
'Never Again for Anyone': Hundreds Rally at Statue of Liberty Demanding Gaza Cease-Fire
"We refuse to allow a genocide to be carried out in our names," said organizer Jewish Voice for Peace. "Ceasefire now to save lives!"
Hundreds of Jewish Americans and allies rallied Monday at the Statue of Liberty in New York to demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza as the death toll from Israel's monthlong assault on the Palestinian territory topped 10,000.
Members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), IfNotNow, and other groups were joined by unaffiliated Jews of conscience and allies at a sit-in at the iconic New York landmark, where rabbis led songs, chants, and prayers.
"We refuse to allow a genocide to be carried out in our names," JVP said on social media. "Cease-fire now to save lives! Never again for anyone!"
Many demonstrators wore the same T-shirts reading "Not in My Name" that have been seen at other Jewish-led protests including the takeover of Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan and a rally at the U.S. Capitol last month, part of what JVP has called the largest-ever mobilization of Jewish Americans for Palestine.
"My ancestors were greeted by the Statue of Liberty while escaping pogroms. While it is a symbol of refuge for my family, I am hauntingly aware that the U.S. denied entry to Jewish refugees throughout the entirety of the Holocaust," said Sarah Koshar of JVP. "From Ellis Island to Gaza, never again means never again—for anyone."
JVP's Jay Saper said that "the famous words of our Jewish ancestor Emma Lazarus etched into this very monument compel us to take action supporting the Palestinians of Gaza yearning to breathe free."
Renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin, who was at the sit-in, asserted that "as long as the people of Gaza are screaming, we need to yell louder, no matter who attempts to silence us."
Democratic socialist New York state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D-36), who also attended the protest, toldIntelligencer that the Statue of Liberty is "one of the greatest symbols of New York City and our supposed commitments to universal values of liberty and freedom and respite. And yet what we've seen is our country allowing for a genocide to take place."
Mamdani—who was among the many protesters arrested last month outside the home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) while calling for a cease-fire—added: "How many children have to be killed until we can finally see a position of cease-fire from our White House and federally elected officials?"
Monday's sit-in comes as the death toll from Israel's relentless assault on Gaza topped 10,000—most of them civilian men, women, and children. Tens of thousands of others have been wounded, nearly half the homes in the embattled strip are destroyed or damaged, and over 1.4 million Palestinians have fled for their lives since Israel began bombarding the besieged territory following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that left more than 1,400 people dead.
At least 155 Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem over the past month.
Far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday again rejected growing calls for a cease-fire, saying there would be no stop to his country's relentless onslaught "without the return of the hostages" held by Hamas. Israeli officials have repeatedly claimed there is "no humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
While around two dozen U.S. lawmakers back a Gaza cease-fire, President Joe Biden—who has been accused of genocide denial for aspersing Palestinian officials' casualty figures—has rebuffed calls to support one. Instead, Biden is calling for a humanitarian "pause" in the war.
Progressive NY State Lawmakers Join 250+ Jews Protesting Netanyahu's UN Speech
"As Jewish New Yorkers committed to racial justice, we believe apartheid is indefensible," said one protester. "Palestinians deserve to live with dignity and freedom."
A pair of democratic socialist New York state lawmakers joined more than 250 Jewish demonstrators and allies on Friday afternoon outside United Nations headquarters in Midtown Manhattan to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's General Assembly speech defending his far-right government's apartheid policies.
New York state Sen. Jabari Brisport (D-25) and state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-36) joined activists from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Adalah Justice Project, and other human rights defenders as Netanyahu—whose government is widely considered the most extreme in Israeli history—addressed world leaders inside the U.N. building.
During his speech, Netanyahu displayed a map of the Middle East without Palestine, while claiming he has "long sought to make peace with the Palestinians."
The protesters said there can be no peace under apartheid.
"As Jewish New Yorkers committed to racial justice, we believe apartheid is indefensible," asserted JVP's Jay Saper. "Palestinians deserve to live with dignity and freedom."
Brisport—who in May introduced the Not On Our Dime! Act, which would prevent state-registered charities from funding violations of the Geneva Convention by Israeli settlers—said: "In Brooklyn we have a saying, 'Spread love, it's the Brooklyn way.' Netanyahu has spread hate and displacement. And that has no place in our city."
The senator has previously drawn attention to the more than 700,000 Israelis living in over 250 illegal settlements built on Palestinian land in the unlawfully occupied West Bank, with the backing of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Many of the illegal colonies are funded by New York-based organizations.
Last year, the Israeli government forcibly displaced more than 1,000 Palestinians from their homes in what many critics have called acts of ethnic cleansing. Hundreds more Palestinians have been displaced this year to make way for Jewish settler-colonists.
There have also been multiple deadly settler rampages through Palestinian towns this year, revenge attacks that a wide range of critics—from Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to conservative U.S. Jewish groups and an IDF general—called "pogroms."
"We should refuse to host a man who has openly lauded the ethnic cleansing of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, who gave the green light for bombing campaigns that left large parts of Gaza uninhabitable, a man who approved killing sprees that riddled streets with Palestinians wounded and killed," Adalah Justice Project communications and strategy director Sumaya Awad told the demonstrators.
According to the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 200 Palestinians this year, making it the deadliest year for Palestinians since the final year of the second intifada, or general uprising, in 2005. The advocacy group Defense for Children International Palestine says 45 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis so far this year. At least 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian militant attacks in 2023.
Through it all, the U.S. continues to give Israel—the 13th-wealthiest nation in the world per capita, according to the International Monetary Fund—billions of dollars in nearly unconditional annual aid.
"Earlier today, someone asked me, 'Why should New Yorkers care about what's happening halfway across the world in Israel?'" said Mamdani, a co-sponsor of Brisport's bill. "There are 3.8 billion reasons for us to care: Same as the number of dollars that go from the U.S. to Israel in military aid every year."
"As Americans," he added, "this is a fight that recognizes our complicity in this apartheid regime in Israel."