SouthernWorldwide.com – In a striking display of protest in Manhattan, several masked demonstrators were seen carrying Hamas flags, while a Hezbollah flag was also visible amongst the crowd. This occurred mere hours after federal authorities charged an alleged Kataib Hezbollah operative with plotting attacks targeting Jewish community centers and a Manhattan synagogue.
The anti-Israel demonstration, which drew approximately 500 participants, took place in Washington Square Park. Protesters, many holding Palestinian flags, chanted slogans such as “globalize the intifada.” One speaker explicitly stated that Israel has no right to exist and asserted that Palestinians would reclaim the land “by any means necessary.”
Coinciding with the commencement of the protest around 4:30 p.m., New York City Mayor Eric Adams condemned the alleged terror plot. The plot was attributed to Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, identified as a commander within the Kataeb Hezbollah terrorist operation in Iraq.
“Let me be clear: antisemitism, violent extremism, and terrorism have no place in our city. This kind of hate is despicable,” Mayor Adams stated. His remarks were shared on his official social media channel.
Just two minutes later, a markedly different scene unfolded in Lower Manhattan, near West 4th Street. Activists descended upon the bustling Washington Square Park, armed with Palestinian flags, pre-printed signs, and banners. They transformed a section of the park into a rally site, protesting the existence of the state of Israel and demanding its dismantling and replacement with a Palestinian state.
Among the attendees, a young demonstrator was seen draped in the flag of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He wore it like a cape. The flag featured an image of a masked, armed fighter alongside the Dome of the Rock, with Arabic script declaring the Islamic profession of faith. He also carried a flag bearing the image of Abu Obaida, the spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, who had become a prominent figure following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Israeli forces reportedly killed him in 2025.
Others in the crowd wore the green headbands associated with Hamas and carried similar flags. Nearby, a protester displayed Hezbollah’s distinctive bright yellow flag, which incorporates the organization’s recognizable green insignia of a stylized assault rifle within Arabic calligraphy.
The demonstration was organized by several anti-Israel groups, including the Muslim American Society, a significant nonprofit whose leaders had previously supported Mayor Adams’s election. Another organizing group was Within Our Lifetime, a local organization. Protesters arrived equipped with ready-made banners, stacks of professionally printed signs, and bags filled with protest materials.
These same groups had recently led protests at a Jewish synagogue and a community center in New York City, which resulted in widely circulated videos of clashes with members of the Jewish community.
The Muslim American Society of New York, based in Brooklyn and situated next to an NYPD precinct, operates as a 501(c)(3) sister nonprofit to the Muslim American Society. According to its most recent tax filing, the organization reported a revenue of $782,644 in 2024. Within Our Lifetime, while not a nonprofit, does accept donations.
By approximately 5:06 p.m., Nerdeen Kiswani, a co-founder of Within Our Lifetime, emerged from the crowd near the Washington Square Arch. She led the chants of “Globalize the intifada! From New York to Gaza! Globalize the intifada!”
“We do not mince words here,” Kiswani addressed the crowd. “Yes, that also means necessarily that the state of Israel and Zionism must be abolished. I do not and will never recognize Israel’s so-called right to exist. It has no right to exist.”
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Minutes later, at around 5:14 p.m., Abdullah Akl, a leader at the Muslim American Society Youth Center in Brooklyn, stood before a large black banner that proclaimed “GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA” in white and gold lettering. He led the crowd in shouting, “From the river to the sea,” a slogan often interpreted as a call for the elimination of Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, followed by “Palestine will be free.”
Throughout the evening, chants from the demonstrators rejected the concept of a two-state solution. “We don’t want your two states,” the protesters shouted, following Kiswani’s lead. Organizers then guided the march route through Manhattan, passing by various businesses.
Protesters used drums adorned with stickers that read, “By Any Means Necessary.” Marchers also carried a banner stating, “From Gaza to Jenin. Revolution Until Victory.”
Within the crowd, activists from various Islamist and communist groups marched together. These included Al-Awda, an organization advocating for the Palestinian “right of return” to Israel, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which identifies as a Marxist group, and the Workers World Party, described as a “revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party inside the belly of the imperialist beast.”
Regarding Hamas, one individual stated, “They don’t target against Jewish people, so I don’t think that they are a terrorist group. They’re just fighting for the land, what people stole from them, that’s all. So that’s what I believe, so I don’t say anything in politics, that is all.”
However, supporters of Hamas were visible, flying a flag of the group over Kiswani and Akl. This occurred before they led the group through Manhattan in what appeared to be a choreographed street demonstration that continued into the night. In a separate incident the previous week, a purple flag bearing a swastika, the Jewish star, and the acronym “NYU” caused controversy, prompting an apology from New York University.
As the demonstration proceeded along Sixth Avenue, one protester, Anas Shuayb, 27, defended the Hamas imagery as an exercise of “free speech.” He described Hamas as a “form of resistance” against Israeli military actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
Shuayb mentioned that he had voted for Donald Trump and attended the protest partly due to his opposition to the U.S. involvement in the war in Iran. He expressed disappointment that Trump had “fallen in the trap of Netanyahu” despite campaigning against new foreign wars, adding, “America should fight no war for Israel. America first, not Israel first.”
The demonstration bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned political production rather than a spontaneous protest. Organizers distributed professionally printed signs with the slogan, “We Will Return,” referencing Palestinian demands for a mass movement to modern-day Israel.
Outside Grand Central Station on 42nd Street, Kiswani took the microphone and led the group in a declaration of aggression. On Park Avenue, protesters unfurled a large Palestinian flag that spanned a significant portion of the street, while crowds below repeatedly chanted, “Globalize the intifada.”
“Palestine has the right to exist and to resist and to reclaim land and freedom by any means necessary,” Kiswani told the assembled crowd.
As the crowd marched uptown towards Times Square, imagery associated with Hamas and Hezbollah remained prominently displayed. Organizers made no apparent effort to remove or discourage these displays.
Activists appeared highly aware of their visual presentation. Some demonstrators wore designer sunglasses, carried luxury handbags, and sported carefully styled outfits. Protest marshals coordinated crowd movements, and legal observers from the ACLU monitored the march route.
Akl, the leader from the Muslim American Society, wore a shirt designed to resemble a parody of designer wear, emblazoned with “The Anti-Zionist Social Club,” mimicking the aesthetic of luxury streetwear popular among younger activists.
Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization distributed flyers that read, “Victory to the Palestinian Resistance!” The reverse side featured advertisements for LGBTQ organizing meetings, incorporating imagery from the “Gay Liberation Front.”
The chosen route for the march appeared strategically planned to maximize visibility and dramatic impact.
Demonstrators gathered beneath the overpass outside Grand Central Terminal, where chants of “Free Palestine” and “Globalize the Intifada” echoed loudly within the station, marking one of the most intense moments of the evening. At certain points, protesters appeared to move towards the terminal entrance but ultimately did not enter the station.
Later, on Park Avenue, marchers briefly surrounded vehicles in traffic, chanting “Shut it down,” creating the appearance of a street takeover. NYPD officers were observed quietly redirecting cars around the demonstration.
At various points, protesters shouted at bystanders and critics to “get off the street” while police officers continued to escort the march route through Manhattan.
Professionally printed banners proclaiming “Revolution Until Victory” and “Resisting the Nakba Since 1948” were carried at the front lines of the march. Drummers, megaphones, and coordinated flag displays transformed intersections into temporary stages for chants and political theater.
Many demonstrators wore masks or face coverings and keffiyehs. Some individuals acted as informal security, repeatedly positioning themselves between cameras and protest leaders, blowing whistles, and thrusting Palestinian flags into camera lenses to disrupt filming by journalists and bystanders.
By the time the final marchers reached Times Square for a carefully choreographed public prayer, which was extensively photographed by the organizers’ social media team, the evening had showcased what experts describe as a well-established and politically normalized protest ecosystem in New York City. This ecosystem integrates nonprofit institutions, socialist organizations, anti-Israel activism, legal support networks, social media aesthetics, and militant symbolism into a unified street operation.
The young man who had worn the Hamas flag as a cape joined the second row of the congregational prayer in Times Square. The iconography of the terrorist group’s Qassam Brigade was prominently visible as he prostrated in prayer.
