Thousands of people demonstrate their solidarity with Israel in New York
Rally in support of Israel in New York, October 10, 2023. ED JONES / AFP
It is the city with the largest number of Jews in the world outside Israel: New York hosted on Tuesday a gathering of thousands of people in support of the Jewish state, just meters from the United Nations headquarters.
At the initiative of the gathering, American Jewish organizations invited leading figures from New York, as well as representatives of the right-wing extremist government in Jerusalem, to give speeches. Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan was applauded when he announced that the “Jewish people” in Israel and the United States were “not divided.” Hamas members “wanted to massacre us when they thought we were most vulnerable, but they made a mistake,” the Israeli diplomat said. “The free world is not divided. We all stand together as a united front, one people, one heart, to fight the forces of evil,” he shouted to the crowd waving Israeli flags.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was recently in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, also reiterated that “Israel has the right to defend itself.” “Their fight is ours,” assured the city council.
Since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, New York, home to nearly two million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Muslims, has been the scene of tense demonstrations: on the one hand, support for the Palestinian cause, on the other, rallies in defense of Jews and Israel .
Thanks to the NYPD and New York State Police, “we are together to protect each of you, we will continue to protect you,” New York State Governor Kathy Hochul told the crowd of 20 million residents, nine of them alone in New York City.
In 2020, there were 5.8 million Jewish adults in the United States, whether religious or not, according to the Pew Research Center, plus 2.8 million adults who reported having a Jewish parent. And the country has about 4.5 million Muslims, including 600,000 to 750,000 in New York.