From the Liveblog of
Friday, October 17, 2025
NY anti-Israel activists set up display featuring photos of terror chiefs to mark anniversary of Sinwar’s death
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLuke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
Anti-Israel activists in New York City set up a display with images of prominent terror leaders to mark the first anniversary of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s death.
Israeli forces killed Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, in Gaza on October 16, 2025.
A far-left, anti-Israel activist group called the Bronx Anti-War Coalition organized the vigil for Sinwar.
The group’s exhibit features images of Sinwar and other Hamas leaders alongside Hamas insignia, as well as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian leaders, according to a video shared by the activist group.
The images are arrayed around flowers and candles, a banner that says, “Glory to the axis of resistance,” and a Quran.
It’s unclear how many are attending the rally. An announcement for the event was shared by other anti-Israel activist groups in the city, including the anti-Israel campus coalition at Columbia University.
Vigil for Yahya Sinwar & all Martyrs in the struggle against Zionism & US-led Western imperialism
“We must continue on the same path we started, or let it be another Karbala.” —Martyr Yahya Sinwar ????
????The Bronx, NYC pic.twitter.com/UltoMIoD8I
— ????????????????????????Bronx Anti-War ???????????????????????????????? (@BXAntiWar) October 17, 2025
The Bronx Anti-War Coalition describes itself as an “anti-imperialist, direct-action coalition resisting state violence while advancing decolonization.”
The group’s platform commits to “the abolition of the Zionist entity” and says on its website, “We view the Palestinian Resistance and the Axis of Resistance as the only realistic path toward achieving liberation for Palestine.”
The coalition, one of the smaller anti-Israel groups in the city, brings activists to protests in the city, but the vigil was not publicly advertised by the leading pro-Palestinian groups in New York.
Those groups, such as the Palestinian Youth Movement and the People’s Forum, have nonprofit status or route their funding through registered nonprofits. Publicly endorsing a US-designated terrorist group could be construed as illegal, material support for a terrorist group and expose them to legal action, jeopardizing their funding.
The groups back Palestinian “resistance,” and some activists at their rallies wear terrorist insignia, but the groups’ public statements do not feature US-designated terrorists.
The Times of Israel Community.