‘We don’t want no Zionists here’: Anti-Israel activists protest against NYC hospital

NEW YORK — Several hundred anti-Israel protesters demonstrated on Monday outside the NYU Langone Health Center in New York City.

The protest was organized by Within Our Lifetime, a hardline group that echoes Hamas rhetoric, endorsed the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and calls for Israel’s destruction. Dozens of activist groups in the city endorsed the protest, including student, socialist and pro-Palestinian organizations.

Organizers said they were targeting the hospital to “bring accountability for the destruction” of Gaza’s healthcare system.

The protesters chanted “Say it loud say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here” and “Resistance is justified when people are colonized.”

Banners in the crowd included Palestinian, transgender, anarchist and Lebanese flags.

Protesters carried signs that said “Abolish Israel” and “Right of return.” Some held flyers with photos of Gaza healthcare workers.

“There is only one solution — intifada, revolution,” they chanted.

The crowd gathered in the frigid cold on the sidewalk across the street from the main entrance of the medical center’s Tisch Hospital. Dozens of police stood outside the hospital’s doors and patients exiting the building stopped to gawk at the protest. One protester scrawled “Gaza” alongside an inverted triangle, a pro-Hamas symbol, in snow plastered to a car windshield.

Around a dozen pro-Israel counter-protesters waved US flags. The two sides traded insults across a metal barricade, with the pro-Palestinian activists calling the pro-Israel crowd “baby killers,” “fascists” and “fucking Zionists.” The pro-Israel group called the protesters “terrorists” and derided them for concealing their identities with face masks.

“You guys are protesting at a hospital. What the fuck is wrong with you?” one Israel supporter shouted.

Police officers were stationed between the two groups and hospital officials stood on the sidelines.

“Get your best insults in, just stand three feet apart. You can scream at each other all you want,” a police officer said.

One protester wearing a Hamas headband mocked Israeli hostages held in Gaza, telling the counter-protesters, “Where are your hostages? Where are they? Go look for them.”

Pro-Hamas anarchist Nerdeen Kiswani from 'Within Our Lifetime' is calling on healthcare workers to participate in a sick-out, which would deny patients medical attention at NYU Langone. https://t.co/vDCkfd9dsd pic.twitter.com/ufoVz5ZEv8

— Sam E. Antar (@SamAntar) January 6, 2025

The focus on healthcare comes after the IDF launched a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza late last month. The IDF said Hamas terrorists had been operating out of the hospital and that Israeli forces sought to evacuate civilians and mitigate damage.

Hamas has fought from within hospitals throughout the war and periodically hid some of the Israeli hostages inside them. International law prohibits targeting hospitals during wartime, but hospitals can lose this protection if they are being used for military purposes.

Last year, Within Our Lifetime demonstrated outside the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on the Upper East Side.

It wasn’t clear why the protesters targeted the Tisch Hospital specifically, and Within Our Lifetime refuses to speak to “Zionist media.” The hospital is one of several facilities affiliated with New York University’s Langone Health Center and is named for a prominent Jewish philanthropic family. Family member Jessica Tisch was appointed NYPD commissioner last month.

Other pro-Palestinian advocates have sought to make the medical field a battleground. The United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, called for healthcare professionals to sever ties with Israeli institutions last week. Albanese has a history of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric against Israel.

Jewish healthcare providers have reported widespread antisemitism in the field since October 7.

The American Jewish Medical Association called Monday’s protest “an outrage.”

“The lies must stop. The politicization of healthcare must stop,” Yael Halaas, the group’s founder and president, said in a statement. “It’s no coincidence that this outrageous event is being planned for NYU — a hospital frequented by Jewish patients. It is a fact: Antisemitism in healthcare affects everyone’s healthcare.”

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, a Jewish democrat, called the protest “clear antisemitism.”

Anti-Israel protests started in New York City the day after the October 7 attack and hundreds of rallies have been held since, targeting transportation hubs, museums, colleges and holiday events.