09/23/2026
Hundreds of Jewish New Yorkers marked Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, on Monday (Sept. 21) with a mourning ritual memorializing Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war. A few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s highly anticipated visit for the U.N. General Assembly, the gathering also served to denounce how the Israeli government has handled the war.
Brad Lander, a New York Democratic nominee for Congress, who is Jewish, addressed the crowd gathered at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza by denouncing Netanyahu’s visit and what he described as a “genocide” happening in Gaza.
He said he belonged to a group of Jews “who say no to ethnic cleansing, who say no to human-made famine, who say no to the use of U.S. tax dollars to bomb entire families, who say no to war criminals in our city this holy week or any week.”
In the city that’s home to the largest Jewish population in the U.S., Netanyahu’s visit has prompted divides — especially after Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a staunch Israel critic, in July reignited the debate over Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. despite the International Criminal Court’s efforts to arrest him for what it deemed were war crimes committed in Gaza. The mayor called Netanyahu a “war criminal” but backtracked on his campaign promise of arresting him, citing the city’s lack of legal authority — which Netanyahu dismissed as comments “fomenting hate” and fueling antisemitism.
Netanyahu’s visit is expected to prompt a number of protests, which the mayor encouraged New Yorkers to participate in over the summer. However, according to The Forward, last week he said he “never encouraged them to protest,” but said they “have the right to do so in the city.” Last week, a group of Modern Orthodox Jewish teens protested the mayor’s stance on Israel in front of the mayor’s residence at Gracie Mansion. Showcasing their support for the Jewish state, the teens prayed with tefillin, the black leather threads attached to boxes containing Torah verses worn by observant Jewish men during prayers.
Now in its third year, the public remembrance service has become a space for Jewish New Yorkers opposed to the war in Gaza to voice their criticism and lament the devastation caused by the conflict. It was organized by Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, a left-wing Jewish organization of which Lander is a member, and Rabbis for Ceasefire, a collective of 450 Jewish faith leaders demanding an end to the war. The demonstration was co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow and the American Council for Judaism.
NEW YORK (RNS) — As the highly anticipated US visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches this week, attendees denounced how the Israeli government has handled the war.
