Gaza activists torch American flag outside Met Gala

On Monday night, anti-Israel activists burned an American flag and vandalized Central Park war memorials in New York City. At least a dozen arrests were made.

Video on social media showed the burning flag remnants on the ground while Hamas supporters chanted “Free Palestine” at the 107th U.S. Infantry Memorial near the 67th Street entrance of the park.

The memorial was also vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti and stickers.  

During the Gaza protests, officers of the NYPD removed a Palestinian flag draped over another memorial honoring famed Civil War Union general William Tecumseh Sherman at Grand Army Plaza, depicting Sherman on his horse, Ontario, led by a representation of Victory.

As NYPD officers climbed up to remove the flag, one of the activists is heard shouting “I hope you fall,” before the mob began chanting “Free, Free Palestine!"

Another activist threatened, "Guess what, we're going to be here tomorrow."

Over 1,000 anti-American and anti-Israel activists had previously converged upon the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 86th and 5th Avenue on the edge of Central Park. NYPD officers diverted the unruly mob into the park and the star-studded bash was not disturbed. 

On Monday, the anti-Israel protesters, waving Palestinian flags and sporting keffiyehs, marched through Manhattan toward the Met Gala. New York Police Department officers warned protesters who were blocking traffic and being unruly that they could be arrested.

The march was organized by the group Within Our Lifetime, which called for a “Day of Rage” as part of a planned action against Israel and America in which activists met on one side of Manhattan at Hunter College, on 68th and Lexington on the East Side, and at the gates of Columbia Univerity on 116th and Broadway on the West Side.