NYPD arrests 4 agitators as 'Allahu Akbar'-chanting anti-Israel mob swarms Brooklyn synagogue, conducts mass Islamic prayer in the street

A group of violent anti-Israel extremists targeted a Brooklyn synagogue Monday night, less than a week after the same group descended on a Manhattan synagogue. Four people were arrested on charges that include reckless endangerment, assault, and disorderly conduct. 

The group also marched through the nearby neighborhood in an effort to intimidate Jewish families. The violent protest took place near Young Israel Senior Services of Midwood, where an event promoting purchasing real estate in Israel was being held. Anti-Israel activists gathered outside, chanting, “Palestine is ours alone,” while others carried a banner reading, “Israel is killing children.”

NYPD officers detained several anti-Israel protesters. Four people in total, including two teens, were taken into custody. Two 17-year-old boys were arrested for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct, a 30-year-old man was arrested for assault, weapon possession and harassment, and a 36-year-old man was charged with obstructing government administration and disorderly conduct, per New York Daily News. 

Video from the scene showed a masked individual in a keffiyeh pulling a Jewish girl’s hair and trying to shove her into a parked car. Footage from the area also showed pepper spray being deployed as tensions escalated outside the synagogue.

Orthodox Jewish families were seen watching from nearby homes as protesters marched through the neighborhood, chanting antisemitic slogans. Anti-Israel activists protesting the real estate event were also seen holding a mass Islamic prayer and chanting “Allahu Akbar” outside the synagogue, with the “Israel is killing children” banner visible behind them. Other radicals carried flags of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.

Stop Antisemitism wrote on X, "NYC's new mayor Mamdani could have stopped this. But he won't. Because his main goal is chaos and destruction."

Monday’s protest came less than a week after a similar protest targeted the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan for hosting Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that helps Jews immigrate from the United States to Israel. Both protests were organized by Pal-Awda NY/NJ, a violent anti-Israel activist group that promoted the events using slogans including “No settlers on stolen land” and “Stop the sale of stolen Palestinian land.”

City Council Speaker Julie Menin previously proposed a “buffer zone” measure requiring the NYPD to develop plans addressing risks such as obstruction, intimidation, injury, and interference near houses of worship, including whether fencing or other security measures are needed. A spokesperson for Menin told The New York Post that, as of Monday, the NYPD had not yet submitted its proposal to Menin’s office or Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office.