ByMICHAEL STARR
Updated:

Anti-Israel activists are planning to protest against an Israeli immigration event in New York City on Wednesday.

Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (PAL-Awda) NY/NJ is leading several groups to protest the Nefesh B'Nefesh Manhattan “NBN on Tour” event, which is geared toward providing information to those considering aliyah [immigration to Israel].

The anti-Israel group called on supporters to bring flags, keffiyehs, and noisemakers to protest what they called a “settler recruitment fair.” Though new immigrants, facilitated by NBN, go on to live throughout Israel, PAL-Awda cast all of the 80,000 people who have immigrated with NBN since 2002 as “settlers” on “stolen land.”

“It is our duty to confront the pipeline of settlement and Zionist colonial expansion that is taking place in our own neighborhoods,” PAL-Awda said in a Sunday Instagram post.

An NBN representative assured that the organization was committed to providing a secure and welcoming environment for all participants of all programming, and would prioritize safety and wellbeing as its events.

Comptroller-elect Mark Levine called out the ''hatred'' shouted by protesters outside a Nefesh B'Nefesh event.
Comptroller-elect Mark Levine called out the ''hatred'' shouted by protesters outside a Nefesh B'Nefesh event. (credit: Joseph Strauss)

Protest calls Israelis 'settlers,' chants 'death to the IDF'

PAL-Awda previously led protests at an NBN event at the New York City Park East Synagogue in November. Eyewitnesses at the NBN event saw participants heckled and harassed as they entered the synagogue.

“Settler, settler, go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” keffiyeh-clad activists chanted, according to PAL-Awda’s Instagram. “Death to the IDF.”

The belligerent protest drew the ire of Jewish community groups and American politicians. While then-New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's spokesperson condemned the protest for intimidating those entering a house of worship, his office also argued that synagogues “should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”