Legislation will be advanced to establish an anti-protest buffer zone around houses of worship in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday, following a pro-Hamas protest at a synagogue in Queens.
Hochul, who had teased the legislation during a law enforcement briefing last Tuesday, said in her State of the State address that she was proposing a ban on protests within 25 feet of the property line of houses of worship.
The Governor said that the legislation would ensure "those who simply want to pray can do so without fear or harassment."
Protest targeting the Jewish community
Hochul noted that the legislation was coming in the wake of a pro-Hamas demonstration last Thursday led by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (PAL-Awda) NY/NJ in Kew Gardens Hills to protest Mortgage Israel and Tivuch Shelly's Israel Real Estate Event. The protest, held outside a synagogue, wasn't a manifestation of "free expression," Hochul said.
"That’s harassment. And targeting a Jewish community in this way is antisemitism," said Hochul.
Activists had reportedly chanted "we support Hamas here" and that they were "fighting for" an "intifada, peoples’ war."
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York applauded Hochul's proposal, arguing that the legislation was urgent after intimidation like at Kew Gardens Hill and a similar protest against the Park East Synagogue in November against an immigration event.
"As antisemitism continues to surge across New York, these incidents make painfully clear that when demonstrations target people at the doors of their religious institutions, they cross a red line into serious and immediate public-safety threats," JCRC NY said on X on Tuesday.
UJA Federation of New York urged supporters and Jewish community members to contact state representatives, asking them to advance the legislation.
"Every New Yorker should be able to walk into a synagogue or other religious space without fear," read a statement from UJA NY.
Palestine Legal, Palestinian Youth Movement New York, Jewish Voice for Peace New York, Center for Constitutional Rights, and PAL-Awda condemned the buffer zone bill, arguing that it would prevent protests outside of synagogues that hold events facilitating the sale of real estate in the West Bank.
"The protests in question exist because organizations, many registered as charities within the State of New York, are auctioning off Palestinian land in the West Bank deemed illegally occupied by the International Court of Justice in order to expand Israeli settlements," the groups said in a statement. "Protesting the sale of occupied land is fundamentally political speech, and events that violate international law and facilitate the dispossession of Palestinians are not insulated from scrutiny merely because they take place in religious spaces."
A law enforcement guidance on protecting houses of worship from protest had been issued by former mayor Eric Adams following the Park East protest, but Mayor Zohran Mamdani placed the guidance under review when he entered office.
Hochul had previously invested $131 million to secure houses of worship, and the new year would see further steps against "the rising tide of Antisemitism and Islamophobia."
Statistics released by the NYPD last Tuesday indicated that New York City Jews were the target of more hate crimes than all other categories combined in 2025 for a second year.
Despite the slight drop in 2025, antisemitic incidents still accounted for 330 cases, representing 57% of all hate crimes in the city, despite Jews making up roughly 10% of the city’s population.