Thousands gathered in Manhattan on Oct. 10 for a “New York Stands with Israel” rally. The event was organized by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and drew city and state officials, as well as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations to Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, near U.N. headquarters.
Attendees, many of whom waved Israeli flags, heard a mother’s plea for the release of her son, who is believed to be held hostage by Hamas after their brutal massacre in Israel on Simchas Torah.
“We last spoke with him on Friday night,” Orna Neutra of Long Island, NY, told the crowd of her 21-year-old son Omer, who had been spending a year in Israel. “In our last conversation, he was looking forward to a quiet, peaceful weekend after a stressful month protecting the border.”
“Omer, we know you are alive,” she said. “We know you are whole. Be strong. We love you very much, and you know, we will be together again, soon.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told the crowd that she will fight antisemitism “everywhere it rears its ugly head.” She also noted that there are New Yorkers who still don’t know the whereabouts of their loved ones.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivered heartfelt remarks showing strong support for the city’s Jewish community and Israel.
“I’m going to give you four words. This morning on my briefing, my [chief] counsel, Lisa Zornberg, said something that I want us all to acknowledge. We’ve been through some tough times, New Yorkers. We are tough people. We saw the center of our trade collapse. We saw some of the horrific actions that played out on the stage of our city and our country,” Adams said.
“But she said something that hits me to my soul. She stated to our team, we are not all right. We are not all right when we see young girls pulled from their home and dragged through the streets. We are not all right when we see grandmothers being pulled away from their homes and children shot in front of their families. We are not all right when right here in the City of New York you have those who celebrate at the same time when the devastation is taking place in our city.
“We are not all right when Hamas believes that they are fighting on behalf of something and their destructive, despicable action that carried out. We are not all right when we still have hostages who have not come home to their family. We are not all right, and we’re not going to say we have a stiff upper lip and act like everything is fine. Everything is not fine. Israel has a right to defend itself, and that’s the right that we know.
“Your fight is our fight. Your fight is our fight. And right here in New York we have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. This is the place that our voices must raise and cascade throughout the entire country. We will not be all right until every person responsible for this act is held accountable. And we don’t have to pretend.”
VIDEO: Eric Adams stands with Israel
Beautiful to hear such heartfelt words spoken with such conviction.
Thank you Mayor Adams 💙🤍💙
I hope it’s not only words
Mayor adams,you’re a great mayor to us
Ok nice words. Now will you please detain and thoroughly vet every illegal alien that you so kindly put up in shelters all over our neighborhood against our will? They already broke the law by how they came over. Who are they? Do any have ties to international terrorist organizations? Quite a few terrorists were already caught at the border. My question is how many got away? And where may they be? Lastly since you care so much about our lives won’t you please make it possible for us to defend and protect ourselves everywhere and at all times too?… Read more »
Thank you for speaking up
The left is going after pro-Israel , pro Trump Jewish City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov who went to the Brooklyn College rally to make Jews feel safe. This was off school grounds, and there were no signs saying you could not bring a concealed weapon there, as the new NYC gun statute requires.
City Councilwoman Crystal Hudson is on the NYC Council Ethics Committee which will investigate Ms Vernikov. NYC’s Inna Vernikov arrested for carrying gun at pro-Palestinian rally (nypost.com)