We Need to Make Them Scared

By Henry Levy

The Mamdani Effect:

According to the Mayor’s Office for Prevention of Hate Crimes and based on the most recent statistics for the year 2024, 53% of reported hate crimes in New York City were committed against Jewish people. It should therefore come as no surprise that on the evening of November 19, 2025, an enraged mob dressed as Hamas terrorists wearing keffiyehs, which are headdress unique to their culture, became disrupters while hiding their faces like common criminals, and did what they could to intimidate congregants and guests of Park East Synagogue from entering their place of worship.

The NYPD, which is the organization that grants permits for such protests, had to know in advance that there was a great potential for an ugly confrontation that could turn violent. Yet, for some reason, the NYPD allowed the hooded mob to get much too close to the entrance of the Park East Synagogue, which made synagogue members and their guests who wanted to enter the synagogue have encounter almost face-to-face with the hooded demonstrators who were shouting “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada”, and “Resistance you make us proud, take another settler out”, and ”Death to the IDF” and other heinous such comments. And, according to individuals who who were at that confrontation, the demonstrators called counter protestors “F—king Jewish pricks.”

A day later, the NYPD and Police Commissioner Tisch apologized to congregants of the synagogue and to its spiritual leader, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, but that is not an excuse or a reason for not having taken appropriate precautionary measures to position the protestors where they would have had no chance to reach out and threaten verbally, and possibly physically, the synagogue members and their guests, which resulted in frightening those trying to enter the synagogue and fill them with fear and panic.

Why do we call this outrage the “Mamdani effect”?

Quite simply, the Mayor-elect continually refused, and still refuses to condemn the use of “globalize the intifada” which everyone knows means calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.

In addition, Mayor-elect Mamdani has continually promised that as Mayor he will arrest the Prime Minister of the State of Israel if he steps foot into New York City. Regardless of whether he can do so legally, the threat he is making is clear: if the leader of Israel is not safe in the state with the largest Jewish population outside of the State of Israel, is any Jew safe? The seriousness of this threat only emboldens radicals to believe that it is now open season against Jews in New York City. Jews in New York City should not have a target placed on their backs by the city’s highest ranking public official.

Exactly what was Mamdani’s reaction to this hate fest? According to his press secretary, Dora Potec, Mamdani believes that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” His statement is Inferring that the Park East Synagogue promoted violations of international law, without giving specifics, spurs on greater Jew hatred and intolerance by antisemites either hiding under rocks or those out in the open.

Regardless of Mamdani’s belief, who the heck is he to dictate what a synagogue, a church, or any religious place of worship can and cannot expose their co-religionists to? Or whether they could, or should, encourage their congregants to visit or relocate to their ancestral homeland? Good luck telling Italian-Americans not to visit or to settle in Italy, or telling Dominican Republic Americans that taking root in the Dominican Republic is off limits because of some internal policies the Mayor-elect objects to? Or telling African-Americans that visiting or relocating to certain African countries is a violation of international law as some of these countries target Christians for wholesale slaughter?

Park East Synagogue allowed a program by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a non-profit organization that does what it can to assist Jews primarily from North America to relocate to Israel. Nefesh B’Nefesh works in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Government’s Ministry of Aliyah (immigration). Their program included providing an opportunity to “get your questions answered, learn about the process, and discover what life in Israel could look like for you and your family”.

The masked mob viewed the event as “settler recruiting”. Whether or not attendees were considering relocating to Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem or to the West Bank settlements, does that excuse or explain why the Park East Synagogue Cantor Benny Rogosnitzky said he heard chants like “Kill the Jews” and “Destroy Israel”?

The Synagogue’s Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who is a 95-year old Holocaust survivor, who as an 8 year old child witnessed his synagogue in Vienna, Austria burned down during “Kristallnacht” warned, “The violent scene in front of Park East Synagogue is a reminder, a warning not to be silent. No house of worship should be subjected to this type of demonstration.”

Rabbi Schneier’s warning should not be taken lightly. A reported leader of these hate-mongers and their anti-Israel activist group, known as Pal-Awda NY/NJ, was heard repeatedly saying, “We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared. We need to make them scared.”

Mayor Adams tweeted, “Today it’s a synagogue. Tomorrow it’s a church or mosque. They come for me today and you tomorrow. We cannot hand the city over to radicals.”

Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York called the demonstration “reprehensible” and added, “It is not a violation of any law, international or otherwise, for Jews to gather in a synagogue or immigrate to Israel.”

UJA-Federation of New York’s spokesperson said we were “outraged by demonstrations outside Park East Synagogue.”

William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of President’s of Major Jewish Organization said, “A synagogue is where Jews learn, pray, and strengthen Jewish life. Teaching about Aliyah and Zionism belongs in that space. It reflects who we are as a people.”

State Assemblyman Micah Lasher commented, “If you are standing outside a synagogue calling for “intifada revolution’ you are not peacefully protesting. You are trying to intimidate and create fear among Jews, and that is never acceptable.”