Jewish New Yorkers celebrate the return of hostages while demanding the release of remaining Hamas prisoners

A pro-Israel demonstrator holds up the Israeli flag while the protestors with the People’s Forum renewed calls to “free Palestine.”
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
On Inauguration Day, which coincided with Martin Luther King Day, about 20 members of various Jewish groups gathered in Washington Square Park to celebrate the return of the first Israeli hostages, Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher, and Romi Gonen.
Damari, Steinbrecher, and Gonen were released on Sunday as part of the first phase of the Gaza Ceasefire Deal between Israel and Hamas.
Simultaneously, the People’s Forum held an Inauguration Day protest under the arch of Washington Square Park, vowing to fight back against Trump’s ultra-right agenda and imperialism. Speakers addressed a slew of issues like the protection of unions, immigrant and LGBTQIA+ rights, calling for a socialist agenda, and abolishing capitalism while attacking Democrats, former President Joe Biden, and Trump for supporting Israel.
Inevitably, some members of the opposing factions clashed and had to be separated by NYPD officers, who then formed a human chain to keep the hotheads apart.

Quoting former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Upper West Side resident Felice Schachter said that she was not ” a Jew with trembling knees” and would fight until all the hostages were home, even in the face of antisemitism.
Schachter, a member of Mothers Against College Antisemitism (MACA), told amNewYork Metro that Jewish activists had always stood by marginalized group.
“Jews funded the NAACP. Jews risked and lost their lives to go down to the South to help African Americans register to vote. We have stood by every group. Where are the other groups now?” Schachter questioned.
Israeli Ben Shbiro told amNewYork Metro that he couldn’t stop smiling when the three young women were released.
“I couldn’t be more happy. It was an amazing feeling. I just can’t wait for everyone else to come back,” said Shbiro, who hoped the hostages had a promising future after all they endured.

Ross Glick, executive director of Betar North America, used the event to launch the Zionist Information Center, a mobile experience to educate people about what Zionism was really about.
“We’re going to be evolving this concept into a mobile experience, taking it to college campuses and throughout the country to let people know that Zionism is not a political movement,” Glick said.
Glick explained that Israel was the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. Bringing peace and stability to the area, Glick said, would not only benefit Israel but the entire Middle East, “especially the innocent Arabs in Gaza who should not be suffering as a result of Hamas’ dictatorial, Islamist, nihilistic ideology. [Hamas] doesn’t want peace, and it’s not about land for them.”
Democratic candidate for Mayor Whitney Tilson planned to join the anti-Trump rally in Washington Square Park because the long-time Democrat had fought against Trump and Trump’s agenda. However, upon entering the park, he was taken aback by the speeches and chants, such as “From the River to the Sea,” that echoed across the park’s square.

“It’s an anti-Israel rally, which is not what I was expecting,” said Tilson, a former hedge fund manager who announced his candidacy for Mayor last November.
He told amNewYork Metro that he believes in a two-state solution so that Palestinians and Israelis could “live in peace and prosperity.”
Tilson, whose wife and daughters are Jewish, shared that he was horrified by the increase of antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks when the terror organization Hamas killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped 251.

“It’s very concerning to me that protests which at least initially appeared to be expressing sympathy to the Palestinian civilians who are suffering tremendously, and I’m very sympathetic toward that have morphed into anti-Israel and anti-semitic rallies, which is very troubling to me,” Tilson shared. “I’m hearing a lot of chants that are genocidal. I know what ‘From the river to the sea means.’”
Ben, who didn’t want to share his last name, was holding a photo showing Martin Luther King Jr marching with Rabbis Heschel and Gendler in Selma, Alabama.
“Jews stood with Black [people] for civil rights, and King stood with the Jews. So I’m out here on MLK day to remind people what it seems like a lot of them forgot,” Ben said.