JCRC-NY Condemns Last Night's Harassing, Intimidating Protest Targeting Jewish Community in Midwood, Brooklyn

NEW YORK, NY (05/12/2026) (readMedia)-- Last night, demonstrators assembled at Young Israel of Midwood to protest against an Israel real estate event happening inside, chanting hateful slogans while marching through the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Midwood, Brooklyn. The incident took place less than a week after a similar protest outside of Park East Synagogue in Manhattan that left a police officer injured, and on the heels of new NYPD data showing that 60% of reported hate crimes in the city targeted Jews in April.

Statement from Mark Treyger, CEO of JCRC-NY:

Last night, protesters marched through the Midwood section of Brooklyn - a heavily Jewish neighborhood - chanting eliminationist slogans such as, "there is only one solution, intifada revolution." They went well beyond the stated purpose of their protest outside a local synagogue, spilling across residential streets where families were sitting down to dinner. This is not peaceful advocacy. This is the organized harassment and intimidation of Jews. Period.

No international conflict will ever be resolved at the doors of a synagogue or through the intimidation of Jewish families in the streets of a neighborhood home to Holocaust survivors, refugees from persecution, and generations of New Yorkers who simply wish to raise their families in peace and safety. No Jewish family in Midwood - nor any family for that matter - should ever have to bear the brunt of hate, harassment, or intimidation over disputes taking place thousands of miles away, regardless of the circumstances. That is not who we are as New Yorkers or as Americans. In this country, people of different backgrounds, faiths, and perspectives must be able to live together in peace and mutual respect - without fear of intimidation, harassment, or collective blame.

Houses of worship serve many purposes for people of all faiths. Synagogues, in particular, are places where Jews pray, mourn, celebrate milestones, study foundational texts, and participate in communal life. For many Jews, that includes learning about or pursuing aliyah - immigrating to the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people - which is deeply ingrained in Jewish history, identity, faith, and culture. Conditioning how Jews participate in our own spiritual life runs directly contrary to the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion.

Leaders of conscience must reject the dangerous effort by some bad actors to target, isolate, or intimidate Jewish institutions and communities for living our identity openly and proudly. We are not going to surrender our pride in who we are, nor are we going to accept the normalization of hate directed at Jewish New Yorkers under the guise of activism. Jews have a long history of engaging in protest to advance civil and human rights in this country. That is not what is happening here.

We thank Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the NYPD, and the Community Security Initiative - a joint security program supported by JCRC-NY and UJA-Federation of New York - for working under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to protect public safety and constitutional rights. These disturbing incidents further reinforce the importance of clear and transparent safe-access policies championed by leaders such as Governor Kathy Hochul and Speaker Julie Menin so that no New Yorker ever has to calculate personal risk before entering or leaving a house of worship.