Hamas flag proudly waved at NYC anti-Israel demonstration: ‘Marching for terrorists’
A pro-terror protester proudly waved the Hamas flag at a weekend rally in Brooklyn — in a shocking and disturbing display of solidarity with terrorists.
The green and white Palestinian terror group’s flag was on display at the Nakba Day protest in Bay Ridge on Saturday — as was that of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist-Leninist group also classified as a terrorist organization by the US State Department.
The disgusting show of support drew fierce backlash from horrified lawmakers and local residents.
“They’re criticizing police, but they’re for marching terrorists?!” Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said of the demonstrators who rallied alongside the flags and violently clashed with NYPD cops. At least a dozen anti-Israel protesters were arrested at the raucous demonstration.
“They’re criticizing the protectors, but they’re commending the murderers?!” he seethed.
Several Bay Ridge locals also admitted they were disturbed when interviewed by The Post on Sunday, when a Norwegian parade was taking place in the neighborhood.
“If this flag is about his country, it is OK, like a Norwegian [flag],” said Dr. Sami Nagar, a native of Egypt. “But Hamas is a very controversial organization, and in this time, that’s not OK.
“To wave a Hamas flag on American soil is unacceptable for any reason.”
Resident Mary Owens called the waving of the Hamas flag “infuriating” — and said the ruckus from the Nakba Day demonstration was over the top.
“It doesn’t stop. The drums, the noise,” she said.
“Our mayor has no control,” Owens added. “They are protesting a war that is thousands of mile away. They couldn’t even point out Gaza on the map.”
Meanwhile, New York’s Finest came under fire for their response to the ugly protest, with online videos showing cops pinning down and even slugging demonstrators while making more than a dozen arrests.
“Bay Ridge is home to the largest Palestinian community in New York City,” city Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), told The Post on Sunday. “There has been a Nakba Day demonstration here every year for the past decade without violence.
“I saw no evidence of actions by protestors yesterday that warranted such an aggressive response from NYPD,” he insisted.
“I’m still waiting on information and details about the arrests that were made, but from my vantage point the response appeared pre-emptive, retaliatory and cumulatively aggressive,” Brannan added.
Controversial City Council staffer Ember Ollum, who raised eyebrows when she urged Black Lives Matter demonstrators to attack cops and hurl bottles at them during George Floyd protests, also chimed in after Saturday’s arrests.
“I don’t remember this many helicopters and violent arrests when we close our avenues every other week during the summer for festivals,” Ollum wrote on X. “If people carry flags, suddenly pedestrians in the street are a threat?”
It wasn’t known what flags she was referring to at the protest, which was held to commemorate Nakba Day, the start of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948 and viewed by Palestinians as the beginning of their displacement.
A Palestinian man who did not want to give his name added, “Yeah, I saw [the protester] carrying a Hamas flag.
“I also saw people with swastikas and Israeli flags. What’s the difference?”
However, critics were quick to fire back and support the NYPD and its officers, who have had their hands full with anti-Israeli protests in recent months.
“Isn’t it outrageous to have that comparison and such a perverse value system? What the police do wrong? They should be condemning Hamas instead of criticizing the police,” Rabbi Potasnik said.
City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov — a Ukrainian-born Jew who represents a heavily Jewish neighboring district that includes Gravesend, Midwood and Sheepshead Bay — added, “Proactive policing is not ‘aggressive,’ it is necessary in the face of unhinged individuals who proudly wave terrorist flags on American streets while hurling both insults and objects at our cops.
“I applaud the NYPD for subduing violent, Hamas-supporting protesters as they blocked traffic on busy streets in Bay Ridge,” the pol said.
“Anything short of a strong response would’ve put more innocent bystanders in danger. Watch the complete meltdown of the abolitionist ‘free love, free crime’ crowd once they realize that actions have consequences.”
Brannan, asked later by The Post whether it was acceptable for the Hamas flag to be waved at the protest, responded, “Of course not.
“You have to be an actual sociopath to fly a Hamas flag. Let’s be clear,” he said.
The councilman said this year’s rally turnout was smaller than past years.
Video footage posted online shows police in intense confrontations with the protesters, including two instances where cops are seen hurling punches at demonstrators who are pinned to the ground.
Officers are also seen trying to keep other demonstrators back during the raucous encounter.
It is unclear what occurred before the confrontations seen on the videos.
Several protests have erupted in the Big Apple since the Oct. 7 sneak attack on the Jewish state by Palestinian Hamas terrorists — and the massive Israeli military response in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian flag has been a common sight at the protests, but the Hamas flag has rarely made an appearance.
“The majority of the people who participated in this protest were neither Palestinian nor residents of Bay Ridge,” said GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, whose district includes Bay Ridge in southern Brooklyn as well as Staten Island.
“These were mostly outside agitators, and I have confidence that the NYPD took the appropriate steps to keep the neighborhood businesses and residents safe,” she told The Post.
The NYPD did not respond to a Post request for comment Sunday.
