New York City police authorities will conduct perimeter searches around synagogues and other “key institutions” across the five boroughs following Hamas’ deadly invasion of Israel over the weekend.
NYPD chief John Chell told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday that the police force would continue posturing multiple layers of security to protect the Jewish community and religious institutions.
“Whether it be the cops standing in front of church . . . late shift perimeter searches of some of the key institutions,” Chell said. “So we’re very good at this. We’ve done a lot, we’ll continue to do it, and we’ll monitor social media, intel, and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
Chell’s comments follow a pro-Palestinian rally held in Times Square on Sunday by the Democratic Socialists of America and other organizations, where roughly 1,000 demonstrators celebrated Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel that left more than 900 Israelis and several U.S. citizens dead.
“We are here in solidarity with the Palestinian people who are fighting 75 years of Israeli settler colonialism, settler violence, and 16 years of military blockade of Gaza,” Munir Atalla, a 30-year-old Palestinian Youth Movement group member, reportedly said. “What we saw yesterday was the people of Gaza breaking out of their open-air prison.”
NYC Democratic Mayor Eric Adams condemned the organized rally.
“At a moment when innocent people are being slaughtered and children kidnapped in Israel, it is disgusting that this group of extremists would show support for terrorism,” Adams reportedly wrote in an X-post on Monday. “I reject this. New York City rejects this. Do not use our streets to spread your hate.”
During Tuesday’s press conference, Adams said that although there are currently “no threats” to the city regarding the invasion of Israel, citizens should remain alert and urged synagogue leaders to designate a security team within the house of worship to conduct perimeter searches.
“We have to be high alert,” Adams said, noting NYC has one of the largest Jewish populations in the world outside of Israel. “We cannot let our guards down.”
“Don’t underestimate lone wolves,” Adams said earlier in the press conference.
Adams made a number of comments concerning Hamas’ deadly invasion of Israel over the weekend, including vocalizing his support for Israel.
On Monday night, the mayor and other city officials held a vigil for the victims of the terrorist attacks.
“I am devastated, and I am angry,” he said. “And I am going to really refrain from allowing that anger to really display the human part of me.”
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“But I am in so much pain from what I saw and what I witnessed,” he continued. “Nothing can justify pulling innocent children from their homes, murdering them, dragging them through the streets, laying your feet across their bodies. Nothing can justify what we witnessed. Nothing can justify what we witnessed.”
Police in major cities across the United States have taken extra precautions to protect Jewish citizens as Israel goes to war against Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that what Israel is preparing to do to those responsible for the heinous attacks on the nation will be remembered for decades.
“Hamas will understand that by attacking us, they have made a mistake of historic proportions,” he said. “We will exact a price that will be remembered by them and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.”
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