By Gus Saltonstall
More than a dozen Israeli hostage posters have been ripped down between West 72nd and West 92nd Streets on the Upper West Side. A count carried out by West Side Rag on Wednesday morning found 15 of the posters torn up or almost completely taken down on different sections of Broadway, Amsterdam, and Columbus Avenues within the 20-block stretch.
The red-and-white kidnapped posters went up around the city shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The posters include photos and information on Israeli citizens who have not been accounted for since that day.
In the neighborhood, the posters appear on silver traffic light poles and other streetscape structures. West Side Rag’s count only included those where it was completely clear that a hostage poster had been up.
Multiple videos have garnered attention online of people ripping down the posters throughout Manhattan, including one on Tuesday where a person removed a hostage poster in front of Zabar’s.
“Many in our community have family in Israel,” Upper West Side Councilmember Shaun Abreu told West Side Rag when asked about the torn-down posters. “Many have lost loved ones and know people who have been taken hostage by these terrorists. We must have their backs, to hold out hope and push for an end to this conflict.”
“Tearing down posters does nothing but perpetuate hate and breed more chaos,” he added.
The majority of the posters include the same information about the attack, along with the message “Please help bring them home alive,” and a barcode that you can scan to “join the global efforts.”
Here are more of the ripped-up posters still standing on the Upper West Side.
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I’m sorry about these hostages but these posters seem to only inflame the emotions of this impossible crisis. It gives face to the 200 kidnapped victims but there are no signs for the thousands of Palestinian children who have been killed just in the past 9 days.
They are bringing rightful attention to hundreds of kidnapped innocent civilians including non-Israelis such as Thai, American and European hostages. As far as I am aware there aren’t any kidnapped civilians being held in custody by the Israeli government – but if I am wrong, by all means lets get those kidnapped Palestinian posters up as well. (Narrator voice: there were in fact no Palestinian kidnapping victims).
these are public spaces! whomever is posting these should understand that this is public neighborhood as is all of nyc we hold a variety of political opinions and i personally resent what amounts to trashing the spaces we all share and foisting opinions on others. if the poster people had any sense of morality and justice they would take them down themselves.
What political opinion holds that these hostages should be forgotten? That they should remain in captivity?
This is not political. It is moral.
“these are public spaces!” and therefore the people posting them have the same right to post them
I didn’t know kidnapping was a political tactic versus just sheer terrorism. As to morality and justice, how does highlighting kidnapped victims show poor moral judgment or demonstrate injustice?
Amazing how many people are raising the fact that these posters are being put up illegally. In fact they are, but I haven’t seen anyone posting on message boards about the SAT Tutoring, Judo, language lessons, guitar lessons or missing animal posters. If you are going to complain about these posters be honest with yourself and everyone else as to why you want them down.
Ignoring the political realities of the situation does not create peace for all. Palestinians elected hamas to represent them. Hamas brought children into this problem on both sides –absolutely inexcusable.
1300 people slaughtered, and you’re trying to make a moral equivalency?
Let’s assume that Canada was able to fire rockets to hit 72nd St and Broadway and two of your children were killed in the attack. What would you want the U.S. to do?
Yes, I know this is impossible, but what if…?
What happened on October 7th. was a pogrom.
My grandparents came to this country in the early 1900s because they were facing pogroms in Moldavia (old spelling). They saw family and friends indiscriminately killed for one reason. They were Jews.
One of the statements in the Hamas charter says to kill all the Jews. Israel is afraid, and quite frankly so am I. It can’t happen here? No, I’m afraid it can happen. Anti-semtism is , unfortunately alive and well in America.
I concur. If the public even thinks that our enemies are only coming ( across the border too ) for Jews, they’re are coming for Americans too. My dad served overseas in WWll, so I heard stories and can read about such stories in his diary he kept at age 19.
We have to rely on our government and our government doesn’t sit to well with me, frankly.
If a) Hamas had not violated all protocols of civilized behavior (there is zero equivalency for what they did – I don’t care what they think Israel has done to them – it does not justify what they are doing), and b) Hamas releases more of the hostages, the problem likely goes away. Very simple.
As always, Israel is in a no-win situation. They are not without blame – Netanyahu is awful and some of their actions have not been ideal. But there is zero excuse for what Hamas did. Should Israel just sit back and take it. And then have another similar attack happen. I tend to be a pacifist but at some point you have to stand up for yourself.
And Americans (and the rest of the world) need to learn how to better see through Hamas propaganda. I am usually the first to defend the NY Times, but they should be embarrassed how they reported on the hospital. Any reporter who has covered that region for a day would have known to be skeptical. You have Tom Friedman and Bret Stephens on your payroll – give them a call. I am glad they apologized but it is too little, too late.
And how does ripping those posters down give names to the thousands of Palestinians who have died?
agreed; all lives valuable
All lives are valuable. But there is a difference between people who were intentionally tortured, raped, brutally murdered, and burned alive and people who are collateral damage because and armed group is using them as human shields. Also, the number of Palestinians who have been killed is coming from Hamas who have been less the truthful in their numbers all along. Further, how many Palestinians have been killed by other errant Palestinian rockets, like the one that hit the hospital (and Hamas knowingly lied, blaming it on Israel). As of last week, it was estimated about 550 rockets fired by Hamas and/or Palestinian Islamic Jihad landed in Gaza and did not reach Israel. So how many of the dead or injured were from these rockets? I feel for the Palestinians. I firmly believe in the 2 state solution. I can’t stand Bibi. But Hamas and their actions on October 7 were worse than anything Israel has ever done. In this war, the blood of the innocent Palestinians is on the hands of Hamas and its financial supporters.
The situation for Palestinians is so dire and hamas has such a strong hold on the population, that none of their neighbors can open their doors to them.
In other words, Hamas is the problem!
A lot of money and building materials were given to Gaza from international sources. Hamas took that money and used it for military purposes instead of for the residents. Instead of roads, Hamas built tunnels. Instead of homes, Hamas built stockpiles. Hamas even digs out water pipes to turn them into rockets. Imagine what life in Gaza would be like for Palestinians if 1) Hamas allowed civilian aid to reach the civilians and 2) civilians in Israel were not subjected to constant threats of violence and 3) Hamas did not carry out any violent actions against Israel.
Yes, Hamas would not be able to realize their vision of the State of Palestine stretching from river to sea, but no bombs would be falling from Israeli planes. No homes would be falling by Israeli bulldozers. No schools would be exploding from weapons stored within.
You can say Israel’s response is disproportionate if you want, but 1) what would be proportional and 2) what if they didn’t have to respond to anything in the first place?
To be clear : we are far from the utopian landscape where Palestinians can move freely to neighboring countries that support their efforts .
The NYT just did an extensive article investigating the hospital rocket. While it did not conclusively identify the source of the munition, it did debunk the evidence provided by the Israeli military that affixed blame to a Hamas rocket. That’s the underpinning of your entire comment.
Israel didn’t say that, Bill. They stated Islamic Jihad fired the rocket. That’s the underpinning of YOUR entire comment.
Bill, I read the article and frankly, I am not convinced. In the video, there was an explosion of the rocket. But how is the NYT determining that this explosion consumed the rocket/fuel/warhead leaving nothing to fall on the hospital? It seems the flash we see in the video is the cause or the result of the malfunction. It could have been a midair collision of two rockets. There is not enough information and even the NYT says their conclusion does not rule out a rocket being the cause. However, if it was an Israeli munition, where are the munition remnants? All munitions experts agree that there would have to have been remnants. But Hamas is not producing any for a simple reason – they can’t. Their excuse that the munition was completely vaporized does not hold water with any experts.
Independent Investigations by AP, CNN, Britain, US & Israel have indicated the rocket was launched nearby, from a cemetary behind the hospital crashing a few seconds after launch into the hospital parking lot. Coordinates as well as recorded telephone conversation between 2 Hamas operatives confirm it was an errant rocket launched by PIJ. No evidence of Israeli rockets launched in that timeframe. It is this kind of false accusation based on lack of evidence and distortion of facts attributable to Hamas’ determination to destroy Israel
From the NYT itself: “However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.”
Not sure I’d rely on anything out of The NY Times on the topic.
The two-state solution is a lie. If the US and Israel wanted it, it would have happened decades ago. But then Bibi and the Likud party crushed it by spreading settlements into the lands that many thought would become the Palestinian state. They didn’t just crush any hope of a two-state solution, they also crushed the Israel left.
Your comment is perfect. It reads like a Democratic senator’s press release. Palestinian lives are worthless. You acknowledge it. You feel for them. Sure you do.
The UN proposed a two-state solution in 1947, which Israel accepted, but which the Palestinians rejected.
Not only did they reject it, they asked the Arab League to go to war for them to eliminate Israel and eradicate the Jews. This was the war, at Palestinian request, and precipitated by the surrounding Arab nations regular armies, that caused Palestinian residents to be displaced. The Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and around the world are refugees from the fighting of the war of 1947/1948. The war they asked for, but lost.
When Jordan hesitatingly joined the 1967 war against Israel to save face in the Arab world, it lost the West Bank to Israel. King Hussein ultimately relinquished control of the West Bank not to Israel (whom it attacked) but to the Palestinians who lived there. King Hussein did not like having the Palestinians in Jordan because they were not dependable as a base of support for his reign. Ceding the land to the Palestinians after losing badly to Israel was a sham.
Israel offered the 2 state solution to the PLO. It gave them everything they wanted and more. They turned it down. Incidentally, the PLO’s charter still calls for the elimination of Israel. But it’s Israel that is the problem. Amazing.
Post of the year. Thank you.
“Tearing down posters does nothing but perpetuate hate and breed more chaos.”
I beg to differ. I don’t see how upholding the law against postering “perpetuates hate” or “breeds chaos.” In fact, it can be argued that the placing of these poster breeds chaos.
What, exactly, is the point of these posters, since it is clear that the posters will do nothing to help get the hostages released, and are thus utterly useless in that regard.? And one can express solidarity with the situation without mucking up the neighborhood with flyers on every available surface.
Finally, this is the UWS, where the politics likely goes both ways; I.e., residents may well feel sympathy for the kidnapped victims, but also do not support Israeli policies with regard to the Palestinians.
So it may well be that putting UP these posters, however well-intentioned, is breeding (political) chaos.
I have some doubts about the posters but feel more empathy and sadness than anything else. I agree with those who equate it to the posting of those missing on 9/11. In any case, tearing down the posters is a hostile act. And, as some very perceptive person here noted, they have left some shreds of the poster behind so that we would know that it was torn down.
The reason that shreds of some posters remain is that, originally, they were simply being put up with scotch tape, making the entire poster easy to remove. But now someone is using poster glue, so it is more difficult to remove without leaving “shreds” remaining.
The posters I was referring to were the earlier taped variety.
The point is to put faces to the numbers and keep them in the conversation.
I do not understand this logic. If someone disagrees with the Isrseli government, how does testing down those posters show disagreement with the government?
I found two of these posters attached to an elementary school jungle gym that was open as a playground for the weekend.
These posters give me 9/11 flashbacks and I agree with Ian, they are not productive. I read to to try to understand what the people behind this expect the Upper West Side to do. The only instruction was “Take a photo of this poster and share it.” If there were a practical call to action, maybe I’d feel differently about seeing this, but it appears the whole point of this campaign is to depress and upset us about something we have zero control over.
To say you have zero control over this is naive and disappointing. Of course there are things you can do.
We don’t have zero control. We can lobby our elected representatives, we can protest, we can participate in discourse.
Yes, people should be depressed and upset about what happened. Some of us have ancestors who were murdered during pogroms in Eastern Europe and later gassed in concentration camps. Those who placed posters counted on your empathy. We have control over some things, like fighting antisemitism and exposing those who support Hamas terrorists.
Those of us here in September 2001 quickly recognize the emotion behind these posters. It’s a cry of the heart against a spectacularly unimaginable crime. Whether of not it is your emotion, or politics, is not the point. We should have enough room and grace for people to express their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech however they see fit.
Prayers for those kidnapped and families of the dead on all sides.
It is an act of kindness to put the posters up
and it is an act of kindness to let them be.
I pray for the safe return of the hostages. The problem with these posters is that they include explicit details about the horrendous treatment of the victims. I have a seven year old. I don’t shy away from speaking frankly about realities of our world, and he knows about the war in Ukraine, the terrorists who attacked Israel, and the Central American refugees who are seeking asylum here. He understands people face tragedy and hardship and can empathize with people suffering in our country and the world. But, there’s no need for him to have awareness and understanding of sexual violence at this age, and I am not interested in explaining the meaning of the word “rape” to him. However, given he is a fluent reader, I know it’s only a matter of time before he asks, since the word is on these posters.
Remember after 9/11 when people put up missing posters? It was unlikely to have any real effect on finding people but it kept them in the public consciousness.
These kidnapped people may still be alive and keeping the pressure on may save their lives.
We can’t do anything about all the innocents who’ve already been killed, but personalizing captives as real people can be meaningful.
Dear NeighborXYZ: I can promise you that every single Upper West Sider sees the captives as “real people.” Your argument for the posters is based on the false premise that there is some possibility anyone has forgotten the Middle East is in crisis now. As if our 24-7 media coverage were not happening. Postering my neighborhood simply makes me resentful of the Middle East, period. I’m not proud of that result, but I am not religious in any way or for or against either side. I do not want to participate in this religious war in any way.
Look, I am deeply sympathetic to anyone who has had a loved one kidnapped by Hamas and I won’t judge anyone who’s gone along with letting a loved one be on a poster (I believe the poster-maker is at least requesting permission from family, which is good). But a poster at 98th & Broadway, Manhattan, New York, in the United States, isn’t keeping the pressure on Hamas halfway around the world. It *is* helping keep emotions tremendously high in a situation where calm heads are badly needed.
Do you not think that the policy of the United States affects Hamas and the rest of the world’s attitudes toward Hamas? Do you not believe that we have the ability to influence our elected representatives-esp if we let them know our demands and desires? Yes, we, in NYC can keep the pressure on Hamas.
And the artists behind the campaign DID request permission from the families-as was widely reported…there really is no need for your prejudicial comment of “at least”. It certainly gives a clear indication of your agenda.
And tearing posters down calms emotions how exactly?
The posters are an expression of grief and a way to focus on the atrocities committed in Israel.
The miscreants tearing down these posters are committing acts equivalent to spitting on mourners at a funeral.
I am so sad for the families of the hostages, and for those who were taken. However, the signs are causing a lot of anxiety among school children who pass them on the way to and from school.
I stand with Israel. But the posters are causing a ton of anxiety for school children, especially when these posters appear on school playgrounds.
I think we should take down the lost dog signs too. They make me uncomfortable. And they are sad. I mean, I don’t have a dog, why should I be subjected to this.
That is what these arguments sound like applied to something else.
Yes, agree.
I love they are mucking up the neighborhood argument too.
Notice their arguments only are about Jewish children or the Jewish elderly.
No worries about the signs for the guitar, piano, SAT, ACT, dog walking, cleaning signs. Why don’t they rip those down too?
I didn’t say anything about me. I was talking about 6-7 year olds and the fact that posters are at school playgrounds.
I’m not generally a fan of posters on lampposts, but the question of whether or not it is legal or proper to affix private messages to public property is a distraction from a much weightier issue: the people tearing these posters down are doing so because they want to silence discussion of the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israelis and of the ongoing suffering of those kidnapped and their families. For these people, who are prone to strident, inflammatory slogans like “there is no such thing as an Israeli civilian”, it’s a black and white world, and the only suffering the public is allowed to hear about is that of Palestinians.
I find it notable that they always leave remnants of the poster affixed to the pole. This is almost certainly a propaganda strategy: If they’re not going to convert you over to their fringe movement, then they want to at least be perceived as something much larger, stronger, and mainstream than what they actually are, which is a small group of extremists with underdeveloped critical thinking skills and too much free time on their hands.
Most people — even those who are critical of Israel and deeply concerned about the welfare of Palestinians — are capable of seeing the shockingly barbaric actions of Hamas for what they are. Don’t allow deranged cultists like the ones tearing down these posters make you think that their atrocity-denying perspective is one deserving of any air time or respect.
I am a gentile, but I have witnessed the impact that the events of the past two weeks have had on my Jewish friends and neighbors throughout the city. In these frightening times, I want them to know that the vast majority of New Yorkers — even most of those who sometimes question Israeli policy — love you, grieve with you, and reject hate.
Silence? Perhaps they are simply offended by the one-sided nature of the political discourse. Objectively, these posters on the UWS of Manhattan serve no useful purpose in finding and freeing these victims. They are simply a political prop. I do see the shocking barbarity of Hamas’ actions. I also see 50 years of Israeli oppression of Christian and Muslim Palestinians. I see Israel’s efforts to undermine moderate voices calling for non-violent reforms, humiliating the center and leaving only the most extreme elements. I see the illegal expansion of territory in violation of agreements to which Israel was a signatory. I see the siege of Gaza and the denial of food, water, medicine and fuel to a civilian population that has no affiliation with Hamas in violation of international law and human decency. I see hospitals, schools, mosques being indiscriminately bombed despite the innocent woman and children that have taken refuge there. And you are offend because a couple of pieces of paper were ripped up?
You write, “I also see 50 years of Israeli oppression of Christians and Muslim Palestinians.” Well, going back 50 years, as you propose, brings us back to 1973. That is the year when the combined armies of Egypt and Syria burst into Israel on Yom Kippur to destroy Israel and its people. This assault was hardly an attempt by Israel to oppress anyone. I think that you got the two sides mixed up.
Thank you, Erin
That’s reading a lot into someone yanking bills off poles. And “leaving a little behind” as if intentionally. It could be as simple as the packing tape or whatever they use, is hard to get off the poles.
Erin, it would appear that tearing down these posters is fostering discussion, not silencing it.
It is fostering discussion in the same way theft does. It doesn’t mean it is a good way to begin the dialogue.
Thank you. Agree 100%. As a Jew, we’ve been here before, people looking away, denying the barbaric acts against us…looks like UWS is scratched off my tour list for next visit. The posters are so we don’t forget about the hostages.
Well said!
The posters are being posted illegally in the first place. “It is illegal for any person to paste, post, paint, print, nail, or attach or affix by any means whatsoever any handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker, or other printed material upon any curb, gutter, flagstone, tree, lamppost, awning post, telegraph pole, telephone pole, public utility pole, public garbage bin, bus shelter, bridge, elevated train structure, highway fence, barrel, box, parking meter, mailbox, traffic control device, traffic stanchion, traffic sign (including pole), tree box, tree pit protection device, bench, traffic barrier, city-owned grassy area adjacent to a street, hydrant, or other similar public item on any street.”
Not true when pertains to missing persons, missing objects, or missing pets, or other social emergencies. It is ONLY true of political candidates and commercial advertising.
Perhaps. But these are not local missing persons, and the posters will do NOTHING with regard to release of the hostages. So they remain illegal. And you, of all people, know this.
A technical point having nothing to do with the reason people tear them down. Otherwise they would tear all posters down right? Another rationalization.
Actually, it took a small army of people to make the UWS almost entirely poster-free after decades of out-of-control postering that was incredibly unsightly. As well, it got so bad that posters simply covered each other, making earlier ones moot. It was nice to see the UWS almost entirely poster-free. Until now. And what is happening was predictable: the fact that these kidnap posters are up is leading to more postering, which is leading to even more postering. Soon, the UWS will be the ugly poster-strewn eyesore that many people helped put an end to.
Post no bills.
Things like this only add fuel to a fire.
We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning.
-W Joel
People grieving put up these posters, and the “be kind” crew tears them down. The irony is sad and atrocious.
When I first saw this story, it appeared in my RSS feed yesterday around 5pm and there were no comments. The comments here are good. I probably shouldn’t add to them, but here’s my take:
Taking down the posters is disrespectful to the real people who lost their lives and were taken hostage by Hamas (I don’t like the word kidnapped, since it is meant to be provocative, but fine). Atrocities are atrocities.
But I can see how a young person, skeptical of Israeli propaganda, would be irritated by these posters. Are war crimes committed approximately 5,600 miles away? Where were the posters for those tortured during the Pinochet regime? Where were the posters for the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria 9 years ago? Well, of course the answer is that New York City is the home to more Jews than the nation state of Israel, and many of my neighbors have dual citizenship. So the war crime against Israel hits close to home.
And yet still, I can see how a young activist sees that poster and senses the implicit message that Israeli livers are more valuable than lives of any other nation, even the US. Just listen to our elected leaders and look at our foreign policy. On a per capita basis, we spend more money protecting Israelis from harm than anyone else. And maybe that is the natural order of things. I learned that as a 20-something when Netanyahu became prime minister the first time in the 90s and threw the two-state solution out the window in favor of the status quo. But to a 20-something today, realizing that the US empire and republic is crumbling, surrounded by mass shootings every other month, seeing a “kidnapped” poster might trigger some resentment.
I’m sorry it causes resentment to young people, but I don’t think that justifies tearing them down or not putting them up. While Pro-Palestinian groups march chanting phrases that amount to anti-Jew sentiments, incite violence and terrify people who ar fearful of being attacked, we are debating some posters. The idea is simple–to keep these people on our mind, not to forget.
I also want to point out that there are many people who feel frightened by the massacre, and are grieving. They are often forced to do so silently since their feelings might be judged as “anti-Palestinian” which is not accurate or fair. The posters serve also as a way to show solidarity in the grieving. And I honestly think this is why people tear them down. They want to eliminiate that solidarity and scare people, make Jews feel others are against them. And it works. It is is racist in my opinion. To take action like that repeatedly. And when confronted they are very hostile. They don’t stop to explain that it upsets them or why they do it, they scream, swear or ignore whomever challenges them. That right there proves it is a hostile act and they know it.
Why are we dancing around the issue? The posters are meant to unite, elicit empathy. There is nothing hostile or political about them.
I don’t miss those posters. There’s enough bad news without seeing it on every light pole.
This is so sad.
Sadly, on the Upper East Side too!
How much hate does one have to take down these posters that show that these people were taken against their will. The hostages include babies and children and we want them released.
has all heart and feelings of humanity been lost
Linda S UWS
I don’t know whether this will comfort people or upset them further, but I saw several of the posters being ripped down yesterday, and the person who was doing it was an unhoused man who was clearly mentally ill and told me the people in the posters were looking at him. (This was on Bway in the high 70s/low 80s.) So maybe this is, even more than we all realized, a tragedy of intersecting crises.
When these posters are torn down, it’s a mistake to call that antisemitic or even anti-Israel! I agree with the other parents of young kids who worry that these posters are traumatizing to our kids and not conducive to explaining things to them in a age-appropriate way. Plus, I find them traumatizing too! How does it help anyone to have these posters plastered all over? I understand why the people who made the posters wanted to make them, and the hostage situation is just awful and inexcusable. However, we also have a right to not look at those posters everywhere we go! If we made posters of every atrocity going on in the world, where would we be?
The moral equivalency argument is so weak because it implies that whichever side stands taller in the moral ground has the right to kill innocent people on the other side.
I think I get it why at least some of them are torn down. I am assuming we all care about and love our fellow human beings on all levels. But these posters are in our face— there’s nothing I can do about the hostages. I care about them. But I resent the littering of the UWS. It makes me less sympathetic. Stop it already.
It is an unfortunate situation. I am sure both sides other than the Hamas and Hezbollah would like to settle this. Thru history wars were caused over land and religion beliefs. I would like to read posts on suggestions of how to settle this. I vote pictures of people taring down signs should be put on a terrorist list so they can be screened at the airport. Lets make traveling for them a bit more uncomfortable.
I applaud the school donors that now refuse to give their moneys to schools whos administration cannot speak up about tearing down signs and demonstrations that advocate violence. I applaud some of the large financial and law institutions who will refuse to hire these people . We must respect the right to protest in a civil way and not tear signs of people whos parents and children are being held hostages. Lets not forget who started the violence.
Why wont any of the Arab countries accept Palestinians refugees like we have accepted migrant’s? Even Iran the country that supports the terrorists has not offered why?
Calling someone a terrorist for taking down a sign will water down the term to the point that everyone is a terrorist. Is that what you really want?
I wonder if you will report on anti-Islam sentiment with the same fervor? All hatred is wrong.
What Hamas did was horrendous, even unforgivable. But the historical truth is that atrocities and war crimes have been engaged in by both sides over the decades. Israel is not a some sort of “angel” in all of this.
We were inside Five Napkin Burger one afternoon this week and saw one of the guys who was ripping posters off the pole outside the restaurant. He looked to be a homeless person and disheveled in appearance and exhibiting crazy behavior, ranting to no one in particular as he tried to rip it away. So this all might be the work of mentally ill folks.
I personally have no problems with the posters, The Jewish people have a motto, “never forget.” To me this is the equivalent of 9/11 for them, except that the enemy was no surprise and lives a couple of miles away, not a continent away. Remember when our city was flooded with posters after 9/11? And let’s not forget there were 30 Americans killed in the Hamas attack and there are still American hostages being held – in underground tunnels. Toddlers and 96 year old hostage! Some hostages were raped and then paraded around naked with blood running down their legs. Jews were slaughtered in the most heinous way: decapitated, burned alive, families burned together, women raped, old women murdered while broadcasting on Facebook Live. If all this doesn’t make your skin crawl, you’re not paying attention. The posters should bother people – we need to get our people out. Hamas is a bloodthirsty terrorist organization, and the nature of their attack is far worse than anything Israel has ever done. This should not be rolled into the ongoing Palestinian problem, which is that no one wants them, no Arab country will help them, and they and Israel are both claiming the same piece of land as their birthrights. They themselves chose a terrorist organization to rule Gaza and it has oppressed them as much as anyone else.
I know this is the UWS, but there is nothing wrong with trying to maintain a semblance of order, which means not plastering the place with in-your-face messaging, regardless of what it is.
Manhattans upper west side has a huge number of Jews. When I was young, so many of the shop owners had numbers on their arms. This is happening all over again. Especially with younger anti Israeli young protesters who have NO clue of history. It’s despicable and I only hope Jewish and not Jewish New Yorkers will rise up themselves to stop this ugly new portion of our history. I miss my old neighborhood, but I can only imagine another Kristallnacht happening to Jewish store owners and Jewish neighbors walking on their streets.
History can repeat itself unless this horror is stopped on the internet and in schools!
I wonder how many people saw the news report – and heard a top commander of the IDF – state that, in the goal of destroying Hamas, the hostages may simply have to be “collateral damage”; simply victims of the war. Again, this was stated – more than once – by a top commander in the IDF; that the hostages are NOT the “top priority” for the Israeli government.
I’m curious what people think of that.
Love all the antisemitic remarks here.
It would be nice if you put your full name in so we know who you are.
It’s crazy how worked up everyone is over this. I’m 65 years old…this problem in the Middle East preceded me and will likely continue well after I and everyone on this thread is dead and buried. The reality is, this “conversation” about the conflict between Israel and Palestine is so EMOTIONAL that there is barely anyone who can have a RATIONAL conversation without taking a side or “feeling” one way or another about what’s going on. Do I think Hamas is evil for the attacks on 10/6? Definitely. Do I think Israel has supported an apartheid state against Palestinians? Definitely. And that’s not how I feel about the issue, those are facts. When people want to be honest and have a conversation over the behavior of all of those involved in the conflict, only then will there be change. But I’m not hopeful and I don’t think anyone else should be either.