NYC real estate expo promoting sale of ‘stolen land’ in Palestine descends into violence

Hundreds of pro-Palestine people attended a demonstration organised by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda (Pal-Awda) on Tuesday in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn to protest against a real estate event advertising land for sale in occupied Palestine, with protests turning violent. 

The protests by Pal-Awda and many pro-Palestinian supporters against the land “expo” turned into chaos between the pro-Palestinian side and far-right Zionist groups that organised a counter-protest.

Betar USA, the US franchise of the right-wing youth Zionist movement, organised a counterdemonstration across the street from the pro-Palestinian protesters. 

Pal-Awda said that hundreds of protesters “responded to Pal-Awda’s call to protest an illegal real estate event selling stolen land in occupied Palestine”.

A statement by Pal-Awda said the pro-Palestinian attendees were “spat on, kicked, harassed, maced, physically struck and punched by Zionists. One counter-protestor held a lighter to a Qur’an, another made sexual gestures with the Qur’an, and others mocked the [Muslim] call for prayer”.

Pal-Awda said that several pro-Israel supporters approached, threatened and assaulted the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, resulting in two young men being hospitalised as a result of their attack.

Various media reports said that a protester affiliated with the Betar group was seen carrying the yellow flag of the Jewish Defence League, a far-right extremist group that has been banned as a terrorist organisation in a number of countries, including Israel and the US.

Several members of Betar waved Israeli and American flags and held signs saying “Bring Them Home,” referring to the Israeli captives in Gaza, as they chanted “Am Yisrael Chai” – “the people of Israel live”, according to Haaretz.

As the protest progressed, several members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community from the neighbourhood joined Betar’s protest and added chants in Yiddish.

A 42-year-old pro-Palestinian protester from Brooklyn was arrested and charged with third-degree assault for punching a 61-year-old pro-Israel protester in the face, according to the New York Police Department.

Many pro-Israel newspapers initially reported that a pro-Palestinian protestor attempted to stab a Jewish man during the brawl, but this was quickly refuted by the Pal-Awda statement, and no reports of the stabbing were found in the media later.

The “real estate” event was organised by the Getter Group, an Israeli real estate company based in Boro Park, Brooklyn, according to Pal-Awda’s statement.

The Getter Group repeatedly promoted the event on their website and social media channels, referring to it as an “Israel real estate expo”. The group’s website advertises properties “available” in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

“These sales violate state, federal and international laws,” Pal-Awda said.

It is unclear whether events like these execute actual sales or promote the sale of these lands, with transactions taking place separately.

Many on social media shared how Betar was boasting about the violence it perpetrated on the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, sharing screenshots and reposts from Betar’s account on X. 

On Monday, after Pal-Awda announced they would be present at the Brooklyn event, the Getter Group took to Instagram and said they were “not intimidated”.

“We’ve been in touch with security officials, local authorities, and more. We’ve caught the attention of @ritchietorresny15, Assembly Member Dov Hikind, @seichenstein, and others,” the Gettar group said in a statement.

US Congressman Ritchie Torres took to the social media platform X after the violence broke out, saying, “Violence is not a bug but a feature of the so-called ‘Free Palestine’ movement, which has no desire to free Palestinians from Hamas,” he said. 

While many supported Torres’ remarks “targeting” the pro-Palestinian demonstrators as “violent”, some users asked what he thought of the promotion of selling land in Gaza, a Palestinian territory.

Several Israeli real estate events in Canada and the US have faced major backlash from community residents as well as pro-Palestinian activists over the advertisement of properties located in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, specifically since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza. 

The event organised by the Getter Group is just the latest in a string of real estate fairs taking place across North America featuring land and properties for sale in the occupied West Bank. 

In January, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich took new measures to ensure the acceleration of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Smotrich has been seeking to expand land seizures throughout occupied Palestinian territory – outlawed under international law – via a new mechanism that will allow for weekly settlement building permits, which previously took months to be approved.