Hamas, Hezbollah flags flown at rally outside Nova massacre NYC exhibit

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said that he condemned the "repulsive, vile" targeting of the exhibition.

Hamas, Hezbollah flags flown at rally outside New York City Nova massacre exhibit. June 10, 2024. (photo credit: Screenshot/ Within Our Lifetime video/ X)
Hamas, Hezbollah flags flown at rally outside New York City Nova massacre exhibit. June 10, 2024.
(photo credit: Screenshot/ Within Our Lifetime video/ X)

The flags of Hamas and other terrorist organizations were flown by anti-Israel protesters outside the Nova massacre exhibit in New York City on Monday, according to footage published by organizers and an NGO.

The flags of Hamas's Izz al-Din Qassam Brigade, Hezbollah, and alleged Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine subsidiary Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as Within Our Lifetime were unfurled, and protest organizer Nerdeen Kiswani described the massacre exhibit as "nothing more than Zionist propaganda."

"Zionists decided to rave next to a concentration camp; that's exactly what this music festival was, like having a rave right next to the gas chambers during the Holocaust," Kiswani said in a video published by NGO Stop Antisemitism.

"We have no words for this evil," said the NGO.

Event organizers responded to The Jerusalem Post by quoting Scott Braun, who had announced on Instagram that those who “chose to protest innocent music lovers who were murdered” were invited to the exhibit as its showing was extended an extra week in response to popular demand. 

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said that he condemned the "repulsive, vile" targeting of the exhibition.

 Pictures of the participants of the Nova party who were murdered and kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023 are displayed at the site of the Nova music festival massacre, in Re'im, near the Israeli-Gaza border, November 28, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Pictures of the participants of the Nova party who were murdered and kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023 are displayed at the site of the Nova music festival massacre, in Re'im, near the Israeli-Gaza border, November 28, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

"The Nova Music Festival Exhibition is a moving, heart-wrenching remembrance of the October 7 massacre," Levine said on X. "It offers a message of tolerance and hope."

Part of a 'citywide day of rage for Gaza' 

As participants marched through Wall Street with the Hezbollah and Al-Qassam flags in plain view, one sign  could be seen in a WOL video that said, "Zionists are not Jews and not humans."

The protest was part of a "citywide day of rage for Gaza" organized by WOL, in which participants were encouraged to engage in protests before dispersing into autonomous groups to rally against "cultural institutions invested in genocide" such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Before marching to Wall Street, where the exhibit was held, demonstrators rallied at Union Square. The Hezbollah flag and PFLP were prominently displayed at the protest, according to the WOL video, and the activists holding the Hezbollah flag wore a Hamas headband.

According to Freedom News, Protesters unfurled a banner with the Samidoun logo that read "Long Live October 7th."