BOROUGH PARK (VINnews) – An Israeli real estate expo has been moved to a new location amid concerns about a pro-Palestinian demonstration being planned in the heart of Boro Park.
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Word broke on February 16th about the protest, which was to be held on 13th Avenue and 50th Street. Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein shared news of the protest on social media platform X in an uncharacteristically strong-worded post that called on elected officials and law enforcement to ensure public safety.
“The Hamas sympathizers have decided to ‘flood’ our peaceful neighborhood of Boro Park,” wrote Eichenstein. “I demand that @NYPDnews and @NYCMayorsOffice take immediate action to prevent this hateful, targeted protest against our local Jewish community. It is YOUR responsibility to protect our neighbors and keep our streets safe! Hate has NO PLACE IN our community!”
The expo was set to take place at 6 PM at the Lumiere Hall, located on the premises of Yeshiva Yesodei Hatoran Vien, and next door to the Kesser Rizel High School Bnos Zion of Bobov.
Eichenstein also shared PAL-AWDA NY/NJ’s flyer, which described the demonstration as a “protest to stop the sale of stolen Palestinian land.” The words “Palestine is not for sale” and “Free Palestine” are printed on the flyer over images of black fists raised in protest, one of which holds a Palestinian flag. A social media post by the group derided the “Zionists in Brooklyn” for attempting “ to sell land in occupied Palestine, as part of their ongoing effort to ethnically cleanse the land of its indigenous inhabitants” and lambasted President Donald Trump for his “outrageous plans to force Palestinians out of the Gaza strip and in the wake of the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank in the past month.”
The Hamas sympathizers have decided to “flood” our peaceful neighborhood of Boro Park.
I demand that @NYPDnews and @NYCMayorsOffice take immediate action to prevent this hateful, targeted protest against our local Jewish community. It is YOUR responsibility to protect our… pic.twitter.com/LNQnU9uv5X
— Simcha Eichenstein (@SEichenstein) February 16, 2025
As unease spread about the upcoming protest, officials at the NYPD’s 66th Precinct made plans to create a frozen zone around the event, and shared details about other safety restrictions with schools in the affected are. Despite those measures, a decision was made to cancel the event, followed by another to relocate the event. The expo will be taking place instead at Brooklyn Square, located in a more industrial section of Boro Park at 36th Street and 14th Avenue, according to former Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
Hikind, founder of the group Americans Against Antisemitism, was emphatic in his insistence that Jews cannot allow themselves to be intimidated by Hamas supporters and expressed his disappointment that the expo had been relocated.
“We’re afraid of them?” said Hikind incredulously. “Give me a break. We can’t be afraid. For G-d’s sake. We have to be smart. We have to be careful. But to cancel? What a horror.”
The new location for the Israel Real Estate Expo
3611 14th Avenue in Boro Park.Please join me and my wife Shani to send a clear message that we are proud and strong and will not be intimidated https://t.co/wJXFIlEO9Q
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) February 17, 2025
X user #AmIsraelChai shared those sentiments with a post that read, “Be not afraid. Please go out, if you live in the Boro Park area of NY and support this event. If we keep backing down, they will win.”
100 people have already signed up for the expo and Hikind plans to attend with his wife Shani and an as yet unnamed group of dignitaries. The event is being run by The Getter Group which has four expos scheduled for this week, with one held on February 16th in Surfside, another scheduled for today in Boca Raton, and two on tap for February 18th – the relocated Boro Park event and another in Monsey.
It is unclear at this time if PAL-AWDA NY/NJ will be moving its demonstration as well. An Instagram post written yesterday told followers to monitor the group’s feed for location updates, urging them to bring friends, signs and loud voices, and to dress in kafiyehs. One Instagram user who commented on the post advised those reading it to mask up as well, to avoid being identified by any digital surveillance devices that might be in use, while another pointed out a certain irony in the situation.
“Hey leave new York [sic], return it to the natives!” posted Instagram user hannahh.95.
This isn’t a protest of israel that just happens to have been scheduled in Boro Park—it’s a protest of an *event* taking place in Boro Park—an illegal real estate event selling land in occupied Palestine and accessible only to Zionist Jews—a violation of state, federal, and…
— PAL-Awda NY/NJ (@PAL_Awda) February 17, 2025
Getter is selling land and apts. in Eretz Yisroel which was given to the Yidden by Hashem – the One who created the entire world.
It’s unbelievable. It’s always the weak-looking Jews that need to have a change of venue when they come to us. When they come to our neighborhoods. Why is it that we need to cancel our events when it was planned way before these miscreants even thought of anything? Where is LAW ENFORCEMENT for all the taxes that we pay for? Where the heck are the farkakte elected officials to make sure to provide enough security to keep the social misfits/animals behind a certain barrier. And then you wonder why they get more and more bold and daring? This is exactly why.
Why are they allowed to protest without a permit ?
That is because there is no longer such place, Palestine is what the English call what is now ISRAEL. There never has been a state of Palestine, so how can it be sold! Guess if one continues to repeat a lie often enough some fools will believe it!
Why would Geter have an expo in BP in the first place when there is not one Israeli flag seen there?
It’s the right to do al pi psak daas Torah in flatbush last year they also canceled the event to not antagonize non jews
There’s hikind again seeking notoriety and publicity. He still can’t own up to the fact that boro park is now represented by eichenstein and Yeger. He’s yesterday’s newspaper and should stay in the 5 towns where he lives.
They do have a point regarding some of the land. There are some Jewish towns built on the ruins of Arab towns that were destroyed by the Haganah in ‘48 even though the villagers weren’t resisting. The Hagana (under orders from Ben Gurion) killed innocent civilians in order to clear out land for the future state. In the 80’s there were Hagana members who admitted in public testimony that the process of clearing villages included raping Arab girls by some (a very limited number) of Israeli soldiers.