NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) — Early last week, hundreds of pro-Palestine advocates gathered outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side to protest the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event,” a touring expo promoting property sales in Israel and the occupied West Bank exclusively to Jewish buyers.

Organized by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (Pal-Awda NY), the demonstration marked the second time in six months that the group targeted the same venue over similar real estate promotions directed exclusively to Zionist Jews.

Protesters faced heavy New York Police Department barricades that kept them a block away, leading to tense standoffs, pushing against barriers, and scuffles with police and pro-Israel counter-protesters.

The event featured tables advertising homes and land in Israeli West Bank settlements, including Kfar Eldad, Karnei Shomron, and the Gush Etzion cluster southeast of Jerusalem.

Rights groups and activists point out that these settlements are built on stolen Palestinian land and constitute an ongoing effort at ethnic cleansing and displacement of the indigenous people, including Christians.

Under international law, Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories — which were seized in 1967 — are illegal, as population transfers into occupied land violate the Geneva Conventions.

As Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) explained in a May 5 post on X, “All across the occupied West Bank, Palestinians are being evicted from their homes in a joint state-settler campaign of ethnic cleansing. Violent settler organizations are stealing their land and then turning around to sell it in our city,” they protested.

Clashes broke out in Manhattan this week as protesters gathered outside a synagogue hosting a real estate event linked to land sales in the occupied West Bank.

NYC officials have voiced opposition but allowed the event to continue and sent NYPD officers for protection pic.twitter.com/86JQ3f3FgN

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 6, 2026

Property sales open to Jews only, ‘perpetuates ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians’

Organizers of the expos have also been accused of violating U.S. fair housing and anti-discrimination laws through religious and political vetting of attendees, such as demanding potential buyers disclose detailed information regarding their religious affiliation including the name of their rabbi and the synagogue they attend.

JVP also criticized the choice of synagogues as venues, arguing it cynically shields “racist, exclusionary” sales of stolen land from protest.

“This event, open to Jews only … is racist, exclusionary, and perpetuates the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” the advocacy organization posted on X. “Yet again, these events are attempting to cynically shield themselves from protest by holding their sales at a synagogue. No one should enable the sale of stolen land, let alone a religious institution.”

Expo not a ‘religious event’ but a ‘politically charged real estate event held at a synagogue’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani strongly condemned the expo as well. “When we have a real estate expo that is promoting the sale of land which includes the sale of land in the occupied West Bank, in settlements that are a violation of international law, that is something that I firmly disagree with,” he said.

“I also believe that many New Yorkers firmly disagree with (it) because it has been at the heart of an ongoing effort to displace Palestinians from their homes,” he stated.

A spokesperson for Mamdani added that the settlements are “illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.”

Mamdani also affirmed the city’s commitment to the right to protest and safe access to houses of worship. The protests challenged new city legislation requiring NYPD buffer zones around religious institutions.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, criticized the restrictions. “When politicians use Freedom of Religion as a pretext to impose severe restrictions on speech, they undermine all New Yorkers’ rights,” she said. “The subject of last week’s protests was not a religious service but a private, politically charged real estate event held at a synagogue.”

“For them to be able to do this just goes to show that their crimes will continue because no one is putting a stop to it.”

Protesters gathered near a synagogue in New York City to protest against a real estate event advertising land for sale in occupied Palestine pic.twitter.com/TVIVY1cNGr

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 12, 2026

Exclusionary sales based on race unlawful, properties ‘built on stolen Palestinian land’

The “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” is part of a roving series co-sponsored by Israeli-linked real estate companies and frequently hosted at synagogues and Jewish community centers across New York and other cities.

Similar events have drawn scrutiny for discriminatory practices and prompted calls for investigations by Palestinian advocates and groups like the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In 2024, the civil rights organization filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice that simply pointed out that “not only is the refusal to sell property to anyone based on their race or national origin unlawful, the properties involved in these sales are built on stolen Palestinian land.”

Additionally, Pal-Awda accused the NYPD of ”violently” kettling protesters in barricades as they “brutally grabbed, pushed, and pepper-sprayed” them while protecting pro-Israel counter-agitators. As the expo continued to other New York venues later in May, these protests persisted.

Overwhelming majorities of nations demand end of Israeli occupation of Palestine

In September 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for Israel to end its illegal military occupation of Palestine within the next year, voting 124 nations in favor with 43 abstentions and 14 member states voting against. These included the U.S., Israel, Hungary, Argentina, and a consortium of island nations.

The resolution demands Israel withdrawal of all military forces from the occupied territories, including the West Bank and Gaza, the immediate cessation of all settlement activity, evacuation of the over half a million Israeli “settlers,” the allowance of displaced Palestinians to return to their places of origin, and the making of reparations to them for enormous damage caused during the previous 56 years of military occupation.

Currently around 185 of 193 member states of the United Nations (95.8%) recognize Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory in their calling for a two-state-solution.

Additionally, a full 157 of these nations (81.3%) formally recognize the State of Palestine in this regard, and thus the occupation, as does the Holy See.

Holy See: Palestinians have right to remain on ‘their own land’

Addressing the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israelis early last year, the patriarchs and heads of the Churches in Jerusalem said this people, “families who have lived for generations in the land of their ancestors, must not be forced into exile, stripped of whatever is left of their homes, their heritage, and their right to remain in the land that forms the essence of their identity.”

And during his address to the Vatican diplomatic corps in January, Pope Leo XIV expressed the commitment of the Holy See to seek a “guarantee to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip a future of lasting peace and justice in their own land,” affirming the same rights belong “as well to the entire Palestinian people.”

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