Hundreds of New Yorkers from the city’s Jewish community pushed through gridlocked traffic, tightened security and a line of motorcades Wednesday evening to reach Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, just steps from the United Nations, where world leaders were gathered for the opening week of the General Assembly.

Their demand was straightforward: that the antisemitic violence spreading across the globe be treated with the same urgency as the other crises being debated inside the chamber down the block.

Eric Goldstein, chief executive of the UJA-Federation of New York, opened the rally by noting that while heads of state met blocks away to weigh the world’s biggest challenges, the rapid spread of antisemitism was going largely unaddressed on that agenda.

The evening was organized jointly by UJA-Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and drew a lineup of interfaith clergy alongside survivors of antisemitic attacks from as far afield as the Nova festival massacre in Israel and the Bondi Beach attack in Australia.

“Antisemitism must stop. Not tomorrow. Not when it becomes politically expedient. Right now.” — Devorah Halberstam, whose son Ari was killed on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994

Halberstam, whose son was murdered in a 1994 terror attack on the Brooklyn Bridge, delivered one of the evening’s most emotional appeals, urging attendees to carry a single message back to their home countries: that antisemitism can no longer be treated as a problem for another day.

Several speakers turned their criticism toward New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, questioning whether he could genuinely represent Jewish New Yorkers who fundamentally disagree with him over Israel. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt took aim at a broader pattern he described as deliberate official passivity toward antisemitism, framing inaction itself as a form of complicity.

Also addressing the crowd was George Zamot, a UPS driver who intervened in July’s stabbing attack on the Upper West Side, in which a Jewish man and an Asian man were both injured.

Not every speaker dwelled solely on the danger. Some pointed to moments of solidarity that emerged from tragedy. In one striking display of unity, Nova music-festival survivor Shalev Biton addressed the crowd while translating for Younes Alkarnawi, the Bedouin man credited with saving his life during the October 2023 attack.

The crowd thinned as the night wore on, while a small group of counterprotesters from the anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta grew increasingly vocal nearby.

Part of a Broader Push

Wednesday’s rally follows a string of recent public gatherings addressing antisemitism in New York City, including a prayer vigil held the previous week by two Orthodox Jewish day schools outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.

It also signals a broader shift toward community-level advocacy in UJA-Federation’s work. In an interview earlier in the week with eJewishPhilanthropy, Hindy Poupko, UJA-Federation’s executive vice president for community strategy and external relations, described the rally as an effort to keep the community’s own narrative from being drowned out during the United Nations’ highest-profile week of the year.