White House: Pro-Palestine protest outside New York exhibit for Oct. 7 victims ‘horrifying’

The White House condemned the pro-Palestine protest outside of the Nova exhibit in New York, which honors the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

In a statement Tuesday, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates called the demonstrations “horrifying behavior.”

“The events at yesterday’s memorial to those murdered at the Nova music festival are outrageous and heartbreaking,” Bates said.

“Profane banners of terrorist organizations should not be flown anywhere, especially not on American streets. Antisemitism has no place in the United States. This horrifying behavior is all the more reason for ‘Americans to stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms,’ like President Biden urgently called for at the Holocaust Memorial Museum last month,” he added.

The protests took place Monday night; a large crowd gathered outside the exhibit, where they lit flares and chanted “long live the intifada,” CBS reported. New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he was “extremely troubled” by the protesters, adding, “you cannot call for peace while you’re celebrating what happened on October 7,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

The White House has condemned antisemitism seen in protests across the U.S., including when Biden noted that some protests on college campuses in May crossed the line toward antisemitism.

During remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance in May, he called on Americans who are “ignoring” the events of the Holocaust and the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel to stop.