Horror gripped Menashe Manzuri as he watched on Monday as an anti-Israel mob swarm the Manhattan exhibit memorial for the Oct. 7 terror assaults and viciously echo the chants of terrorists who murdered his two daughters.
“I can not discover the correct phrases how I felt when somebody is shouting and supporting the individuals who homicide your daughters,” Manzuri mentioned Tuesday.
“It was like they killed me time and again and once more.”
The protest Monday outdoors Nova Music Competition Exhibition on Wall Road rattled exhibit goers, together with survivors of the assault on the competition and relations of victims.
They described being trapped inside whereas protesters supporting Hamas raged outdoors.
A minimum of 4 Oct. 7 survivors on the exhibit “in a panic” as protesters mobbed outdoors, lit flares and chanted “Lengthy reside within the Intifada.”
Manzuri, 58, clutched photos of his daughters Roya, 22, and Norelle, 25, as he recounted to Mayor Eric Adams — who visited the exhibit Tuesday — how they had been slaughtered and burned by Hamas terrorists armed with hand grenades.
He broke down in tears and collapsed into Adams, who embraced him.
Nova competition cofounder Ofir Amir, 41, who was shot in each legs fleeing from Hamas terrorists, had left the exhibit 5 minutes earlier than protesters arrived Monday, lit flares and chanted “Lengthy reside within the Intifada.”
The callous show left Amir, questioning how he might face such a scene within the US.
“We got here right here simply out of the love for the music and the competition. It has nothing to do with politics,” he informed The Put up.
“Why do you hate us a lot?”
He mentioned he needs he might converse to the protesters. “They don’t wish to speak,” he added.
Tal Shimony had completed telling the story an viewers of 100 about her escape from terrorists at Nova when a producer delivered the surprising information: “There’s an intifada outdoors.”
“It was triggering,” mentioned Shimony, 25.
“I had a panic assault. I used to be shocked. I assumed, ‘How can this be taking place?’” mentioned the Israeli, including that she noticed a mob armed with Hamas and Hezbollah flags outdoors. “I assumed, ‘How can this be taking place once more?’”
Even those that hadn’t lived by way of the phobia assaults had been left shaken by the protesters.
Jessica Brucker, 29, a gross sales supervisor who develops occasions for Bisnow, discovered the exhibit itself particularly “profound,” given her Jewish heritage and love of music.
However she had little time to replicate, as a result of as she neared the tip safety guards had blocked the exits to maintain exhibit goers safely inside because the protest cleared.
“Persons are outdoors lighting fires and wishing for extra deaths,” she mentioned. “To me, that doesn’t make sense.”
“The very best phrase to explain it, actually, is simply ‘unhappy.’”
A day later, exhibit goers condemned the distinction between the memorial and the actions of protesters outdoors.
“I feel they need to be arrested or put in an insane asylum,” mentioned emotional Manhattan resident Denise after leaving the exhibit. “I feel they don’t have a clue.”
