Anti Israel radicals who shut down NYC bridges linked to AOC, funded by Rockefellers

Mass anti Israel protests which stopped traffic out of Manhattan Monday were secretly co ordinated by radicals — and are a dramatic escalation of their tactics, experts tell The Post. At least six radical anti Israel groups were behind the rush hour protests which stranded commuters on the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges and the Holland Tunnel.

The groups, which include the Democratic Socialists of America whose members include squad member Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, co ordinated their actions then blasted their social media accounts with glossy films reveling in the misery they brought. They also deployed the Hollywood star power of Susan Sarandon, the actress who previously had to apologize for antisemitic comments at a rally in Manhattan.

Justin Finkelstein, analyst with Center on Extremism at the Anti Defamation League, said it was evidence of secret backchannels between the groups and told The Post: “I this is the most disruptive that I’ve seen. “It’s slowing down daily movement of New Yorkers and making it impossible not to notice them.

I think that is their goal. They think these direct actions raise awareness of the Palestinian cause.” And he warned more attempts to interrupt ordinary people’s lives are on the way and said: “Anything that gets them visibility is something they might consider.” The six groups know to have taken part in what they called “an autonomous collective” were Palestinian Youth Movement; Democratic Socialists of America, New York branch; Writers Against War On Gaza; Jewish Voice for Peace; Al Awda; and Critical Resistance.

Between them they boast ties not just to AOC and Sarandon, but to “Angels in America” playwright Tony Kushner, elite colleges including Yale, Brown and UCLA — and have received funding from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, a Rockefeller family foundation and the charitable arm of investment company Charles Schwab.

The groups jointly boasted that blocking traffic out of Manhattan across the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges and the Holland Tunnel would create similar conditions to life in the Gaza Strip. NYPD and Port Authority cops arrested 334 protesters, almost all of whom had concealed their identities with masks and some of traditional Palestinian keffiyehs.

Some encased their hands in concrete filled tires to make officers’ jobs even more difficult. Sarandon — who was dropped by her Hollywood agency UTA for her inflammatory words about Jews just weeks ago — was among those who took part. She was joined by photographer and activist Nan Goldin, The Post is told.

In a statement, Sarandon, 77, said she was “taking part in escalating action to bring a stop to the ongoing genocide in Gaza which we know is being funded by our US tax dollars.” The “Thelma & Louise” star added: “Seeing coordination at this scale, to disrupt business as usual, makes me believe that people have the power to take on the US war machine.When it comes to pressuring our representative we don’t have APAC’s blood money but we have people.

Permanent Ceasefire Now.” Palestinian Youth Movement describes itself as a “transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile worldwide as a result of the ongoing Zionist colonization and occupation of our homeland.” But Influence Watch characterizes the organization as an “anti Israel activist group … [aiming] to delegitimize the State of Israel.” Its leadership is shadowy, though it was co founded in 2014 by Loubna Qutami, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University and an assistant professor at UCLA.

According to Influence Watch, a group called Westchester People’s Action Coalition provides funding or fiscal sponsorship for Palestinian Youth Movement. Some of Palestinian Youth Movement’s protests included the National March on Washington from November 4, the November 1 protest on the steps of the New York Public Library at Bryant Park and a protest in front of Macy’s on November 24, the day after Thanksgiving.

The group Tweeted, “It’s not Black Friday, it’s the People’s Day for Palestine.” Jewish Voice for Peace, founded in 1996, which describes itself as “the largest progressive Jewish anti Zionist organization in the world”, posted photos of the protest online. It boasts feted “Angels in America” playwright Tony Kushner among its supporters — although he was not present at the protests.

When reached for comment Monday, Kushner declined to comment, although he has publicly stated that he does not support boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. JVP claims more than 300,000 supporters, has 1 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, and maintains chapters on many U.S.

college campuses. Its Columbia University chapter was suspended in November for allegedly violating university policies on holding campus events. After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Chicago based Rabbi Brant Rosen, co founder of JVP’s Rabbinical Council, said he grieved for fellow Jews who were killed, yet maintained solidarity with Palestinians.

The Anti Defamation League has called JVP as “a radical anti Israel and anti Zionist activist group that advocates for the boycott of Israel and eradication of Zionism.” In its 2021 federal tax returns, JVP reported revenue of nearly $2.9 million; it says the vast bulk of its income is from individual contributions.

Since 2014 it has received funding from among others the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, the Charles Schwab Foundation and the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation. Al Awda’s leaders include the attorney Lamis Deek – on her website, she lists herself as a “core member and former co chair since 2000 — and the co founder is Mazin Qumsiyeh, formerly a professor at Yale University.

According to the Jerusalem Post, in 2020, GoFundMe closed Al Awda’s account for reasons that were not made public. In September, Al Awda helped sponsor a pro Palestine festival at University of Penn, which included Roger Waters (the former member of Pink Floyd who has faced accusations of being against Israel) and fired CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill, who was axed for using the anti Israel phrase “from the river to the sea.” The name of the group is Arabic for Right of Return, but, according to Influence Watch, the organization maintains ties with terrorist organizations.

Formed in Coral Gables, Florida, in the early 2000s, according to the Jerusalem Post, a 2006 rally in San Francisco had members chanting “Jews are our dogs.” The local chapter of the largest socialist organization nationwide – the Democratic Socialists of Americahas more than 6,000 members, according to its website.

The organization’s boasts that it aims to counter “US imperialism” and intervention in foreign conflict by disrupting the “war machine in New York City” with grassroots demonstrations while collaborating with other activists. In October, the group apologized for promoting a pro Palestinian rally and failing to condemn Hamas.

Ocasio Cortez later denounced the demonstration, as well as Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who quit the Democratic Socialists of America last year. The Post has reached out to Ocasio Cortez for comment. Writers Against the War On Gaza (WAZOG) include poets and writers for obscure magazines — but they have managed to get support from big names including comedian Janeane Garofalo, actor Gael García Bernal and author George R.R.

Martin. One of their key supporters is Sarandon, who turned up at the Manhattan Bridge to blast Israel and accuse it of spending “blood money,” an antisemitic trope. Other organizing members include Gabriel Winant — an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago — and Hannah Zeavin, an assistant professor of history at the California at Berkeley and founding editor of Parapraxis magazine.

The group, which is part of the so called “Shut It Down” coalition, has previously participated in rallies calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, including at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Dec. 27 and a Dec. 21 rally at the headquarters of American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Manhattan.

A national, grassroots movement designed to end the “prison industrial complex” first organized in 1997. More than 3,500 activists then met current and former inmates at a September 1998 conference in Berkely, California, according to the group’s website. Left win activist Angela Davis, 79, cofounded Critical Resistance to “dismantle” policing in 1997 and 26 years later, with policing still in existence, it still campaigns against the “prison industrial complex.” “CR’s work in the fight for liberation remains as urgent as ever,” it says on its website..