NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch apologises for allowing ‘turmoil’ outside synagogue

JTA – Days after pro-Palestinian protesters shouted chants including “Globalise the intifada” and “Death to the IDF” outside an Upper East Side synagogue, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, apologised to the congregation during Shabbat services. 

Tisch told congregants that it was the police department’s duty “to ensure that people could easily enter and leave shul”. 

“That is where we fell short,” Tisch said, according to reports from the service. “And for that, I apologise to this congregation.” 

The apology from Tisch, who said police allowed “turmoil” to take place outside a synagogue last Wednesday night, 19 November, was far apart in its tone from the statement issued by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s team, which “discouraged” the language at the protest, while suggesting that the event was a misuse of a “sacred space”. 

The protest occurred outside Park East Synagogue, a prominent Orthodox congregation, while it hosted an event promoting migration to Israel. The protest drew allegations of antisemitism from Jewish leaders and major Jewish organisations, as well as elected officials like Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams. 

But some also criticised the police response, saying it allowed the confrontation to unfold. 

“What I find most disturbing is that the police, who knew about this protest a day in advance, didn’t arrange for the protesters to be moved to either Third or Lexington Avenues,” said Rabbi Marc Schneier, whose father is the longtime senior rabbi at Park East Synagogue, the day after the protest. “Instead, they allowed the protesters to be right in front of the synagogue, which put members of the community at risk.” 

Tisch acknowledged on Saturday that police should have set up a “frozen zone” at the synagogue’s entrance. Because one was not set up, she said, “the space right outside your steps was chaotic”. Pens with barricades were set up for both the pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel counter-protesters, though the former group “headed for the building entrance before ultimately pulling back to their pen”, a police source told the New York Daily News. 

Tisch said that the protesters were protected by a First Amendment right to protest, even near a house of worship, and said “the NYPD must uphold that right”. 

“They have the right to say things that are incredibly painful to hear. I understand that pain, deeply and personally,” Tisch said. 

But, Tisch continued, police could have done more to shield attendees of the event. 

“You deserved an NYPD posture that recognised the sensitivity of this location; the climate we’re living in; and the heightened fear within our community,” she said. “Instead, you had turmoil.” 

At the conclusion of her remarks, Tisch was reportedly met with a standing ovation, as well as kudos from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was in attendance. Kraft is the founder of the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, formerly called the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. 

While Tisch conceded that the police could have done more, the congregation’s senior rabbi, Arthur Schneier, who is a Holocaust survivor, told the New York Post that he was grateful for the presence of the NYPD. 

“Thank G-d in the United States, the police are protecting us against the hate-mongers,” Schneier said, contrasting their presence to the police’s co-operation during Kristallnacht. 

Tisch’s appearance at Park East came less than a week after she accepted the offer from Mamdani to stay on as police commissioner, which some Jewish leaders viewed as a reassuring sign at a time when anti-Jewish hate crimes are rising. The move to keep Tisch also drew praise from United States President Donald Trump when he met Mamdani at the White House on Friday. 

But while Tisch drew the congregation’s applause with her apology, her future boss’s response to the protest was criticised by a number of Jewish leaders and organisations. 

“The mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest, and will continue to do so,” Mamdani’s press secretary said. 

She went on, “He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” 

Following the response from Mamdani’s team, UJA-Federation of New York sent a statement reading, “Every leader must denounce this heinous language,” while Mark Treyger, the chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said that it wasn’t “a violation of any law, international or otherwise, for Jews to gather in a synagogue or immigrate to Israel.” 

The event at Park East was organised by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a non-profit organisation that facilitates immigration to Israel for North American Jews. It doesn’t assign immigrants to particular communities, but has showcased West Bank settlements – which most of the world, though not Israel or the US, considers illegal under international law – in events and on its website as possible destinations for new immigrants. 

Tisch’s current boss, Adams, visited Park East Synagogue Monday morning where he met Arthur Schneier. 

“We don’t back down in the face of hate, we show up,” wrote Adams, who returned on Sunday from a trip to Israel and Uzbekistan.