Yurii Stasiuk, Contributing Photographer

An individual lodged a Palestinian flag in a menorah on the New Haven Green at a pro-Palestine protest on Dec. 9, which public officials, event organizers and Yale University leaders have since denounced as antisemitic. The menorah is up on the New Haven Green to celebrate the Jewish holiday Hanukkah.

The demonstration — organized by American Muslims for Palestine’s Connecticut chapter, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Connecticut, We Will Return Palestine and Yalies4Palestine — protested the United Nations’ response to the Israel-Hamas war, per an Instagram post announcing the rally. 

In a Dec. 10 joint Instagram post by Yalies4Palestine and AMP CT, the organizers apologized for the incident, which they condemned as antisemitic, and said the individual who placed the flag atop the menorah was not affiliated with any of the organizing groups. On Dec. 11, Mayor Justin Elicker, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Rosa DeLauro and other community leaders convened in a press conference on New Haven Green to condemn the action. 

“We in New Haven condemn hate and condemn antisemitism … [and] have gathered … many other times to condemn other forms of hate in our city,” Elicker said on Monday. “We have people that are very passionate on many different sides of issues, and we embrace people’s ability to call out what they care for and to demonstrate [it]. We can hold … strong beliefs, but in New Haven, we always treat each other with mutual respect.”

On Saturday, around 300 protesters marched through the Green, along Chapel Street, York Street, and then through Elm Street back to the Green, according to the New Haven Independent. Through the route, some chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution.” Some protesters carried posters calling Rep. DeLauro to push for a ceasefire, among other posters. 

During the protest, an unidentified masked individual climbed the menorah and stuck a Palestinian flag between the branches of the menorah. Below, several people surrounding the individual called for the person to “get down” and said “that looks bad for us,” according to a video from Forbes. According to the New Haven Independent, other protesters took down the flag from the menorah immediately after it was put up. 

“These actions do not align with our goals of promoting respective dialogue and peaceful advocacy,” organizers wrote in their statement. “Moving forward, we will take further precautions to uphold our commitment to foster an inclusive and respectful environment for all participants.” They added that there is “no room for antisemitism” in their ““movement for Palestine.”

On Oct. 7, Hamas attacked Israel, killing at least 1,200 people and taking 240 people as hostages, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Israel responded with bombardment of Gaza, killing more than 17,700 Palestinians as of Monday evening, according to estimates from the Gaza Ministry of Health as reported by the Associated Press.

Following the attack, reports of antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate have surged in the U.S. At Yale, more than 1,500 faculty, alumni and parents signed a Nov. 20 letter urging the administration to combat antisemitism. Following the shooting of three Palestinian college students by a man in Vermont, Palestinian and Muslim students at the University, too, have voiced concerns about their safety. 

In response to the incident, Jewish Voices for Peace New Haven released a statement voicing support for organizers and thanking them for condemning the act. The organization called to “not equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism” and “for an immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.

Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven CEO Gayle Slossberg, State Sen. Martin Looney, Rabbi Gershon Borenstein, whose congregation installed the menorah, Yale Director of Muslim Life ​​Omer Bajwa and Yale Interim University Chaplain Maytal Saltiel also attended the press conference on Green to denounce the “desecration” of the menorah. 

Slossberg stressed that Saturday’s action “is not one isolated incident that happened without any history” but an antisemitic act that “evokes thousands of years of trauma and pain for the Jewish community.” 

​“One act of positivity will far outpace … what one negative act can do,” Borenstein said, urging press conference attendees to light their menorahs for Hanukkah. 

According to Elicker and Blumenthal, some individuals threw eggs at participants of the Saturday protest, which they both also condemned as “hate violence.” 

Blumenthal and other public officials called to condemn and speak up against hate speech and violence “no matter who the targets are.”

“It may look like a prank. It may look like a joke,” Blumenthal said of the incident. “But it couldn’t be more serious because it is the mockery and desecration of a profoundly important religious symbol.”

DeLauro called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack “barbaric” and asked attendees “to be conscious

of what is happening to civilians in Gaza.” 

The action of the individual who hung the Palestinian flag from the menorah, DeLauro said, divided people from “com[ing] together [to] understand the sensiti[tivity] and complexity of what is happening” in Israel and Gaza. 

“At this point, since there’s no vandalism or theft, we’re just treating it as a potential hate crime, although we do categorize it as a hateful incident,” NHPD Assistant Chief David Zannelli said. According to him, the action will be categorized as a hate crime if police find an intent to incite violence. 

Zannelli said that the NHPD could not confirm the identity of the individual who placed a flag on the menorah and whether they are a Yale student, but they are continuing an investigation.

Yale released a statement on Dec. 10 condemning the incident.

The statement also said that the University had no information as to whether the perpetrator was a Yale community member or not and that the University may be conducting its own investigation.

“Yale condemns in the strongest possible terms the desecration of a menorah on the New Haven Green during the religious holiday of Chanukah,” the University’s statement reads. “The placement of a Palestinian flag on the menorah conveys a deeply antisemitic message to Jewish residents of New Haven, including members of the Yale community. Yale’s regulations reach conduct occurring on or off campus that imperils the integrity and values of the University community, and if such conduct is committed by a member of the Yale community, we take action.”

Toward the end of the Monday press conference, an attendee called Israel’s military actions in Gaza “a genocide” and asked Blumenthal when he would call for a ceasefire in Gaza. This prompted heated arguments between other attendees of the press conference and caused an abrupt end to the press conference. Blumenthal approached the attendee who initially raised the question — whom the News was unable to identify — following the press conference. 

Last month, local organizers proposed a city resolution calling for a ceasefire in Israel and in Gaza. 

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, ends on Friday, Dec. 15.

Hannah Kotler contributed reporting.