Riverdale residents join hundreds at UN rally calling for action against antisemitism

Riverdale residents joined the ranks as hundreds of people gathered near the United Nations headquarters Sept. 23 in a rally organizers hoped would urge world leaders to put a stop to rising antisemitism.

Most of the local participants traveled together by bus from the Riverdale Y to Manhattan, where attendees gathered at East 47th Street between 1st and 2nd avenues during the United Nations’ General Assembly High-Level Week, the annual gathering of global leaders.

Starting at 5 p.m., ralliers bore signs that read “End global antisemitism now,” “Enough is enough” and “The world must act,” while listening to speakers and music performances.

Among the speakers were executives of major Jewish organizations, religious leaders and survivors of antisemitic attacks, such as Arsen Ostrovsky, who survived a shooting last December at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach, in Australia, that took 15 lives.

Rally organizers included philanthropic nonprofit United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, public affairs nonprofit Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and advocacy nonprofits Anti-Defamation League New York/New Jersey and American Jewish Committee New York.

Riverdale resident Janet Steinberg, who works in schools helping teachers instruct on literacy, said she feels that incidents of antisemitism in schools are rising. She said she does not personally feel unsafe, but others do. She also disagreed with positions such as Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

“I think it’s about making sure people know that Jews are not gonna back down,” Steinberg said. “We’re allowed to live in New York City like everyone else.”

The United Nations represents all people, and in the last couple of years the representation does not feel equally distributed, she said. Steinberg believes that nations “forgot how to collaborate.”

Another attendee from Riverdale, Marilyn Wolff Diamond, said the rally intended to show world leaders that people are outraged about rising antisemitism. She said she feels that others confuse the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza with Judaism, and are “taking their anger out on Jewish people locally.”

Wolff Diamond had similar motivations for attending as Steinberg, namely “reinforcing the idea that people aren’t going to let this happen without a fight.”