Radical anti-Israel agitators occupy New York's Grand Central Terminal, lock out commuters

Pro-Hamas activists shut down commuter traffic New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on Monday, blocking commuters from accessing transit. As a result of the protest, trains were halted, and many people were stranded, unable to enter or exit the terminal.

The violent radical group Within Our Lifetime (WOL) blocked multiple entrances to the station and demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US support for Israel. Video showed the doors of the Manhattan transportation hub chained and handcuffed as commuters stared helplessly through windows. 

Several videos showed protesters waving Palestinian flags while wrapped in keffiyahs and chanting "Israel bombs, USA pays. How many kids did you kill today?" Police eventually moved in to arrest the radicals.

The pro-terror group has a history of disruptive and destructive protests in New York City, including at Grand Central Terminal. WOL has previously vandalized the New York Public Library during the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, attempted to stop the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, shut down the Brooklyn Bridge and Penn Station, and usually chants to “Globalize the Intifada,” a call for a violent uprising against Jews and America.

WOL previously celebrated the Oct 7, 2023 massacre as an act of “resistance” against Israel and called to “flood Manhattan for Gaza,” demanding an end to the Jewish state and Zionism.

Last month, the families of hostages kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre sued the leaders of multiple New York-based anti-Israel radical groups, including WOL’s leader Nerdeen Kiswani, for allegedly “aiding and abetting Hamas’ continuing acts of international terrorism.”

According to the lawsuit, “Defendants in this case are Hamas’ propaganda arm in New York City and on the Columbia University campus.” The families claimed that as Palestinian terrorists launched their vicious attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, injuring thousands, and kidnapping 251 more, Hamas urged its supporters abroad to “join the battle in any way they can,” and the activist groups, including WOL, answered the call. The suit even accused the groups of having advanced knowledge of the attack.

WOL was also accused of distributing pro-terror propaganda produced by and stamped with the logo of the ‘Hamas Media Office.’” WOL previously published a “tool kit” for terrorist supporters to plan and execute rallies dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

The latest Grand Central protest came after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Washington earlier in the day.