The latest anti-Israel protests in New York City broke out on Friday evening and throughout Saturday. Police estimated that the number of protesters may have been as high as 7,000 at one point. First, they overran the Brooklyn Bridge, climbing onto the superstructure and hanging banners and Palestinian flags. They damaged some police cars and fights broke out with law enforcement. One of the speakers who addressed the crowd on the bridge with a bullhorn made it clear what their objective was. She called for the state of Israel to be “taken down by any means.” Some in the crowd were heard chanting “long live Hamas.” Note that they were not chanting for “Palestinians” in general. They were cheering for the terrorist militants of Hamas who committed all of the war atrocities against Israel.

Leaving the bridge, the mob swarmed to Union Square where they damaged more police cars and vandalized a Starbucks. Traffic was intentionally shut down for hours as more chants of “Long live Hamas” were heard. Up until this point, the NYPD had been showing remarkable restraint, particularly considering that this event had stopped being a “protest” almost immediately and turned into a full-fledged, violent riot. But then the rioters moved to Grand Central Station and proceeded to shut down the transportation hub. At that point, the police had clearly had enough. They broke out the clubs and the handcuffs and began arresting people and hauling them away. (It’s a good thing these same idiots previously emptied the jails, eh? That wound up being convenient.) More than 300 of the rioters were arrested, taken to jail, and issued court summonses. But even that still seems like not enough to get the message across.

More than 300 pro-Palestinian protesters who forced the temporary closure of Grand Central Terminal during rush hour were arrested and hit with court summonses, officials said Saturday.

In all, “335 individuals received Criminal Court summonses for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct” during the protest.

Many of the demonstrators at the sit-in wore black shirts that read “Jews say cease-fire now,” when they took over the station’s cavernous concourse chanting “No more weapons. No more war. Ceasefire is what we’re fighting for.”

Arresting more than 300 of these vandals was a good start, but as I already noted, it was far too little and too late. Even in a city the size of New York, there aren’t enough jail cells to suddenly take in 7,000 people and hold them for any significant period of time. Even in a worst case scenario of prolonged, extreme violence, the cops probably don’t have that many bullets on hand. The rioters no doubt knew this and were likely counting on it.

But something needs to be done. These are no longer just “protests” designed to promote a message. The maniacs are actively seeking to shut down one of the largest cities in the world and grind society to a halt. They are causing damage, assaulting police officers, and destroying vehicles. Of course, we probably shouldn’t be terribly surprised. When you’re talking about a group of individuals that worship a murderous terrorist organization, how did we expect them to behave?

And yet these developments are somehow familiar and should remind everyone of the BLM riots during the “summer of love” in 2020. Those were also originally billed as “protests” in support of law enforcement “reform.” But they quickly devolved into violent riots marked by arson and assaults. We haven’t seen any reports of mass looting taking place at the pro-Hamas rallies, but that’s probably not far off.

In the end, however, what’s the purpose of all of this? Demonstrations in the United States have traditionally been held with the intent of influencing government policy. But the American government can’t stop the war in Gaza. They can exert some influence and even cut off supplies if they want to betray our ally, but only Israel can end the war. And I seriously doubt Bibi Netanyahu is overly concerned about the opinions of a mob of rioters in America who represent only a tiny but very noisy fraction of the American public.