Rally held in New York City against Israeli crimes

Thousands of people gathered outside the Israeli mission to the United Nations in New York City on Wednesday to protest Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, Press TV reports.

People from many different communities including a group of anti-Israeli Jews participated in the rally.

New York resident Agi Smith said she was disgusted with Israel’s actions in occupied Palestine.

“I oppose the barbaric assault on the people of Palestine by the Israeli military,” she told Press TV. “Israel does not want peace.”

A large number of NYPD officers were present to disperse the crowd. At one point, officers blocked a man passing the rally on motorcycle, knocking him to the ground and arresting him.

Members of Press TV’s team were repeatedly pushed by NYPD officers while trying to record the event.

The protesters also slammed major media organizations in the US for siding with Israel in their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

They marched from the Israeli mission to the headquarters of News Corporation, the owner of FOX News in the US and Sky News in Britain.

The mainstream media are “very biased against the people of Palestine and they are not projecting the resistance and the suffering of the Palestinian people,” said Ives Nibunco, who leads a group of Philippine university students in New York City.

Nearly 80 Palestinians have been killed and over 500 others wounded since Israel launched its so-called “Operation Protective Edge” against the Gaza Strip on July 8.

On July 2, a group of ultra-right Israelis tortured and murdered a Palestinian teenager, allegedly in retaliation for three missing Israelis who were found shot dead at the end of June.

There is still no evidence about who killed the three. However, six Israelis have been arrested for the murder of the young Palestinian.

The Israeli government seized on the incident to arrest hundreds of Palestinians, raid thousands of homes, and call up as many as 40,000 reserve troops to prepare for an all-out invasion of the Gaza territory.