Read the full article in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Amid a rise of pro-Palestinian protests outside Israeli real estate events and land sales held in synagogues, New York lawmakers are pushing to ban protests directly outside houses of worship.
The latest proposal comes from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who announced new legislation in her State of the State address Tuesday afternoon. The legislation would create a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship and healthcare facilities.
“In 2026 we’ll take steps to protect our houses of worship against the rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia,” Hochul said in her address, pointing to protesters’ pro-Hamas chants outside a Queens synagogue last week.
“Targeting a Jewish community this way is antisemitic, and that’s why I’m proposing a ban on these protests,” she said. “And I’ll respect people’s right to protest any day of the week — but not within 25 feet of the property line at houses of worship.”
Hochul’s push appears likely to have readymade supporters in New York City, where a November protest outside Park East Synagogue fueled calls for change. Jewish State Assembly members Micah Lasher and Sam Sutton, both Democrats, proposed a bill creating buffer zones in early December, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote an executive order in January directing the NYPD to better regulate protests outside houses of worship.
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, issued a statement Tuesday saying he “strongly applauds” Hochul’s support for buffer zone legislation.
But while there appears to be broad support for the buffer zones in New York, their path to implementation could be rocky. The State Assembly and Senate are set to embark on a potentially months-long negotiation process in which lawmakers will weigh the benefits of constraining protests against the costs, including the potential impact on free speech.
“It might become really contentious when the whole range of secular and faith organizations weigh in,” said Phylisa Wisdom, director of the liberal group New York Jewish Agenda. “I think we’re about to enter that conversation.”
It’s a debate that isn’t unique to New York: Lawmakers are pushing a similar bill in Canada, where synagogues have been the site of pro-Palestinian demonstrations. But unlike in New York, where elected officials across the political spectrum have been largely receptive to the idea, the Canadian bill has faced resistance from both pro-Palestinian groups and pro-Israel Jewish conservatives.
One of the country’s most prominent Jewish lawmakers, Conservative Melissa Lantsman, recently wrote that the Canadian bill “criminalizes free speech” and creates “an opening for the law to be used against the very communities it’s supposed to protect.”
Bill C-9, also known as the Combatting Hate Act, does not create formal buffer zones, but would add new offenses to the federal Criminal Code, making it a crime “to intimidate and obstruct people from accessing places of worship, as well as schools, community centres and other places primarily used by an identifiable group.” It would also become a criminal offense to “willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group by displaying certain terrorism or hate symbols in public.”
National Jewish organizations such as B’nai Brith Canada and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs are advocating for the bill, which is currently being examined by committees in the House of Commons.
“We as Canadians need our Criminal Code to be as robust as possible,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s director of research and advocacy, in an interview. “We need to ensure that law enforcement has the tools they require to hold accountable those who are propagating hate on our streets.”
A couple of weeks after it was introduced, Bill C-9 was rebuked in an open letter from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. The letter had signatures from more than 40 groups, including three Jewish ones that all express a pro-Palestinian viewpoint.
Those three organizations, plus two other Jewish groups, wrote their own letter, which was pointed in its criticism of how Bill C-9 would infringe on freedom of expression: by wrongly criminalizing protests against events like real estate sales for Israeli West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
“Bill C-9 would limit opportunities for congregants to object to the policies or decisions of their religious leadership or institutions,” the letter reads. West Bank land sales, it continues, are “a legitimate reason to protest regardless of which kind of building is hosting the illegal sale.”
Progressive groups in New York have not written an equivalent letter on the proposed legislation — but the criticism is shared by left-wing organization Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
“JFREJ does not support legislation designed to curtail protest,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“It’s understandable that the image of people protesting outside a synagogue can spark discomfort and even real fear — and people should be able to pray and observe religious holidays without fear of harassment — but houses of worship make a choice when they host non-religious political events, and that choice includes the knowledge that they might be protested for doing so,” the statement reads.
JFREJ’s email also pointed to groups such as NYC for Abortion Rights, which it said should be able to continue their practice of protesting outside a church that “serves as a gathering place for anti-choice bigots who then march to harass people at a nearby clinic.”