A New York-based anti-Israel organization, Within Our Lifetime, has alleged that staff from the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations violently assaulted two of their activists during a protest outside the mission building on East 44th Street in Manhattan on Wednesday.
According to the group, demonstrators were standing on the sidewalk when mission staff dragged them inside the building, where they were allegedly choked and beaten with a bike chain before being handed over to the New York Police Department. The organization claimed that one of the individuals involved was a minor.
Footage reportedly from the incident shows protesters being dragged inside the building while apparently being hit with a small chain. NYPD officers are then seen arriving, entering the building, and wrestling the protesters away from the individuals who were assaulting them.
The protests, which have taken place for weeks outside the Egyptian Mission and daily at the UN, have demanded that Egypt cease its role in enforcing the blockade on Gaza. Within Our Lifetime accused the Mission of escalating matters through what they described as physical attacks on protesters and coordination with the NYPD.
The group further accused Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty of issuing directives for embassies and missions worldwide to use violence against demonstrators calling for an end to Egypt's policies regarding Gaza. They claimed the alleged assault in New York represented "an extension of Egyptian repression onto U.S. soil."
Within Our Lifetime leader Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian-American activist who has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for promoting antisemitic rhetoric and openly supporting violence against Israel, said the incident "only exposes Egypt’s deep complicity and strengthens our resolve to keep protesting."
Malik Hassan of the Muslim American Society, who, according to Canary Mission, has a long record of anti-Israel activism, including defending Hamas terrorism, supporting convicted terror financiers, and participating in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia University in 2024, called the alleged assault "an egregious violation of rights and sovereignty," demanding accountability from the Egyptian Mission.
The organization announced plans for another protest outside the Egyptian Mission on Thursday, citing Egypt's "complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people" as their reason for continuing demonstrations.