Alexa B. Wilkinson (they/them) is an independent Photojournalist and digital media strategist living in Newburgh after moving out of Beacon. They have been capturing the Pro-Palestinian movement for months, and attended the protests this week at the UN in New York City in anticipation for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu’s arrival and speech at the UN.

Alexa captured the screen of a phone with a text that confirmed Netenyahu had landed in NY on September 26, 2024, and said: “Taken this morning at 8:37am during a @jvpny (Jewish Voices For Peace NY) @nycpym (NYC Chapter Of The Palestinian Youth Movement) @nycpsl (The New York City branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation) shut down of 48th & 1st Ave outside the UN. White shirt phone text with Chief McCarthy (peppa pig) confirm Netanyahu will be landing this morning. Proof of their ongoing daily communication and links to the IOF. Screen protectors apparently not in the budget. Stay safe today, Free Palestine.”

Alexa confirmed that they do have several zoomed out shots of the person holding the phone, for verification of the individual. While Netenyahu delivered his speech to the UN, suburbs were bombed by Israel in Lebanon. Al Jazeera reported: “Israel’s military launches an ‘unprecedented’ attack on southern Beirut with dead and wounded at the scene and a block of buildings brought down as the assault on Lebanon intensifies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decries ‘lies and slander’ at the UN General Assembly, threatens Iran, and vows to continue ‘degrading’ Hezbollah in Lebanon as delegates storm out in protest.”

What follows below is Alexa’s reporting of what they experienced at this Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Lebanon protest in NYC:

First Photo Series By Alexa B. Wilkinson

By Alexa B. Wilkinson
First published on their Instagram.

“By the time I’m posting this I’m sure we will have all seen multiple angles of police violence through many different lenses. Last nights protest was somehow more of the same and also smaller pockets of escalation. The number of cops during Palestinian led rallies and marches has increased tenfold since Oct 2023 resulting in thousands of frivolous arrests, hospitalizations, injuries, witch hunts, & lives ruined. Millions paid out in overtime to turn NYC into a militarized zone from the rooftops down into the subway.

“While this city and state’s top officials host an indicted war criminal to speak at the UN (protected with frozen zones and federal level security), the SRG is given orders from the top down to suppress and silence anyone who dares stand up and speak out against a genocide. Even while corruption at the highest level has opened up public investigations into Mayor Adams’s administration, he continues to wield his power as top cop to unleash the full military might of the NYPD on peaceful protestors… even as he now has become the first mayor brought up on criminal charges.

“It’s been almost a year. A anniversary we never hoped to have. Through the assaults, the rain, the snow, the broken bones, the 10 mile marches, the encampments, the sit ins, the disruptions, and the shutdowns… we have exposed the corruption of this empire at every level. We have found community and friends. We have connected with and let some people go we probably never thought we would have. The success of this movement will be in inches and interactions, but as we continue to weave our webs of community and solidarity we will keep reaching branches that will span the globe.

“Keep fighting, and remember that when an empire feels itself falling it will try to hold on through violence and chaos. We must persevere by any means necessary.

“For Palestine, for Lebanon, for Syria, for Congo, for you…for us. Globalize the intifada.”

Second Photo Series By Alexa B. Wilkinson

By Alexa B. Wilkinson
First published on their Instagram.

“Last night, thousands flooded the streets to protest and disrupt Netanyahu’s appearance and speech at the UN. As the NYPD created “frozen zones” all around the east side of Manhattan, WOL lead a march from GCT stopping at the MET and onto the Lowes Regency Hotel where Netanyahu is staying.

“For the first hour and a half, the NYPD and SRG largely stayed ahead of or on the sides of the march, being uncharacteristically tame about marching up avenues and on cross streets. There was no obvious violence or arrests up until we got to the MET, where a UN reception was being held and a demonstration was being formed. Through footage from multiple otg reporters like @madisonswart we saw SRG target and grab a protestor through the bike line and body slam them onto the steps before arresting. After that, it was back to business as usual.

“As they kettled us back onto 5th Ave, the protest moved east towards Park Ave where SRG used the LRAD system and state that we were all now “illegally walking in the roadway”. In the course of a 10-15 minute stretch around 20 people were grabbed, tackled (footage of this by @nickybla ), body slammed, knocked unconscious, assaulted, and arrested. In spite of the kettling and typical breakage of protest blocs, the remainder of the anti-genocide protestors made their way to the hotel for a noise demonstration before being brutally pushed out and more arrests made. In the aftermath of the NYPD violence, writing on the building across from the hotel was spotted, like battle scars in the architecture.

“Through barricades and batons, it cannot be denied that the NYPD are amazingly outmatched in strategy and execution of protestors breaking through frozen zones and check points. You can tell they were given orders from the top down to avoid arrests at the start due to numbers and previous days of public violence at the hands of SRG. Their tactics are predictable, but what the lack in imagination they make up for with endless funds and support from a corrupt Mayoral administration and the federal government.

“Numbers matter, and we must keep showing up for Gaza and Lebanon.”