Across the western world, including in America, supporters of Palestinians and the terrorists acting on their behalf are rallying and demanding that Israel restrain itself as it seeks to retaliate against those responsible for the murder of hundreds of civilians across the country over the weekend.

At a rally at Times Square Sunday, hundreds of protesters waving the Palestinian flags and chanting “resistance is justified when people are occupied” were met with counter-protesters waving Israeli flags and singing that nation’s national anthem.

“Early morning on October 7 on Saturday, our resistance stormed illegal settlements and paraglided across colonial borders,” one speaker at the event said, causing the assembled crowd to burst into applause. “The resistance fired more than 5,000 rockets,” the speaker added, to more applause.

The march was advertised as being ‘“in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid” by one of the groups promoting it, the Democratic Socialists of America. A handful of members of Congress, among them Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, are among the group’s members. Neither of the two New York representatives attended the event or mentioned anything about it in public statements, and no leaders of the Democratic Socialists’ appeared to be in attendance at the event.

On Saturday, Ms. Ocasio Cortez issued a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation of the conflict. “I condemn Hamas’ attack in the strongest possible terms,” she said. “No child and family should ever endure this kind of violence and fear, and this violence will not solve the ongoing oppression and occupation in the region.”

New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, and a number of other prominent New York Democrats, denounced the rally as “morally repugnant.” A Democratic congressman from the Bronx, Ritchie Torres, was even more direct in his criticism: “The NYC-DSA is revealing itself for what it truly is: an antisemitic stain on the soul of America’s largest city,” he posted on Twitter. “There is a special place in hell for those who glorify the cold-blooded murder of civilians and children.”

Another rally is planned for Monday — referred to as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” instead of Columbus Day — outside what its organizers described as the “Zionist Embassy” on Second Avenue in Manhattan, the home of the Israeli embassy to the United Nations. The rally lists the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as one of several organizers, along with the Canada-based Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Israeli government because of its connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“We mobilize to defend the heroic Palestinian resistance, honor our martyrs and let the world know that NYC stands with Gaza!” a flyer advertising the event states. “Masking is encouraged.”

There were Pro-Palestinian rallies in several American cities Sunday including Atlanta, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Outside the White House Sunday, a small group of protestors held up placards stating that “resistance is not terrorism” and chanted “There is only one solution — intifada revolution.”

Two of the American pro-Palestinian rallies in the state of Florida, one in Tampa and another in Fort Lauderdale, caught the attention of that state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, who also is running for the GOP presidential nomination. Mr. DeSantis called the rallies “abhorrent” and said his state “stands with Israel as it faces its greatest challenge.”  

Video posted on social media from Canada showed scores of supporters parading through a suburb of Toronto Saturday evening honking horns and waving Palestinian flags in support of the terror attacks. The young men riding the rear bed of a pickup could be heard shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.” Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, called the gatherings “hate rallies,” adding that they were “reprehensible and disgusting.”  

In London, the Metropolitan police said it was stepping up patrols across the city after reports that some residents were loudly and publicly celebrating the massacre in Israel. The Met said no arrests were made and the U.K.’s home secretary, Suella Braverman, said she expects officers to “use the full force of the law” against any troublemakers. Further demonstrations by groups such as Stop the War are planned in the capital Monday.

In Berlin, police clashed with a few dozen protesters who gathered in that city. Officials in Germany and France both said they were stepping up measures to protect Jewish communities in light of the protests. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said in a statement Sunday that the German government will “not accept it when the heinous attacks against Israel are celebrated here on our streets.”