NEW YORK — On Friday, at an Al Quds Day protest in Times Square, a protest leader directed the crowd to chant “Stop eating babies” toward a handful of mostly Jewish counter-protesters.

As surprising as it was to hear the charge that Zionists “eat babies” in New York City in 2026, equally surprising was the willingness with which the crowd took up the chant. There was no confusion or hesitancy about the outlandish allegation — the hundreds in attendance repeated the chant with enthusiasm, without skipping a beat.

“Stop eating babies! Stop raping kids!” they chanted toward counter-protesters holding Israeli flags across the street behind a line of police officers and metal barricades, recalling the age-old blood libel that says Jews murder and consume children for ritual purposes.

The rally illustrated how anti-Israel activists incorporate historical manifestations of anti-Jewish discrimination under the guise of anti-Zionist political activism, from the blood libel to Nazi-era tropes, mixed with contemporary academic theories. Anti-Zionism acts as a container for these historical tropes, blending them together with progressive talking points.

A cadre of scholar-activists has argued that anti-Zionism is the third major iteration of discrimination against Jews. The first was anti-Judaism, based on religion, the second was antisemitism, focused on race, and the third, anti-Zionism, is a hatred of Jewish peoplehood, the activists say.

Anti-Zionism is marked by three core “libels” — that “Zionists” are colonizers, guilty of apartheid, and committing genocide, say the scholars, such as anthropologist Adam Louis-Klein and researcher Naya Lekht, who have each launched groups opposed to anti-Zionism. The claims are used as insults and cudgels, repeated ad nauseam, and are largely irrefutable.

At NYC Al-Quds Day Rally Protesters Chant: “U.S.A., Go to Hell!,” “Khamenei Is the Leader,” “Death to Israel,” “Stop Eating Babies,” Praise Sinwar, Nasrallah, IRGC, and Houthis, Call on Iran and Hizbullah to Strike Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/A2tYmEMgrW — MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 16, 2026

At NYC Al-Quds Day Rally Protesters Chant: “U.S.A., Go to Hell!,” “Khamenei Is the Leader,” “Death to Israel,” “Stop Eating Babies,” Praise Sinwar, Nasrallah, IRGC, and Houthis, Call on Iran and Hizbullah to Strike Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/A2tYmEMgrW

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 16, 2026

Anti-Zionist rhetoric was prominent at the Times Square rally, with speakers repeatedly accusing Zionism of “imperialism” and “colonialism,” calling Israel a “genocidal entity,” heralding the “decolonization of West Asia” in the Iran war, and accusing Israel of........

© The Times of Israel