Civil Rights Groups Warn Against NY Gov. Hochul's Anti-Palestinian "Buffer Zone" Proposal to Ban Constitutionally-Protected Protests

Discriminatory and unlawful sales of occupied Palestinian land cannot be insulated from scrutiny by being moved to religious spaces

Tuesday, Jan. 13th, 2026 — Today, during her State of the State address, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a proposal to ban demonstrations within 25 feet of religious institutions. This comes as pro-Israel groups and lawmakers are attempting to shut down protests against the discriminatory and unlawful sale of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, by conducting those sales in houses of worship. Governor Hochul's proposed ban poses a serious threat to New Yorkers' First Amendment rights and sends a dangerous message that silences dissent. Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights have issued this joint statement strongly condemning the proposal.

Recent attempts by private litigants and the Trump administration to weaponize the FACE Act, a federal law designed to protect access to places of worship and reproductive health clinics, to suppress criticism of Israel are part of a broader right-wing program of silencing political dissent and advocacy for Palestinian rights. Governor Hochul's proposed restriction goes further, creating a 25-foot "buffer zone" where no protests are allowed. These buffer zones would censor speech in traditional public fora like public sidewalks, where speech is most strictly protected by the First Amendment, and would give law enforcement more leeway to target and arrest protesters who are drawing public attention to these discriminatory and unlawful land sale events.

Protests of land sale events remain protected by the First Amendment even when those sales are held at religious institutions. Protesting the discriminatory sale of occupied land is core political speech, and the sale of Palestinian land in violation of international law that facilitates the dispossession of Palestinians should not be insulated from scrutiny merely because it takes place in religious spaces. Public advocacy for Palestinian rights and liberation does not lose constitutional protection simply because some find it uncomfortable or controversial.

These protests are necessary because pro-Israel organizations, many registered as charities within the State of New York, are expanding and entrenching Israeli settlements by auctioning off unlawfully appropriated Palestinian land in the West Bank deemed illegally occupied by the International Court of Justice, in support of Israel's effort to annex the West Bank. These land sales are a central component of the dispossession of Palestinians. Instead of attempting to unconstitutionally suppress political dissent, New York's political leadership must work to ensure that New York's institutions are not complicit in discrimination, in violations of international law and in the dispossession of Palestinians.