The clash in the Middle East came to City Hall Monday as New York pols gave their full-throated support to Israel, while counter-protesters surrounded them to champion the Palestinian cause.

Around a hundred protesters surrounded New York City Hall during a “New York Stands With Israel” press conference Monday morning. The event, which was organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, was intended to give New York City legislators the opportunity to justify Israel’s week-long bombing campaign of Gaza. But chants of “shame on you, City Council”, “New York stands with Palestine”, and “from Brooklyn to Palestine, genocide is a crime” penetrated the press conference—and media reports of it.

The NYC Coalition Against SodaStream protested for two hours outside of Zabar's on Tuesday afternoon, calling on the store to stop selling the carbonation device produced on occupied Palestinian territory. The protest was organized by the NYC Coalition Against SodaStream, which included Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, the New York City chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews Say No! and Park Slope Food Co-op Members for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Roughly 70 to 80 people stopped to see the protest.

Like most seasoned conductors, Zubin Mehta has built his reputation on interpretations of a core repertory, in his case the music of Romantic-era giants like Bruckner, Tchaikovsky and Mahler. But on tour with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, an ensemble that named him music director for life in 1981, he is increasingly in demand for his exegesis of a long-winded drama fueled by high passions of a different kind: Middle East politics.