The 92nd Street Y’s existence long predates the establishment of the Zionist political movement to colonize Palestine. First founded in 1874 as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association to serve the American Jewish community in New York City, the cornerstone for the well-known building at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue was laid in 1929. Over the next century and a half the 92nd Street Y developed a reputation as not only a home for American Jews, but as a mainstay of both American and global culture and art, offering classes, workshops, and stages to writers, musicians, dancers, and artists from New York City and around the world.
In October 2023, the 92NY Culture & Arts Center decided to cancel a scheduled talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet ُThanh Nguyen after Nguyen signed a letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel. 92NY CEO Seth Pinsky defended the decision, telling New York Magazine,
“Imagine that we had a speaker who’s a well-known and vocal proponent of Second Amendment rights, and a week before he appeared was the Sandy Hook massacre. And at that point, we decided, ‘You know what? Maybe this isn’t the day to have that person speak. Maybe we should postpone this event to another time.’ It’s hard for me to believe that many people would accuse us of censorship.”
The Nguyen cancellation spurred the protest withdrawal of numerous writers from their scheduled events, and led to the resignation of the entire Unterberg Poetry Center staff and the cancellation of the Unterberg Center’s entire 2023-2024 program. Simultaneously, 92NY organized a series of public events boosting cultural and political support for Israel, featuring Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid the week following the axed Nguyen event, as well as Congressmembers Ritchie Torres and Mike Lawler, Bari Weiss, Thomas Friedman, Bret Stephens, Hillary Clinton, Deborah Lipstadt, and various Israeli military, cultural, and academic figures in the months to come. The Torres-Lawler event, which took place in December 2023, was disrupted by more than two dozen protestors, including Jewish activists and constituents of both representatives.
To celebrate its 150th Anniversary, 92NY implemented an organization-wide policy banning political expression for public-facing employees in July 2024. This led to the termination of two employees for wearing symbols of Palestinian solidarity while at work, and the resignation of several other employees who objected to the institution’s clear bias and support for Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. At the same time, an Israeli flag hung in the building’s lobby, and several public events included solicitations for financial and political support for Israeli war efforts. In September 2024, an update was quietly made to the 92NY.org Policy Page, which read:
Regarding Israel
We reaffirm that, as we curate our programming going forward, we will continue to welcome a broad range of viewpoints to our platform, including welcoming people who are critical of Israel, as long as they have not and do not actively call for the destruction of the State of Israel or question its legitimacy.
Throughout 2025 and into 2026, 92NY has continued to platform aggressively pro-Israel public figures, including Palantir CEO Alex Karp, New York Times Opinion Editors Thomas Friedman and Bret Stephens (more than once), Israeli journalists Ronen Bergman, Yonit Levi, and Nadav Eyal, actor Debra Messing, Israeli propagandist Hen Mazzig, Hillary Clinton (again), Bernard-Henri Lévy, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Biden’s Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, and Biden White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. A number of speakers advocated for the US-Israeli war on Iran and ongoing eliminationist assaults on Lebanon, Syria and the wider Middle East from the stage. In March 2026, after a series of virulently anti-Palestinian X posts were brought to light, 92NY cancelled the scheduled appearance of conservative legal scholar Ilya Shapiro. 92NY made no mention of these posts in its public explanation for the cancellation.
Nearly three dozen scheduled artists have withdrawn from events at 92NY. Local activists gather regularly in front of the building to picket against the pro-war, pro-genocide speakers platformed on the 92NY stage. In April 2026, 92NO officially launched, calling on artists to refuse to allow their names and works to be used to launder the reputation of 92NY.