New York City has ordered a Queens community garden to vacate after its leaders imposed an anti-Zionist litmus test for membership, escalating a months-long battle that has become a flashpoint in the city’s broader fight over free speech, antisemitism, and the war in Gaza.

The Sunset Community Garden in Ridgewood required prospective members to sign a “statement of values” disavowing Zionism alongside antisemitism and other “nationalist or racist beliefs.” City officials said the requirement violated clear rules prohibiting public spaces from imposing political or ideological conditions on participation.

“This is a city-owned space, and there is no place for hate in New York City,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “It is reprehensible that the current operators at Sunset Community Garden barred their fellow New Yorkers because of their beliefs — and specifically tried to bar those who support the State of Israel, which the overwhelming majority of Jews do.”

The Parks Department first warned the garden in April that it was in breach of its license agreement. Officials said they offered multiple alternatives to keep the garden open, but the operators refused. In May, the city formally terminated the license and issued a vacate notice.

Garden leaders sued, winning a temporary restraining order in June. But that protection was lifted last week, and the Parks Department reissued the vacate order, giving the group until September 3 to clear out.

City Hall said the garden will not be shuttered entirely; instead, it will be placed under new leadership and continue operating for neighborhood residents without the political restrictions.

The garden’s organizers have accused the city of waging a “targeted, discriminatory, and retaliatory campaign” to suppress protected political speech, and their lawsuit against the city is ongoing in federal court.

The Ridgewood dispute underscores how the Gaza war and debates over Zionism have spilled into local civic spaces. Last year, Jewish residents accused the garden of promoting anti-Israel activism, including dedicating a plot as “poppies for Palestine.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)