Protests broke out in Borough Park, Brooklyn on Thursday evening as the fight over City Councilman Kalman Yeger's pronouncement that Palestine does not exist grew more heated.

"Mr. Yeger has a right to his point of view," former Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn said at the rally. "I think we should start respecting other points of view instead of immediately jumping on people."

"I can't stand by as city councilmembers make racist, genocidal statements, particularly at this very dangerous moment in American history," a protester said at the pro-Palestine rally.

The Brooklyn councilman sits on the Immigration Committee, but he could get the boot.

"He should definitely apologize, and I very vigorously condemn his comments," City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said at a news conference at City Hall. "I think those comments make — for me — make me uncomfortable to have someone who holds those viewpoints on a committee that is supposed to welcome all immigrants."

Yeger has also tweeted about "so-called 'Palestinians,'" suggesting that Palestinian people do not exist. He later deleted that tweet, seen below:

"I am proud that our city has a large Palestinian community, and those comments are dehumanizing comments," Johnson said. "They are comments that … create some sort of erasure of the Palestinian experience, and I find those totally unacceptable."

In an off-camera interview, Yeger said he stood by his tweet that Palestine does not exist and said he would not apologize for it. He said he did want to clarify that he never meant to make a statement about people, only about Palestine as a place.

Bronx City Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. recently caused an uproar when he declared that the homosexual community controls the City Council. He refused to apologize and refused the speaker's demand for him to resign. The committee Diaz chaired was soon disbanded.

But as the protest in support of Yeger showed, any effort to sideline him in the City Council may be met with fierce resistance.