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Alarmed by their country’s political direction, more Israelis are seeking to move abroad
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Daniel Schleider and his wife, Lior, leave Israel next month, it will be for good — and with a heavy heart.
“I have no doubt I will have tears in my eyes the whole flight.” said Schleider, who was born in Mexico and lived in Israel for a time as a child before returning on his own at 18. Describing himself as “deeply Zionist,” he served in a combat unit in the Israeli army, married an Israeli woman and built a career in an Israeli company.
Yet as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power, assembled a coalition that includes far-right parties and started pushing changes that would erode hallmarks of Israeli democracy, Schleider found himself booking plane tickets and locating an apartment in Barcelona. Spain’s language and low cost of living made the city a good fit, he said, but the real attraction was living in a place where he wouldn’t constantly have to face down the ways that Israel is changing.
Israel’s strength over its 75 years, Schleider said, is “the economy we built by selling our brains.… And yet, in less than half a year, we’ve managed to destroy all that.”
Schleider has been joining the sweeping protests that have taken root across the country in response to the new right-wing government and its effort to strip the Israeli judiciary of much of its power and independence. But while he considered recommitting to his country and fighting the changes rather than fleeing over them, he also accepts the government’s argument that most Israelis voted for something he doesn’t believe in.
Daniel Schleider and his wife Lior are leaving Israel for Barcelona because of the political instability in their country. (Courtesy Schleider)
“I have a lot of internal conflict,” he said about the protests. “Who am I to fight against what the majority has accepted?”
Schleider is far from alone in seeking to leave Israel this year. While Israelis have always moved abroad for various reasons, including business opportunities or to gain experience in particular fields, the pace of planned departures appears to be picking up. No longer considered a form of social betrayal, emigration — known in Hebrew as yerida, meaning descent — is on the table for a wide swath of Israelis right now.
Many of the people weighing emigration were already thinking about it but were catalyzed by the new government, according to accounts from dozens of people in various stages of emigration and of organizations that seek to aid them.
“I’ve already been on the fence for a few years — not in terms of leaving Israel but in terms of relocating for something new,” said Schleider.
“But in the past year, with all the craziness and everything, I realized where the country was going. And after the recent elections, my wife — who had been unconvinced — was the one who took the step and said now she understood where the public is going and what life is going to be like in the country. You could call it the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.
“And then when the whole issue of the [judicial] revolution started, we just decided not to wait and to do it immediately.”
Ocean Relocation, which assists people with both immigration to and emigration from Israel, has received more than 100 inquiries a day from people looking to leave since Justice Minister Yariv Levin first presented his proposal for judicial reform back in January. That’s four times the rate of inquiries the organization received last year, according to senior manager Shay Obazanek.
“Never in history has there been this level of demand,” Obazanek said, citing the company’s 80 years’ experience as the “barometer” of movement in and out the country.
Shlomit Drenger, who leads Ocean Relocation’s business development, said those looking to leave come from all walks of life. They include families pushed to leave by the political situation; those investing in real estate abroad as a future shelter, if needed; and Israelis who can work remotely and are worried about the country’s upheaval. Economics are also a concern: With foreign investors issuing dire warnings about Israel’s economy if the judicial reforms go through, companies wary to invest in the country and the shekel already weakening, it could grow more expensive to leave in the future.
The most common destination for the new departures, Drenger said, is Europe, representing representing 70% of moves, compared to 40% in the recent past. Europe’s draws include its convenient time zones, quality-of-life indices, and chiefly, the relative ease in recent years of obtaining foreign passports in countries such as Portugal, Poland and even Morocco. Many Israelis have roots in those countries and are or have been entitled to citizenship today because their family members were forced to leave under duress during the Holocaust or the Spanish Inquisition.
Israelis protesting against the government’s controversial judicial reform bill block the main road leading to the departures area of Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on March 9, 2023. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)
On the other hand, Drenger said, emigration to the United States, where the vast majority of the 1 million Israeli citizens abroad live, has declined significantly. The United States is known for its tough immigration laws and high cost of living in areas with large Israeli and Jewish communities, and even people who have no rights to a foreign passport have an easier time obtaining residency rights in Europe than the United States.
Some Israelis aren’t picking anywhere in particular before leaving. Ofer Stern, 40, quit his job as a tech developer, left Israel and is now traveling around the world before deciding where to settle.
“We’re living in a democracy and that democracy is dependent on demography and I can’t fight it,” he said, alluding to the fact that Orthodox Jews, who tend to be right wing, are the fastest-growing segment of the Israeli population. “The country that I love and that I’ve always loved will not be here in 10 years. Instead, it will be a country that is suited to other people, but not for me.”
While others have already started their emigration process, American-born Marni Mandell, a mother of two living in Tel Aviv, is still on the fence. Her greatest fear is that judicial reforms could open the door to significant changes in civil rights protections — and in so doing break her contract with the country she chose.
“If this so-called ‘reform’ is enacted, which is really tantamount to a coup, it’s hard to imagine that I want my children to grow up to fight in an army whose particularism outweighs the basic human rights that are so fundamental to my values,” Mandell said.
Most people who look into emigrating for political reasons do not end up doing so. In the weeks leading up to the United States’ 2020 presidential election, inquiries to law firms specializing in helping Americans move abroad saw a sharp uptick in inquiries — many of them from Jews fearful about a second Trump administration after then-President Donald Trump declined to unequivocally condemn white supremacists. When President Joe Biden was elected, they largely called off the alarm.
The Trump scenario is not analogous with the Israeli one for several reasons, starting with the fact that the Israelis are responding to an elected government’s policy decisions, not just the prospect of an election result. What’s more, U.S. law contains safeguards designed to prevent any single party or leader from gaining absolute power. Israel has fewer of those safeguards, and many of those appear threatened if the government’s proposals go through.
Casandra Larenas had long courted the idea of moving overseas. “As a childfree person, Israel doesn’t have much to offer and is a really expensive country. I’ve traveled around so I know the quality of life I can reach abroad,” she said. But she said she had always batted away the idea: “I’m still Jewish and my family are still here.”
Clockwise from upper left: Benjamin-Michael Aronov, Casandra Larenas and Ofer Stern are all leaving Israel because of political unrest there. (All photos courtesy)
That all changed with the judicial overhaul, she said. While not against the idea of a reform per se, Laranes is firmly opposed to the way it is being carried out, saying it totally disregards the millions of people on the other side. Chilean-born, Laranes grew up under Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
“I still remember [it] and I don’t want something like that again,” said Larenas, who has purchased a plane ticket for later this spring and plans to take up residency abroad — though she said she would maintain her citizenship and hoped to return one day.
The departure of liberal and moderate Israelis could have implications on Israel’s political future. Israel does not permit its citizens to vote absentee, meaning that anyone who leaves the country must incur costly, potentially frequent travel to participate in elections — or cede political input altogether.
Benjamin-Michael Aronov, who grew up with Russian parents in the United States, said he was taken aback by how frequently Israelis express shock that he moved to Israel in the first place. “The No. 1 question I get from Israelis is, ‘Why would you move here from the U.S.? We’re all trying to get out of here. There’s no future here.’”
He said he had come to realize that they were right.
“I thought the warnings were something that would truly impact our children or grandchildren but that our lifetime would be spent in an Israeli high-tech, secular golden era. But I’m realizing the longevity of Tel Aviv’s bubble of beaches and parties and crazy-smart, secular people changing the world with technology is maybe even more a fantasy now than when Herzl dreamt it,” Aronov said. “I found my perfect home, a Jewish home, sadly being undone by Jews.”
Not everyone choosing to jump ship is ideologically aligned with the protest movement. Amir Cohen, who asked to use a pseudonym because he has not informed his employers of his plans yet, is a computer science lecturer at Ariel University in the West Bank who voted in the last election for the Otzma Yehudit party chaired by far-right provocateur Itamar Ben-Gvir. Cohen was willing to put aside his ideological differences with the hared Orthodox parties if it meant achieving political stability — but was soon disillusioned.
“None of it is working. And now we’re on our way to civil war, it’s that simple. I figured, ‘I don’t need this nonsense, there are plenty of places in the world for me to go,’” he said.
Thousands of Israeli protesters rally against the Israeli goverment’s judicial overhaul bills in Tel Aviv, March 4, 2023. (Gili Yaari Flash90)
Cohen stuck with the country after one of his brothers was killed in the 2014 Gaza War. Now, he said, his other brothers have recently followed his lead and applied for Hungarian passports in an effort to find a way to move abroad permanently.
“I’m not alone,” he said. “Most of my friends and family feel the same way.”
Others still, like Omer Mizrahi, view themselves as apolitical. A contractor from Jerusalem, Mizrahi, 27, headed to San Diego, California, a month ago as a result of the reform. Mizrahi, who eschewed casting a vote in the last election, expressed a less common impetus for leaving: actual fear for his life. Mizrahi described sitting in traffic jams in Jerusalem and realizing that if a terror attack were to unfold — “and let’s be honest, there are at least one or two every week” — he wouldn’t be able to escape in time because he was caught in a gridlock. “Our politicians can’t do anything about it because they’re too embroiled in a war of egos.”
Now 7,500 miles away, Mizrahi says he feels like he’s finally living life. “I sit in traffic now and I’m happy as a clam. Everything’s calm.”
Back in Israel, Schleider is making his final preparations for leaving, advertising his Tesla for sale on Facebook this week. He remains hopeful that the massive anti-government protests will make a difference. In the meantime, though, his one-way ticket is scheduled for April 14.
“I dream of coming back, but I don’t know that it will ever happen,” he said. “We made a decision that was self-serving, but that doesn’t mean we’re any less Zionist.”
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Is there a future for Yiddish in Antwerp?
פֿון לייזער בורקאָ
איך בין געקומען קיין אַנטווערפּן מיטן ציל צו פֿאָרשן דאָס ייִדיש, וואָס מע רעדט דאָרט, ווײַל אַנטווערפּענער ייִדן האָבן אַ שם, אַז זיי רעדן דאָס בעסטע און דאָס עכטסטע ייִדיש. אַזוי האָב איך געהערט אַ סך מאָל; געלייענט אין חסידישע פֿאָרומס, און געהערט לעצטנס אין אַן אינטערוויו מיט ר׳ מענדל הערש פּאַנעט, אַן אַנטווערפּענער חסיד, וואָס וווינט הײַנט אין ניו־יאָרק.
די ייִדישע באַפֿעלקערונג אין אַנטווערפּן איז זייער קליין אין פֿאַרגלײַך מיט די גרויסע ייִשובֿים אין ניו־יאָרק און ארץ־ישׂראל. עס וווינען דאָרט סך־הכּל 20,000 ייִדן, מערסטנס חרדים — סײַ חסידים סײַ מתנגדים. דאָס איז אַנטקעגן 300,000 חרדים אין אַמעריקע און איבער אַ מיליאָן אין ארץ־ישׂראל, און 40,000 אין לאָנדאָן אַפֿילו. דער פּראָצענט ייִדן וואָס רעדט ייִדיש איז זיכער העכער אין אַנטווערפּן, אָבער דער ציבור איז פֿאָרט נישט אַזוי גרויס.
עס וווינען אויך מאָדערנע אָרטאָדאָקסישע ייִדן אין אַנטווערפּן. איך האָב געהערט, אַז אַ סך פֿון זיי קענען אויך ייִדיש, אָבער רעדן אין דער היים, דער עיקר — פֿראַנצויזיש.
די אַנטווערפּענער ייִדישע באַפֿעלקערונג איז נישט איינהייטלעך, אַפֿילו אויב אַ סך חרדים זעען אויס ענלעך. אַ גרויסע צאָל פֿון די מענער זענען פֿון ערגעץ אַנדערש, אָבער האָבן זיך אַריבערגעצויגן, כּדי חתונה צו האָבן מיט אַן אַנטווערפּענער כּלה. דערפֿאַר הערט מען דאָרט אויך נישט ווייניק ענגליש און עבֿרית אויף דער גאַס. פֿון דעסט וועגן, איז דאָס אַנטווערפּענער ייִדיש נישט אַזוי געמישט מיט ענגליש און עבֿרית, ווי דאָס ייִדיש בײַ אַמעריקאַנער אָדער ישׂראלדיקע חרדים. זיי ניצן אָבער יאָ אַ מאָל פֿלעמישע ווערטער, ווי למשל דאָס וואָרט „מוילבאַק“ (מיסטקעסטל) פֿון פֿלעמישן vuilbak.
אויף וויפֿל איך האָב געהערט, האָט דאָס אַנטווערפּענער ייִדיש טאַקע אַן אַנדער טעם ווי דאָס אַמעריקאַנער ייִדיש. ערשטנס רעדט מען מער אויפֿן פּויליש־גאַליציאַנער שטייגער מיט אַן אוּוווּלאַרן ריש (אַזוי ווי אויף עבֿרית, אָדער אויף פֿראַנצויזיש און דײַטש). מע הערט אָפֿטער דעם ווייכן למד אין ווערטער ווי „גלײַך“ און „קלײַן“. מע זאָגט ווערטער ווי „אויס“ און „אויך“ מיט אַ קלאָרן o.
לייענענדיק די אַלע נײַעס וועגן די פּראָטעסטן קעגן מדינת־ישׂראל אין מערבֿ־אייראָפּע און וועגן די אַנטיסעמיטישע אינצידענטן דאָרט, האָב איך זיך געזאָרגט אַ ביסל וועגן די אַנטווערפּענער ייִדן. מיט יאָרן צוריק האָב איך געמאַכט אַ וויזיט און איך האָב געדענקט, אַז עס וווינען דאָרט אַ סך מוסולמענישע אימיגראַנטן. צי זענען די ייִדן דאָרט טאַקע זיכער?
די שטאָט אַנטווערפּן איז טאַקע זייער אַ געמישטער עולם. איך בין אײַנגעשטאַנען נישט ווײַט פֿון אַ גרויסן פּוילישן סופּערמאַרק און אַ געשעפֿט פֿון אַפֿריקאַנער סחורות. די ייִדן וווינען אין מיטן שטאָט אין דרום פֿון דער פּרעכטיקער צענטראַלער באַנסטאַנציע, וווּ עס געפֿינט זיך דער באַרימטער דימענטן-קוואַרטאַל. ייִדן אַרבעטן שוין הונדערטער יאָרן אין אַנטווערפּן ווי שלײַפֿערס און סוחרים פֿון דימענטן. הײַנט אַרבעטן דאָרט מערסטנס אינדיער, ווײַל די דימענטן־אינדוסטריע איז כּמעט אין גאַנצן אַריבער קיין אינדיע, וווּ די שלײַפֿערס אַרבעטן פֿאַר ביליקער.
צי זענען די ייִדן דאָרט אין אַ סכּנה? איך אַליין האָב זיך געפֿילט זיכער, אָבער איך האָב נישט קיין באָרד און פּאות. אַ חסיד מיטן גאַנצן לבֿוש האָט אפֿשר אַן אַנדער דערפֿאַרונג.
קיין פּאָליציי אָדער זיכערהייט־כּוחות האָב איך נישט געזען אין דער ייִדישער געגנט, כאָטש אַ שומרים־אָרגאַניזאַציע („שמירה“) איז יאָ פֿאַראַן. איך בין אַרײַנגעגאַנגען אינעם גרויסן סאַטמערער בית־מדרש און אַרומגעגאַנגען דאָרט — קיינער האָט מיך נישט אָפּגעשטעלט אָדער געפֿרעגט, וואָס איך טו. די אַנטווערפּענער ייִדן האָבן נישט מורא פֿאַר פֿרעמדע, דאַכט זיך.
לויט די נײַעס־באַריכטן זענען יאָ פֿאָרגעקומען אַ סך מער אַנטיסעמיטישע אינצידענטן זײַט דעם אָנהייב פֿון דער עזה־מלחמה — אָבער אַזוי איז דער מצבֿ אומעטום. די אַנטווערפּענער ייִדן פֿילן זיך דאָרט אין דער היים און וועלן אַזוי גיך נישט אַנטלויפֿן.
אין אַנטווערפּן פֿאָרן אַ סך ייִדן אויף ביציקלען, וואָס זיי רופֿן „וועלאָס“ (פֿון פֿראַנצויזיש), אפֿשר נאָך מער ווי די פֿלעמער (Flemings בלע”ז). מע זעט אַפֿילו טאַטעס וואָס פֿאָרן מיט אַן עופֿהלע אויף אַ צווייט בענקל, וואָס דאָס זעט מען נישט אין אַמעריקע. דאָס איז דערפֿאַר ווײַל די ייִדישע געגנט איז קאָמפּאַקט און מע דאַרף נישט פֿאָרן ווײַט. נאָכן טאָג אין חדר גייען די קינדערלעך אַהיים אָדער פֿאָרן אַהיים אויף קליינע סקוטערס. בכלל הערשט אַ געפֿיל פֿון זיכערקייט, מער ווי אין ניו־יאָרק, למשל. ס׳איז פֿאָרט אייראָפּע, וווּ די מענטשן שיסן זעלטענער, און וווּ ווייניקער משוגעים דרייען זיך אויף די גאַסן.
אַחוץ אַנטווערפּן האָב איך אויך געמאַכט אַ וויזיט אין דער בעלגישער הויפּטשטאָט, בריסל. איך האָב באַלד באַמערקט אַן אונטערשיד: אַ סך פּאַלעסטינער פֿענער, אין ערטער אויך אַנטי־ישׂראלדיקע און אַנטיסעמיטישע גראַפֿיטי. די מוסולמענישע באַפֿעלקערונג פֿון בריסל איז אַ סך גרעסער. אין געוויסע געגנטן — ווי מאָלענבעק, וווּ איך בין אײַנגעשטאַנען — זעט עס אַ מאָל אויס ווי אַן אַראַבישע שטאָט. איך האָב זיך געהיטן דאָרט פֿון טראָגן אַ העמד אָדער עפּעס מיט אַ ייִדישער אויפֿשריפֿט. אין בריסל וווינען אויך מער אָרעמע־לײַט ווי אין אַנטווערפּן. מיר איז געווען אַ חידוש צו זען דאָרט פּוילישע שיכּורים, וואָס דרייען זיך אויף די גאַסן — אַ סך מער ווי איך זע אין וואַרשע.
אין בריסל האָב איך געכאַפּט אַ לאַנגן שמועס מיט ר׳ אַנשל מיכאָלי, אַ היגער ייִדישיסט און אַ געבוירענער בריסעלער. ער זאָגט, אַז די בריסעלער ייִדישע באַפֿעלקערונג איז אַ מאָל געווען גרעסער ווי די אַנטווערפּענער, אָבער זי גייט באַרג־אַראָפּ שוין אַ סך יאָרן, סײַ דעמאָגראַפֿיש, סײַ גײַסטיק. אין די 1960ער יאָרן זענען די מערסטע טראַדיציאָנעלע ייִדן געוואָרן זייער ציוניסטיש־געשטימט און זײַט דעמאָלטס האָבן אַ סך יונגע לײַט עולה געווען. די פֿאַרבליבענע וועלטלעכע ייִדן באַטייליקן זיך ווייניק אינעם קהילה־לעבן. קיין געפֿיל פֿאַר ייִדיש אָדער ייִדישקייט האָבן זיי נישט, בדרך־כּלל.
לאָמיר האָפֿן, אַז אַנטווערפּן וועט אויסמײַדן דאָס אומגליק, וואָס האָט געטראָפֿן בריסל, און אַז די קהילה וועט בלײַבן זיכער און וועט וואַקסן. עס וואָלט געווען אַ גרויסער שאָד, ווען עס גייט אונטער איינער פֿון די לעצטע ייִדישע אינדזלען אין אייראָפּע, וווּ מע רעדט אַזאַ שיינעם ייִדיש.
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In NYC, Election Day arrives with all eyes on Jewish voters
It’s Election Day in New York City
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Many New Yorkers are thinking far beyond the five boroughs as they cast their votes in an election some see as a referendum on the Middle East.
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Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers — two populations of about the same size, both nearing 1 million — are being closely watched today, as views on Israel, Palestine, antisemitism and Islamophobia mobilize voters with intense enthusiasm.
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Polls show Cuomo, a proud defender of Israel, leading with Jewish voters. And Mamdani’s longtime pro-Palestinian activism tapped into a movement of New Yorkers galvanized by the Gaza war, pollsters say.
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“There’s a large swath of New Yorkers, particularly those that were showing up at these protests, who in 2025 were looking for something to latch on to, some sort of organized effort,” Democratic pollster Adam Carlson told The New York Times. “There’s a lot of natural overlap between those groups, and I think that just fueled momentum.”
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Some anti-Zionist Jews, like members of the increasingly influential group Jewish Voice for Peace, strengthened Mamdani’s rise as he won the primary and held onto a strong lead in general election for months. But many others say they are worried about Mamdani’s views on Israel setting the stage for a “political normalization” of anti-Zionism that can bleed into antisemitism.
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Polls are open until 9 p.m. today, and election officials say results could come within an hour of that time. Find your polling site here.
A Mamdani Israel policy?
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If Mamdani is elected mayor, how could he actually take action on his pro-Palestinian advocacy?
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We dug into Mamdani’s greatest push for a new Israel policy in the state Assembly, where he proposed the bill “Not On Our Dime” to target donations to Israeli settlements. The legislation, which never advanced, faced a backlash from lawmakers in both parties, including Jewish Democrats.
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Shortly after winning his Assembly seat in 2020, Mamdani also called for a boycott of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island, a campus of Cornell University that partners with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, because of the Israeli university’s ties to the military. His comment on the “Talking Palestine” podcast with Sumaya Awad resurfaced during the primary and again this week after a spokeswoman told The New York Times that, if elected, he would assess the Cornell partnership.
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Mamdani has said he does not intend to invest city funds in Israel bonds as mayor, in keeping with current Comptroller Brad Lander’s decision in 2023. But we also found that two of New York City’s five public pension funds could be vulnerable to a mayor-backed divestment push.
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Mamdani would be able to stack the boards of these two pension funds to put divestment from Israel on the table, and his supporters are pushing for that move.
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He will also face pressure from the Democratic Socialists of America, which counts him as a member, to implement boycott, divestment and sanction moves against Israel.
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On Sunday, the party’s “NYC Palestine Policy Committee” held a meeting to “iron out policies that the anti-war working group membership would like to see implemented at the municipal level,” according to a schedule on the D.S.A. website.
Corbyn hosts Mamdani phone bank
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Former U.K. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was booted from his party amid an antisemitism scandal, hosted a phone bank for Mamdani on Sunday evening.
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The event was co-led with the New York City D.S.A. chapter and paid for by Mamdani’s campaign, according to a post shared on X by Corbyn.
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During the Zoom call, Corbyn said that Mamdani “will ensure that the world doesn’t pass by on the other side while the terrible genocide goes on in Gaza, which has been so terrible for the Palestinian people,” according to the Forward.
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We covered the accusations against Corbyn, including a 2020 government watchdog report that said his leadership was responsible for “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” against Jews.
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Cuomo pounced on the alliance. “Having Jeremy Corbyn – someone whose party was found to have committed unlawful acts of discrimination against Jewish people under his leadership – phone-banking for @ZohranKMamdani says everything you need to know,” he said on X.
Trump and Musk endorse Cuomo
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Cuomo got an official endorsement last night from President Trump, who has frequently opined on the race and insulted all of the candidates.
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“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
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Trump also warned voters away from Republican nominee Sliwa, who is polling third. “A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani,” he said, referencing the red hat that Sliwa wears as the founder of the Guardian Angels.
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Cuomo is balancing his outreach to Republican voters with criticism of the president, who is deeply unpopular in New York City. “The president is right. A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani, and that’s why this election is now up to the Republicans,” he said in response to Trump’s post on 77 WABC.
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Mamdani, who has repeatedly linked Cuomo to Trump, pounced on the endorsement. “The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him,” he said in Astoria, according to Politico.
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Elon Musk also urged New Yorkers to vote for Cuomo, and to “bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is.”
Last call for Jewish voters
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Sliwa promised to protect Jews at the Society for Advancement of Judaism last night. “I’m standing outside of a synagogue on the Upper West Side tonight, as I’ve stood for many many years outside of synagogues, protecting Jews as they worship during their High Holidays all over this city,” he said on Instagram, referencing again his role in defending Jews during the 1991 Crown Heights riots.
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In a pointed gesture of solidarity with Jews, Cuomo posted his condolences for the family of Omer Neutra, an Israeli-American Long Island native whose body was returned by Hamas to Israel on Sunday.
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Dov Hikind, an Orthodox Jewish politician and former top surrogate of Sliwa’s who recently switched to Cuomo’s side, said in a Yiddish video that Jews would no longer be able to live in New York if Mamdani is elected.
Following the money
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Super PACS spent more than $29 million in the general election through Sunday. By today, that figure will likely surpass the $30.1 million spent ahead of the primary.
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Cuomo has the most money behind him. He received about $10 million in support, with another $13.6 million spent on negative ads against Mamdani, reported Politico.
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The post In NYC, Election Day arrives with all eyes on Jewish voters appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall cancels annual Hanukkah concert, citing singer’s IDF ties
(JTA) — Last year, Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall held its 10th anniversary of a Hanukkah concert series that was rebooted 70 years after it was halted by the Nazis, in what some Dutch Jews saw as a repudiation of antisemitism that had swelled during the war in Gaza.
This year, the concert has been called off — and the prestigious concert hall citing the chosen singer’s ties to the Israeli army.
The Chanukah Concert Foundation, which organizes the event, had booked Shai Abramson to sing. Abramson is a retired lieutenant colonel for the IDF who serves as the army’s chief cantor.
The Royal Concert Hall, or Concertgebouw, said in a statement on Sunday that it had pressed for months for a change to the program and canceled the concert, scheduled for Dec. 14, when one was not made.
“This decision was made because it was not possible to reach an agreement on an alternative to the performance by the IDF Chief Cantor,” the statement said.
It continued, “For The Concertgebouw, it is crucial that the IDF is actively involved in a controversial war and that Abramson is a visible representative of it.”
The Hanukkah concert was rebooted in 2015, 70 years after the Nazis ended the longstanding tradition in the city and murdered three-quarters of the Dutch Jewish population. The relaunch was billed as a chance to connect and celebrate the city’s Jewish residents, a community that has never come close to its pre-Holocaust size.
Now, the Chanukkah Concert Foundation says the Concertgebouw is contributing to the “isolation the Jewish community feels it is being pushed into in the current era,” even as the concert hall said it “always remain a place where the Jewish community is welcome.”
“The Jewish community has been facing exclusion in the cultural sector for over two years,” the Chanukah Concert Foundation said in a statement on Sunday. “It is ironic that the Concertgebouw — where Chanukah celebrations have been held since December 14, 1921, a tradition interrupted only by World War II — is now confronting the Jewish community with exclusion and isolation.”
The Chanukah Concert Foundation said it would pursue legal action against the Concertgebouw, whose characterization of Abramson as an IDF representative it rejected.
“He is an independent artist, invited by the State of Israel to sing at national memorial ceremonies,” the foundation wrote in a statement. “Labeling him as an IDF representative fosters unwarranted negative sentiment toward Israel, the Jewish community in the Netherlands and visitors to the concert, purposely turning this great musical experience into a political event.”
The cantor’s website says his performances around the world are done “with the intention of developing and strengthening ties with Jewish communities around the world, and intensifying connections with Israel and with the IDF.”
The Hanukkah concert’s cancellation is not the first time the war in Gaza has interfered with plans at the Concertgebouw. In November 2023, a planned benefit concert for the Israeli humanitarian nonprofit Zaka was canceled after the Concertgebouw demanded that half of the proceeds go to a Dutch Palestinian aid group that had been accused of anti-Israel bias. The following year, the concert canceled performances by a Jerusalem-based quartet citing “safety” concerns over planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Amsterdam has been a hotspot of such demonstrations. Last year, the city was roiled by pro-Palestinian protests, and a soccer game between the local team and Maccabi Tel Aviv sparked antisemitic mob violence against Israeli supporters.
In March, the University of Amsterdam suspended a student exchange with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, accusing the school of failing to distance itself from the war in Gaza.
As for the Hanukkah concert, the concert foundation says it will “assume that the concerts on December 14th will go ahead, including Cantor Abramson,” amid its planned litigation.
The Concertgebouw, meanwhile, has removed the concert from its website, where among the other upcoming performances listed are multiple by the Jerusalem Quartet, the group whose concert was canceled last year over security concerns.
“Making this decision was extremely difficult,” Concertgebouw Director Simon Reinink in a statement about the Hanukkah concert cancellation. “Only in very exceptional cases do we make an exception to our important principle of artistic freedom. To our great regret, such an exception is now occurring. The intended performance by the chief cantor of the IDF is at odds with our mission: connecting people through music.”
The post Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall cancels annual Hanukkah concert, citing singer’s IDF ties appeared first on The Forward.