US Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Photo: Reuters / Rebecca Cook.

US Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) declined to endorse New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in his bid for New York City mayor, underscoring a simmering divide within the Democratic party over whether to embrace the anti-Israel politician.

Booker, a former presidential candidate known for his progressive rhetoric and background in community activism, has often walked a careful line when it comes to the party’s internal divisions. When asked last week by CNN reporter Manu Raju whether he would support Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist, Booker said, “I have learned a long time ago, to let New York politics be New York politics. We have enough challenges in New Jersey.”

Citing heated gubernatorial and legislative races, Booker said his energy will be devoted to his home state of New Jersey before adding, “New York City, I love you. You’re my neighbor. You’re about 10 miles from where I live. You guys figure out your elections. I’m going to be focused on mine.”

Booker’s response came after he dodged an initial question from Raju asking if the senator would support Mamdani, who won the New York City Democratic mayoral in June.

“So, you and I are going to have this conversation, and I’m going to say to you one day, I told you so,” Booker responded. “This is not a left-right issue. It really isn’t. It is an authoritarian, versus people who want pragmatic government that makes a difference in the lives of the American people. I’m one of these people that says the lines that divide us in America are not nearly as strong as the ties that bind us.”

“Big corporations, people want to keep our eyes on the screen, want to pit us against each other and tell us how much we should hate each other,” he continued. “I’m sorry, the left-right lens is not the right lens to look at this right now. Right now, it is, can we get back to the pragmatic work of governing?”

Booker’s refusal to endorse Mandani broader tensions within the Democratic party over the rising influence of its far-left, progressive wing, particularly among younger lawmakers who have been outspoken critics of US military aid to Israel. Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has drawn national attention for his calls to end what he describes as unconditional support for the Israeli government, a position that has attracted both praise from progressive activists and backlash from pro-Israel groups and establishment Democrats.

Booker, who has long positioned himself as a supporter of Israel while also advocating for Palestinian rights, has grown increasingly cautious in recent years about aligning with candidates whose positions might alienate key constituencies. Despite the growing anti-Israel sentiment within the Democratic base, Booker has remained outspoken about the need to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. Booker regularly wears a yellow ribbon pin on the lapel of his suit jacket as a sign of his support for the hostages.

Many observers have argued that the New York City mayoral race, though local, is a proxy battle for the future of the Democratic party, with some claiming that Mamdani’s blend of left-wing economic policies and anti-Zionism are reflective of the party’s increasingly progressive base.

Mamdani, the 33‑year‑old state assemblymember and proud democratic socialist, defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other candidates in a lopsided first‑round win in the city’s Democratic primary for mayor, notching approximately 43.5 percent of first‑choice votes compared to Cuomo’s 36.4 percent.

A little-known politician before this year’s primary campaign, Mamdani is an outspoken supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination.

Mamdani has also repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, falsely suggesting the country does not offer “equal rights” for all its citizens, and promised to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York.

Mamdani also defended the phrase “globalize the intifada”— which references previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels and has been widely interpreted as a call to expand political violence — by invoking the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II. In response, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum repudiated the mayoral candidate, calling his comments “outrageous and especially offensive to [Holocaust] survivors.”

Harvard University President Alan Garber speaks during the 374th Commencement exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters Connect via Brian Snyder

Harvard University President Alan Garber has told faculty that he will not settle the institution’s dispute with the Trump administration by shelling out $500 million, the Harvard Crimson reported on Monday, contradicting a New York Times article which claimed that the move is impending.

Rather, Harvard has resolve to continue on fighting the federal government in court, the Crimson said, even as it faces a $1 billion shortfall caused by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the confiscation of $3 billion in taxpayer-funded research grants and contracts previously awarded to the university. Amid this cash crunch Harvard has resorted to leveraging its immense wealth to borrow exorbitant sums of money.

In March it issued over $450 million in bonds as “part of an ongoing contingency planning for a range of financial circumstances.” It offered another $750 million in bonds to investors in April, a sale that is being managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

According to the Crimson, Garber insists that the Times report is erroneous.

“In a conversation with one faculty member, [he] said that the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’ and claimed that the figure was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials,” the Crimson said, noting that the Times believes its reporting is on the mark. “In any discussions, Garber reportedly said, the university is treating academic freedom as nonnegotiable.”

Garber’s apparent assurances to faculty that the university will not concede to Trump for financial relief comes as it takes conciliatory steps that seem aimed at reversing an impression that it is doctrinally far left, as well as anti-Zionist. In July, it announced new partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and shuttered its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, transferring their staff to other sections of the university. These moves came after it “paused” a partnership in March with a higher education institution located in the West Bank. Some reports, according to the Crimson, suggest that Harvard may even found a “new conservative research institute” in any deal with the Trump administration.

Other Ivy League schools have made similar steps while resolving their funding disputes with the US federal government.

On Wednesday, Brown University announced that it agreed to pay $50 million and enact a series of reforms put forth by the Trump administration to settle claims involving alleged sex discrimination and antisemitism. The government is rewarding Brown’s propitiating by restoring access to $510 million in federal research grants and contracts it impounded.

Per the agreement, shared by university president Christina Paxson, Brown will provide women athletes locker rooms based on sex, not one’s self-chosen gender identity — a monumental concession by a university that is reputed as one of the most progressive in the country — and adopt the Trump administration’s definition of “male” and “female,” as articulated in a January 2025 executive order issued by Trump. Additionally, Brown has agreed not to “perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child’s appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex.”

Regarding campus antisemitism, the agreement calls for Brown University to reduce anti-Jewish bias on campus by forging ties with local Jewish Day Schools, launching “renewed partnerships with Israeli academics and national Jewish organizations,” and boosting support for its Judaic Studies program. Brown must also conduct a “climate survey” of Jewish students to collect raw data of their campus experiences.

Only days ago, Columbia University agreed to pay over $200 million to settle claims that it exposed Jewish students, faculty, and staff to antisemitic discrimination and harassment — a deal which secures the release of billions of dollars the Trump administration impounded to pressure the institution to address the issue.

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon commented on the resolution, saying it is a “seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”

Claiming a generational achievement for the conservative movement, which has argued for years that progressive bias in higher education is the cause of anti-Zionist antisemitism on college campuses, she added that Columbia has agreed to “discipline student offenders for severe disruptions of campus operations” and “eliminate race preferences from their hiring and mission practicers, and DEI programs that distribute benefits and advantages based on race.”

“Columbia’s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to retain the confidence of the American public by renting their commitment to truth-seeking, merit, and civil debate,” McMahon continued. “I believe they will ripple across the higher education sector and change the course of campus culture for years to come.”

As Harvard debates its future, it continues to be a theater of an unrelenting debate on the Israel-Hamas war and the US-Israel relationship. On Saturday, pro-Hamas protesters instigated their arrests by local law enforcement during an unauthorized demonstration at Harvard Square.

“At least three protesters were pushed to the ground and handcuffed by police officers,” the Harvard Crimson reported on Sunday. “Several protesters were seen pouring water on their eyes, which were red and apparently irritated by a chemical agent.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

A man waves a Palestinian flag as pro-Hamas demonstrators protest next to the Greek parliament, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Athens, Greece, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Haris Doukas, the mayor of the Greek capital city Athens, on Sunday responded to criticism from Israel’s chief diplomat to the country, Ambassador Noam Katz, with charges of genocide against the Jewish state.

In an interview with Greece’s Kathimerini newspaper, Katz said that antisemitic vandalism in Athens had generated concerns among Israeli tourists. He charged that Doukas, a member of the Socialist PASOK party, had failed to counter the “organized” groups responsible for the hateful graffiti. In one example, on July 12, six individuals entered an Israeli restaurant in Athens and sprayed black paint on walls and tables in addition to dropping pamphlets. They spray-painted graffiti with slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here” and posted a sign on one of the restaurant’s windows that read, “All IDF soldiers are war criminals — we don’t want you here,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Doukas pushed back on the accusation, lashing out against Israel.

“We do not accept lessons in democracy from those who kill civilians,” he wrote in Greek on X. “Athens, the capital of a democratic country, fully respects its visitors and supports the right of free expression of its citizens.”

Doukas asserted that “as the city’s municipal authority, we have proven our active opposition to violence and racism and we do not accept lessons in democracy from those who kill civilians and children in food lines, from those who lead dozens of people to death every day in Gaza, from bombs, hunger and thirst.”

The mayor rejected Katz’s charge of tolerating antisemitic crimes.

“It is appalling that Mr. Ambassador focuses only on graffiti (which is apparently being erased), while an unprecedented genocide is taking place in Gaza,” Doukas wrote. “I should also inform Mr. Ambassador that in the last year the number of Israelis granted Greek Golden Visas has increased by over 90%.”

The mayor’s comments came days after the coach of Israel’s national soccer team, Ran Ben Shimon, was physically assaulted by a pro-Palestinian activist who also shouted “Free Palestine” at him in Athens last month before a match between Hapoel Be’er Sheva and their Greek rivals AEK Athens. During the match, anti-Israel soccer fans throughout the stadium loudly chanted “F–k you Israel. Viva [Free] Palestine,” as seen in multiple videos from the scene that were later shared on social media. AEK Athens fans also raised numerous Palestinian flags in the stadium.

Then last week, anti-Israel protesters clashed with Greek riot police on the island of Rhodes as they attempted to block an Israeli cruise ship — the MS Crown Iris, owned by Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime — from docking at the island’s main port. The incident came one week after protesters prevented hundreds of Israeli passengers from disembarking the same cruise ship near the island of Syros.

In June, an Israeli tourist was attacked by a group of pro-Palestinian activists after they overheard him using Google Maps in Hebrew while navigating through Athens. When the attackers realized the victim was speaking Hebrew, they began physically assaulting him while shouting antisemitic slurs.

Last year, a mob of pro-Hamas demonstrators attempted to break into a hotel where Israeli tourists were staying in Athens, leading Greek police to deploy gas grenades to disperse the crowd and restore order.

“We reiterate that criticism of the government of Israel, no matter how severe, does not constitute antisemitic behavior,” the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece said in a statement on June 19. “However, the sweeping, ahistorical, and categorical characterizations of Israeli citizens as murderers, Nazis, and unwelcome in Greece is a vulgar and unacceptable hate-filled rhetoric that threatens the well-being of Greek Jewish citizens and endangers the safety of foreign citizens of Jewish faith who, for any reason, reside in or visit our country.”

The Jewish communal group called upon “the State, regional, and municipal authorities to condemn these phenomena and take all necessary measures to protect the lives of Greek citizens of Jewish faith as well as the Jewish visitors. It is imperative that a clear message of zero tolerance be sent against the rising tide of Judeophobia in our country, which unquestionably leads to antisemitism. History teaches us that antisemitism may begin by targeting the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews. It undermines the values of freedom and culture of the entire society.”

Greece features both one of the lowest Jewish populations in Europe —5,000, mostly based in Athens —and one of the continent’s highest levels of antisemitism.

According to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) update released in January to its annual Global 100 survey of antisemitism levels by country, 50 percent of adults — 4.3 million people — embrace at least six antisemitic stereotypes, what the longtime watchdog group defines as possessing “antisemitic attitudes.” This ranks Greece at 74 out of 103 countries in levels of antisemitism, with lower numbers indicating lower levels of hate against Jews. The ADL’s data shows elevated levels of antisemitism among those 35-49 (56 percent) and over 50 (55 percent) while individuals 18-34 reached 34 percent.

In comparison, Greece’s northeast neighbor Bulgaria reached a 45-percent rate with 2.6 million of its citizens embracing antisemitic attitudes, while nearby Italy (a roughly two-hour flight from Athens to Rome) reached a 26-percent level, or 13.1 million people. The Institute for Jewish Policy Research reports a “core” Jewish population in Italy of 26,800 and a “Law of Return” Jewish population of 48,910. This indicates that while Italy includes a higher Jewish population, its per capita rate of Jews to the broader population (approximately 59 million people) is lower.