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North Carolina Lawmaker Accused of Antisemitism for Repeated Attacks on ‘Zios,’ Israel
Raleigh City Council member Mary Black. Photo: Screenshot
A member of the Raleigh City Council in North Carolina who recently filed for re-election has come under fire for regularly attacking Israel and Zionists, despite her job having no apparent responsibilities concerning Middle Eastern affairs.
Mary Black, 30, describes herself as “an intersectional environmentalist” — which, she told a local newspaper, “requires me to evaluate all issues through a justice and equity lens.” The lawmaker’s intense focus on the world’s lone Jewish state and its supporters has fueled accusations of antisemitism, with local Jewish and even fellow progressive leaders questioning why she is spending a disproportionate amount of her time concerned with such issues rather than the needs of her constituents.
Black has notably been outspoken on the issue of Israel and the Palestinians at Raleigh City Council meetings, publicly accusing other council members of “looking for any reason” to shut down conversation on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire resolution. During the time a ceasefire resolution was before the council, Black posted on Threads, a social media platform similar to X/Twitter: “I was gifted a kuffiyeh tonight for pushing a ceasefire vote. It’s red. I’m happy.” The Gaza ceasefire resolution did not pass.
Beyond pushing to focus on Israel at City Council meetings, Black has also shared images and videos of herself on Threads speaking at a local pro-Palestinian rally with the comment, “I am the only City Councilor to speak publicly in support of Palestine…#Free Palestine.” Black introduced herself at the rally this way: “My name is Mary Black. I am a Raleigh City Council member.”
Black later took to Threads to complain about someone taking issue with her speaking at the event. “Someone just emailed my city email and wanted to discuss why I spoke at a ceasefire rally,” she posted. “I told them that’s not an appropriate use of my city time (also just no).”
The local lawmaker has shown her anti-Israel activism most frequently on social media. Using the name @mary.poppinn, Black is active on Threads, where she regularly derides Israel and its supporters.
In a post about Israel invoking the Holocaust, Black wrote on Threads: “Imagine. To survive a death camp, find liberation, just to then slaughter, rape, and massacre men, women, and children for land without remorse is the definition of unhealed trauma.” The lawmaker appeared to be comparing Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians with the Nazis’ systematic murder of six million Jews during World War II.
In 2022, Black was endorsed by the Wake County Democratic Party.
The Algemeiner reached out to the party for additional information and comment for this story. However, hours after making this request, this author was blocked from reading Black’s Threads account. Sources sent The Algemeiner Black’s next post in which she complained about being “canceled” by the media
In other social media posts, Black has used the hateful, pejorative term “zios” as well as “xionist” and “zionologists.”
A column in the New York Times pointed out that “Zio” is “an insult used by the Ku Klux Klan.” A column in The Forward, a progressive Jewish publication, stated that “Zio” is “a pejorative brought into prominence by former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and often deployed by white supremacists.”
However, while the term has generally been deployed by far-right extremists, it has more recently been used as well by anti-Israel activists on the progressive far left. A column in the Jewish Journal explained that “Zio” is a “derogatory code word for Jews invented by white supremacists. Despite its right-wing extremist roots, the term has been re-popularized by anti-Israel activists, normalizing violent antisemitic vernacular among self-identified progressives.”
Such language “incites hatred and hatred leads to violence,” Raleigh resident and Jewish community leader Dr. Michael Ross told The Algemeiner.
Meanwhile, Dr. Adam Goldstein, a local Democratic leader, told The Algemeiner that Black’s “support of violence, against Israel, against Zionists, against Jews, and even against political opponents displays blatant antisemitism and is an embarrassment to the people of Raleigh.”
In June, Black shared a post on Threads severely critical of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, in which she commented, “F—k yeah” before signing her post “-a city councilor.”
Black recently announced having received the endorsement of the newly formed Solidarity with Humanity, which describes itself as “North Carolina’s first and only grassroots political action committee (PAC) building power for Palestinian freedom.”
Black recently attended the group’s fundraiser billed as “Raleigh United for Gaza” with a stated goal of raising funds “to support local political campaigns who oppose genocide and stand with Palestinian freedom.” Raleigh City Council member Christina Jones also attended and was endorsed by the PAC.
Raleigh City council members Mary Black, right, and Christina Jones. Photo: Screenshot
Black shared a picture on Threads of herself addressing the fundraiser while local Hamas supporter Rania Masri stood behind her.
As The Algemeiner reported in November, Masri spoke at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill declaring that Oct. 7 — when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and perpetrated the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — “was a beautiful day” and expressing pride and admiration for Hamas and their paragliders. Masri went on to “demand the eradication of Zionism.” In addition, Masri posted a video on Facebook that called Hamas fighters “heroes.”
Black has shared several videos of herself speaking at a local pro-Palestinian rally standing with Masri.
A Political Committee Disclosure Report filed by Solidarity with Humanity in July indicates that Masri has made 10 recent “in kind” contributions to the organization’s PAC which endorsed Raleigh City Council members Black and Jones.
During her 2022 campaign, Black announced that her campaign was “free from toxic money.”
Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue, the largest congregation in Raleigh, lambasted Black for adopting a “pro-Hamas” position, noting her district has a significant Jewish population.
“Council Member Mary Black represents District A which includes the largest Jewish population of any district in Raleigh as well as two synagogues,” Solomon, a political progressive, told The Algemeiner. “I have no issue with Black’s concern for Palestinian suffering; I too empathize with the plight of innocent Palestinians. But after the greatest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust and during an unprecedented rise in antisemitism including hate-filled incidents in her own district, she is more focused on the war on Gaza than the well-being of residents in her district.”
Solomon continued, “Her [Black’s] one-sided, pro-Hamas statements are not only ill-informed; they are a direct source of incitement. How can it be that our City Council representative, the one who is supposed to ‘represent’ us, is one of the greatest threats to my community’s safety? I find her unwillingness to support the District A Jewish community during this time to be profoundly negligent at best, and overtly antisemitic at worst.”
Beyond the Jewish community, Black has invited scrutiny, declaring on social media, “I am an elected official desperately asking you to hold us accountable…Vote us out if you have to.”
Last year, Black made a post on Threads that some community members described to The Algemeiner as a possible dog whistle for violence.
“Yes propaganda is expensive but not if we keep sending them billions of dollars for war machines,” she wrote. “We need another step beyond being vocal, beyond protest, beyond boycotts, I think we know exactly what it is too but we’re just too scared or maybe too colonized mentally to say it.”
On July 14, Black shared on Threads a caricature of former US President Donald Trump with a bloody face, having just survived an assassination attempt. The messages included with the image read, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” and “BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.”
Black recently called supporters of Trump “maggots.”
Mitchell Silver, former New York City Parks Commissioner and Raleigh Chief Planner, has announced he is running for the Raleigh City Council seat currently held by Black.
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
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China and Egypt Launch Joint Military Drills Near Israeli Border Amid Rising Regional Tensions

China and Egypt have launched their first-ever joint air force drill, “Eagles of Civilization 2025,” at an Egyptian airbase. Photo: Screenshot
China and Egypt launched a large-scale joint military exercise this week near the Israeli border, described by Chinese media as a “historic” first of its kind, aimed at deepening military cooperation amid rising regional tensions.
The joint drills — dubbed “Eagles of Civilization 2025” — began Sunday at an Egyptian Air Force base about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Gulf of Suez and are expected to run through mid-May.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, the drill features Chinese J-10C fighter jets, refueling planes, and KJ-500 early warning aircraft, along with Russian-made MiG-29s flown by Egypt.
This exercise “is the first joint training between the Chinese and Egyptian militaries, which is of great significance to promoting pragmatic cooperation and enhancing mutual trust and friendship between the two militaries,” the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
Egyptian officials said the joint drills, aimed at strengthening military ties, will combine theoretical and practical training to enhance combat doctrines.
“The training will also involve joint aerial sorties, planning exercises, and simulated air combat management operations to exchange expertise and enhance the skills of the participating forces,” an Egyptian armed forces spokesperson said in a statement on social media.
Some experts view Beijing’s growing relationship with Cairo as the country’s latest move to expand its military presence in the Middle East and Africa, challenging the United States as its influence in the region stalls. This move could also help China strengthen ties with regional partners as the country faces mounting economic sanctions from Washington.
While details about Egypt’s military buildup remain unclear, “satellite images have shown the movement of tanks and battalions that exceed the limits set by the Camp David Accords,” Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told The Algemeiner.
Under the peace treaty, Egypt can request permission from Israel to deploy more than the 47 battalions allowed. However, some estimates suggest that there are currently camps for 180 battalions.
“The Camp David Accords have long been a pillar of peace and stability in the Middle East,” Wahba explained. “A breakdown of the agreement would have serious implications, not just for Israel and Egypt but for the broader region.”
“It could embolden actors like Iran and its proxies to exploit tensions and could lead to increased militarization along Israel’s southern border,” Wahba told The Algemeiner.
Egypt’s military buildup, reportedly in response to Israel’s presence at the Philadelphi Corridor and concerns over a potential mass Palestinian exodus into the country, along with Jerusalem’s control of the corridor, could both breach the 1979 peace treaty.
Last month, China, Russia, and Iran held a three-day naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, conducting joint operations in Iranian territorial waters, strengthening their defense cooperation and bolstering their presence in the region.
China’s growing ties with Egypt come at a time when Egyptian relations with Washington are strained, following US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip — potentially to Egypt and other Arab countries — during reconstruction efforts after the war, a plan Cairo has strongly opposed.
“This is a reminder that our partners have options,” Former US CENTCOM Commander Gen. Joseph Votel told The War Zone. “China is positioning itself as a viable military supplier and strategic partner” in the region.
In a rapidly shifting Middle East marked by rising tensions and competing regional power blocs, China and Egypt’s deepening cooperation could reshape regional power dynamics, challenging American influence and diminishing Israel’s strategic flexibility.
Israeli defense officials have previously expressed growing concern over Cairo’s military buildup and armed presence in the Sinai Peninsula.
These concerns come amid escalating tensions between Jerusalem and Cairo since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, particularly over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, where Egypt has demanded Israel withdraw its forces.
Earlier this year, Jerusalem accused Egypt of violating their decades-old peace treaty, while also raising concerns about Cairo’s expanding defense capabilities.
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Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Blast Sanders as ‘Genocide Denier’

US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to the media following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US, July 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has been targeted by left-wing protesters over his supposedly insufficient support for Gaza.
Pro-Palestine activists crashed one of Sanders’s “The Fighting Oligarchy” rallies in Bakersfield, California last week to grill the senator about his position on the Israel-Hamas war. During Sanders’s speech, activists associated with United Liberation Front for Palestine (ULFP) berated Sanders for his reluctance in accusing Israel of committing so-called “genocide” against the civilians of Gaza.
“Are you going to call it a genocide, when it’s a genocide?” the activist bellowed.
“And you defend Israel when Palestinians are being killed every single day and all you do is criticize Netanyahu! Israel does not have a right to exist or fight while Palestinians are dying,” she continued.
Other protesters then interrupted Sanders’s speech, condemning the progressive lawmaker as a “liberal Zionist,” accusing him of being “complicit with ICE,” and castigating him for voting in favor of the confirmation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Bernie, why don’t you let your fans know that you’re a settler, that you occupy Palestinian land?” the activist said.
Sanders does not possess dual citizenship with Israel. However, rumors about Sanders, who is Jewish, possessing Israeli citizenship have circulated around the internet since his 2015 presidential campaign.
In recent weeks, anti-Israel protesters have grown increasingly critical of Sanders over his refusal to adopt more adversarial rhetoric against the Jewish state. Last week, Sanders incensed progressives after authorities removed an activist which unfurled a flag reading “free Palestine” during a tour stop in Idaho.
During that rally, Sanders said, “Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from terrorism, but it does not have the right to wage all out war against the Palestinian people” and “not one more nickel to Netanyahu,” triggering more outrage among his leftist supporters.
Sanders, who is among the most vocal critics of the Israel-Hamas war in the federal government, spearheaded a number of failed efforts to implement a partial arms embargo on the Jewish state, citing supposed “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza. However, progressive activists have grown increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with Sanders’s position on Israel, complaining that the senator has isolated his criticisms to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has refused to repudiate Israel’s existence.
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Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Massive Cuts Amid Campus Antisemitism Crisis

US President Donald Trump, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attend a cabinet meeting at the White House. Photo: Nathan Howard via Reuters Connect.
Harvard University filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday to request an injunction that would halt the government’s impounding of $2.26 billion of its federal grants and contracts and an additional $1 billion that, reportedly, will be confiscated in the coming days.
In the complaint, shared by interim university president Alan Garber, Harvard says the administration bypassed key procedural steps it must, by law, take before sequestering any federal funds. It also charges that the Trump administration does not aim, as it has publicly pledged, to combat campus antisemitism at Harvard but to impose “viewpoint-based conditions on Harvard’s funding.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the administration has proposed that Harvard reform in ways that conservatives have long argued will make higher education more meritocratic and less welcoming to anti-Zionists and far-left extremists. Its “demands,” contained in a letter the administration sent to Garber — who subsequently released it to the public — called for “viewpoint diversity in hiring and admissions,” the “discontinuation of [diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives],” and “reducing forms of governance bloat.” They also implore Harvard to begin “reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism” and to recalibrate its approach to “student discipline.”
Harvard rejects the administration’s coupling of campus antisemitism with longstanding grievances regarding elite higher education’s “wokeness,” elitism, and overwhelming bias against conservative ideast. Republican lawmakers, for their part, have maintained that it is futile to address campus antisemitism while ignoring the context in which it emerged.
Speaking for the university, Harvard’s legal team — which includes attorneys with links to US President Donald Trump’s inner circle — denounced any larger reform effort as intrusive.
“The First Amendment does not permit the Government to ‘interfere with private actors’ speech to advance its own vision of ideological balance,” they wrote in the complaint, which names several members and agencies of the administration but not Trump as a defendant. “Nor may the government ‘rely on the ‘threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion … to achieve the suppression of disfavored speech.’ The government’s attempt to coerce and control Harvard disregards these fundamental First Amendment principles, which safeguard Harvard’s ‘academic freedom.’”
The complaint continued, arguing that the impounding of funds “flout not just the First Amendment, but also federal laws and regulations” and says that Harvard should have been investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to determine whether it failed to stop and, later, prevent antisemitism in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — a finding that would have warranted punitive measures. Rather, it charges, the Trump administration imposed a “sweeping freeze of funding” that, it contends, “has nothing at all to do with antisemitism and Title VI compliance.”
Garber followed up the complaint with an exaltation of limited government and the liberal values which further academia’s educational mission — values Harvard has been accused of failing to uphold for decades.
“We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” Garber said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “That is how we achieve academic excellence, safeguard open inquiry and freedom of speech, and conduct pioneering research — and how we advance the boundless exploration that propels our nation and its people into a better future.”
For some, Harvard’s allegations against the Trump administration are hollow.
“Claiming that the entire institution is exempt from any oversight or intervention is extraordinary,” Alex Joffe, anthropologist and editor of BDS Monitor for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “It would seem to claim, at least by extension, that the government cannot enforce laws regarding equal protection for individuals — namely students in minority groups — and other legal and regulatory frameworks because they jeopardize the institution’s academic freedom.”
He continued, “Moreover, the idea that cutting voluntary government funding is de facto denial of free speech also sounds exaggerated if not absurd. If an institution doesn’t want to be subjected to certain requirements in a relationship entered into voluntarily with the government, they shouldn’t take the money. Modifying a contract after the fact, however, might be another issue … At one level the Trump administration is simply doing what Obama and Biden did with far less controversy, issuing directives and threatening lawsuits and funding. But the substance of the proposed oversight, especially the intrusiveness with respect to curricular affairs, has obviously touched a nerve.”
Harvard’s fight with the federal government is backed by its immense wealth, and the school has been drawing on its vast financial resources to build a war chest for withstanding Trump’s budget cuts since March, when it issued over $450 million in bonds as “part of ongoing contingency planning for a range of financial circumstances.” Another $750 million in bonds was offered to investors in April, according to The Harvard Crimson, a sale that is being managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
A generous subsidy protects Harvard from paying exorbitant interest on the new debt, as investors can sell most bonds issued by educational institutions without being required to pay federal income tax.
Other universities have resorted to borrowing as well, issuing what was reportedly a record $12.4 billion municipal bonds, some of which are taxable, during the first quarter of 2025. Among those which chose to take on debt are Northwestern University, which was defunded to the tune of $790 million on April 8. It issued $500 million in bonds in March. Princeton University, recently dispossessed of $210 in federal grants, is preparing an offering of $320 million, according to Forbes.
“If Harvard is willing to mortgage it’s real estate or use it as collateral, it can borrow money for a very long time,” National Association of Scholars president Peter Wood told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “But it could destroy itself that way.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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