Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Democratic New York City mayoral primary debate, June 4, 2025, in New York, US. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Pool via REUTERS

During Wednesday night’s New York City Democratic mayoral debate, Zohran Mamdani once again refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, sparking immediate backlash among the other candidates. 

In one of the final questions of the debate, moderator David Ushery asked the candidates which foreign country they plan on visiting first if they become mayor of New York City. Several candidates — Andrew Cuomo, Adrienne Adams, and Whitney Tilson — responded that they would visit Israel on behalf of the city if elected. 

Mamdani stated that he would focus on addressing issues within New York City rather than venturing out of the country. 

Melissa Russo, another one of the moderators, pressed Mamdani on whether he would “visit Israel” if he becomes mayor. 

“As the mayor, I will be standing up for Jewish New Yorkers, and I will be meeting them wherever they are across the five boroughs. Whether that’s in their synagogues and temples or at their homes or at the subway platform,” Mamdani said. 

“Do you believe in a Jewish state of Israel?” Russo asked Mamdani.

“I believe that Israel has a right to exist,” Mamdani said.

“As a Jewish state?” Russo pressed. 

“As a state with equal rights,” Mamdani responded. 

Cuomo interjected, arguing that Mamdani’s response indicates that he does not believe Israel has a right to continue “as a Jewish state” and that the progressive firebrand “will not visit Israel.”

“I believe that every state should be a state of equal rights,” Mamdani continued. 

In the closing stretch of the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, Mamdani’s views on Israel and antisemitism have been increasingly scrutinized. Mamdani, a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organization, has been under pressure by anti-Israel activists to adopt a more adversarial posture against the Jewish state. 

Moreover, the progressive city official also sparked outrage after engaging in a series of provocative actions, such as appearing on the podcast of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas influencer Hasan Piker and vowing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  

During an event hosted by the UJA-Federation of New York last month, Mamdani also declined to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“I believe that Israel has a right to exist with equal rights for all,” Mamdani said in a carefully worded response when asked, sidestepping the issue of Israel’s existence specifically as a “Jewish state.”

He also expressed support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — an initiative which seeks to economically isolate Israel as the first step toward its eventual destruction — arguing that Israel has violated Palestinian human rights.

“My support for BDS is consistent with my core politics, which is non-violence. And I think that it is a legitimate movement when you are seeking to find compliance with international law, and I think we have seen the Israeli government be out of compliance with international law,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career. A self-described democratic socialist, he has both advanced state legislation seeking to punish Israel and labeled the Jewish state’s defensive military operations in Gaza a “genocide.”

New York City, which is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, has experienced a major spike in antisemitic incidents since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

The post Zohran Mamdani Refuses to Say Israel Has a Right to Exist ‘As a Jewish State’ During NYC Mayoral Debate first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Illustrative: Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators from the Midwest gather in support of Palestinians and hold a rally and march through the Loop in Chicago on Oct. 21, 2023. Photo: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

The Wissahickon School District (WSD) in Ambler, Pennsylvania is presenting as fact an anti-Zionist account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to its K-12 students by using it as the basis for courses taken by honors students, The Algemeiner has learned.

“On May 14, 1948, Israel declared itself an independent nation: Based on a [United Nations] Mandate but not supported by other countries in the region; Recognized by the US and much of the non-Arab world; Expelled up to 750,000 Palestinians from their land, an event called ‘al-Nakba,’” says the material, provided by virtual learning platform Edgenuity, which implies that Israel is a settler-colonial state — a false assertion promoted by neo-Nazis and jihadist terror groups.

“Nakba,” the Arabic term for “catastrophe,” is used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Based on documents obtained by The Algemeiner, the material does not seemingly detail the varied reasons for Palestinian Arabs leaving the nascent State of Israel at the time, including that they were encouraged by Arab leaders to flee their homes to make way for the invading Arab armies. Nor does it appear to explain that some 850,000 Jews were forced to flee or expelled from Middle Eastern and North African countries in the 20th century, especially in the aftermath of Israel’s declaring independence.

“The creation of the State of Israel sparked a series of conflicts between Israel and Arab nations,” says the presentation, which is used for the Honors World Studies B course.

Another module reviewed by The Algemeiner contains a question based on a May 15, 1948, statement from The Arab League — a group of countries which adamantly opposed Jewish immigration to the region in the years leading up to the establishment of the State of Israel and refused to condemn antisemitic violence Arabs perpetrated against Jewish refugees — after Israel declared its independence. The passage denies that Jews faced antisemitic indignities when the land was administered by the Ottoman Empire, a notion that is inconsistent with the historical record, and asserts that “Arab inhabitants” are “the lawful owners of the country.”

Following the passage, students are asked to agree with its contents as a prerequisite for proceeding to the next module. That means selecting as the correct answer the choice which says “the creation of Israel failed to consider Arab interests.”

The course content is an outrage, Steve Rosenberg of the North American Values Institute (NAVI) told The Algemeiner during an interview, stressing that the content’s appearing in a K-12 setting is an example of far-left ideologies creeping into US public schools.

“It manifests itself as antisemitism, but this really represents the illiberal woke DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] taking over public school curriculum,” Rosenberg said. “We all talk about the tunnels that Hamas built from Gaza into Israel, and Hezbollah from the north into Israel, but they also built tunnels leading into America — and have done so through our schools.”

NAVI’s stated mission is to ensure K-12 education “remains focused on unity, excellence, and equal opportunity for all students” while combating “divisive ideologies” and championing “North American values” such as freedom and opportunity.

“Through our work at NAVI we have seen that there are more teacher trainings on the pro-Palestinian, or pro-Hamas, side of things and we can’t keep up,” Rosenberg explained. “School administrators and school boards are ignoring this because they either don’t wish to take the fight on, don’t know how to take the fight on, or are part of the problem.”

One parent — who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that she be allowed to speak anonymously because her young child still attends school in the Pennsylvania district — told The Algemeiner that antisemitism in WSD has long been a problem and that its inclusion in the curriculum will lead to more anti-Jewish violence, such as last month when a far-left and anti-Israel activist gunned down two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, as they were leaving a Jewish museum event.

“Since we raised this issue, parents have sent us more and more anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian curricula, and as we saw with the murders right in the middle of Washington DC, it’s clear that people are being radicalized,” the parent said. “I feel that our efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion have conveniently excluded Jews, and that’s coming to a head now because there is now more antisemitism in the world than there is against any other group of people. But the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have not adapted, nor have any plans to adapt, to this new world in which we live.”

They continued, “I feel isolated. So many people are content putting their heads in the sand and pretending this isn’t happening. All I want is for my children to receive an education free of anyone’s personal political views. Here, we have this very far-left school board. They just don’t get it, and they’ve made no efforts to get it.”

The parent added that the school district holds events which celebrate the cultures of every minority group except Jews. Presiding in part over this alleged erasure of the Jewish community is the new incoming superintendent, Dr. Mwenyewe Dawan, who has served as assistant superintendent for the past few years. Dawan has been accused of fostering antisemitism while maintaining questionable associations, according to NAVI.

“Our research has shown that Dr. Dawan has a very close relationship with Keziah Ridgeway, a teacher who was essentially put in the rubber room after threatening Jewish parents with actual physical threats of gun violence on social media,” Rosenberg said. “She and Dr. Dawan have been classmates and schoolmates, and we know that Dr. Dawan has refused to meet with the Jewish parents she abused.”

Ridgeway, a history and anthropology teacher in Philadelphia who promoted anti-Israel activism in the classroom, was placed on administrative last year for social media posts alluding to violence against certain Jewish parents whose names she allegedly posted on social media. Supporters of Ridgeway argue she was the victim of a smear campaign.

“Our goal is to work with parents and try to help them with answers and with strategy around how to deal with the administration,” Rosenberg said. “There is a very unfavorable school board here, they have no real governance, and because there are no term limits, its officers can be in office for pretty much as long as they want.”

Writing to The Algemeiner, WSD said it has “no comment” about the anti-Zionist course materials and any allegations accusing Dawan of misconduct.

Antisemitism in K-12 schools is receiving increased attention, notably in California, after years of falling under the radar.

In March, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a civil rights complaint which recounted the experience of a 12-year-old Jewish girl who was allegedly assaulted on the grounds of the Etiwanda School District in San Bernardino, California — being beaten with a stick, told to “shut your Jewish ass up,” and teased with jokes about Hitler. According to the court filings, one student admitted that the behavior was motivated by the victim’s being Jewish. Despite receiving several complaints about the treatment, a substantial amount of which occurred in the classroom, school officials allegedly declined to punish her tormentors.

“While an increasing number of schools recognize that their Jewish students are being targeted both for their religious beliefs and due to their ancestral connection to Israel, and are taking necessary steps to address both classic and contemporary forms of antisemitism, some shamefully continue to turn a blind eye,” Brandeis Center founder and chairman Kenneth Marcus said in a statement at the time of the filing.

Additionally new Anti-Defamation League (ADL) research — produced by its Ratings & Assessment Institute and the Center to Combat Antisemitism in Education — shows a surge of antisemitic incidents on K-12 campuses in recent years. As previously mentioned in the organization’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, 1,162 such incidents occurred in 2023 and 860 occurred in 2024. Since 2020, antisemitic outrages at K-12 schools have increased by 434 percent.

As parts of its research, the ADL conducted surveys and focus groups to get a better sense of the problem in K-12 private and independent schools, which are the main focus of the civil rights group’s new initiative because they “operate outside of the direct oversight of public education systems, meaning they typically have greater autonomy in shaping their curricula, policies, and disciplinary procedures, which can lead to inconsistent responses to antisemitism.”

Among surveyed school parents, 25.2 percent said their children had experienced or witnessed antisemitic symbols in school since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the ADL’s recently unveiled findings. Perhaps more striking, 45.3 percent of surveyed parents reported that their children had experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, and 31.7 percent said their children had “experienced or witnessed problematic school curricula or classroom content related to Jews or Israel.”

Parents are displeased with schools’ handling of the issue, the ADL said. Focus groups told its experts that schools decline to denounce antisemitism or resort to denying altogether that it is fostering a negative learning environment which causes student discomfort and precipitous declines in academic performance. In a poll, over a third of parents have said their local school’s response “was either somewhat or very inadequate.”

Moreover, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which were purportedly meant to improve race relations, abstain from recognizing antisemitism as a form of hatred meriting a focused response from administrators. The Algemeiner has previously reported that many of those programs also ignore antisemitism because they actively contribute to spreading it. Due to this, schools often lack authority figures who understand antisemitism, its subtle and overt variations, leaving Jewish students with no recourse when they become victims of hate.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Pennsylvania School District Pushes Anti-Zionist Talking Points in Honors History Course Curriculum first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has sent a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, along with other top state and city officials, demanding an investigation into an alleged spate of antisemitic incidents occurring at the Park Slope Food Co-Op in Brooklyn. 

According to the letter, Jewish and Israeli members of the community have experienced “verbal harassment, including antisemitic slurs and threatening behavior” by employees of the co-op in the 19 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Torres also wrote that members of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — an initiative which aims to economically isolate Israel as a step toward its eventual destruction — have attempted to “capture the co-op’s governance structure and advance an ideological agenda of anti-Zionist exclusion.”

Co-op employees reportedly told a Jewish community member that they “smelled like Palestinian children’s blood,” in one incident outlined by Torres. Another non-Jewish community member was “verbally berated and intimidated” for wearing a “culturally Israeli food costume.”

Moreover, community members allege that the co-op’s Dispute Resolution Committee and Agenda Committee has been overtaken by supporters of the anti-Israel BDS movement. These committee members “selectively enforce” rules in a way which unfairly targets Jewish and Israeli individuals, according to Torres.

“The cumulative effect is the creation of a hostile environment for Jews, particularly those who affirm a connection to the Jewish homeland,” the letter states.

Torres has requested that top state and city officials approve a “thorough investigation by both the New York State Division of Human Rights and the New York City Commission on Human Rights” to uncover the alleged antisemitic conduct at the Park Slope Food Co-op. 

“Discriminatory movements like BDS will find no refuge in the State or City of New York. Jewish New Yorkers are no exception to the rule against discrimination and no less entitled to dignity, safety, and equality in our civic life,” the letter reads.

Joe Holtz, co-founder of the food co-op, told the New York Post that the organization “is against discrimination of any kind” and declined further comment.

A spokesperson for Adams said New York City intends to review “the troubling events at the co-op” and will respond to Torres.

“Mayor Adams has been clear that far too often we see antisemitic propaganda masquerading as activism, and it has led to an unacceptable rise in antisemitism throughout our city and country,” mayoral spokeswoman Sophia Askari told the Post. “This is on full display in incidents at the Park Slope Food Co-op — where Jewish people are being harassed simply for being Jewish.”

New York City specifically has been ravaged by a surge in antisemitic incidents in the 19 months following the Oct. 7 onslaught, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. According to police data, Jews were targeted in the majority of hate crimes perpetrated in the city last year. Pro-Hamas activists have held raucous — and sometimes violent — protests on the city’s college campuses, oftentimes causing Jewish students to fear for their safety.

The post Ritchie Torres Urges Investigation Into Popular New York City Food Co-Op Over Alleged Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.