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North Carolina Lawmakers at Risk of Losing Re-Election Over Virulent Anti-Israel Activism
Raleigh City council members Mary Black, right, and Christina Jones. Photo: Screenshot
Two City Council members seeking re-election in Raleigh, North Carolina — Christina Jones and Mary Black — are in danger of losing their seats due to widespread concerns from the Jewish community and prominent local Democrats over their history of attacking Israel and working closely with pro-Hamas activist Rania Masri, despite their jobs having no apparent responsibilities concerning Middle Eastern affairs.
On Nov. 28, Masri spoke at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where she referred to Oct. 7 — when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and perpetrated the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — as “a beautiful day.” Masri demanded “the eradication of Zionism” and added, “We know that one of the most powerful places we can exert our influence is the city councils.” Masri then mentioned the importance of bringing her activism to the Raleigh City Council.
In December, Masri posted a video on Facebook that called Hamas “our heroes.”
Jones and Black — along with Masri — are widely viewed as leading several failed efforts to have the Raleigh City Council pass a one-sided, anti-Israel ceasefire resolution to stop the war in Gaza.
A local news network reported at the time, “Jones says while she can’t promise a ceasefire resolution, she wants to make sure this comes up before her colleagues as much as possible.” A local newspaper reported that during one of the council meetings on the issue, Jones chanted slogans such as “Free, free Palestine” along with other anti-Israel activists. In the end, the ceasefire resolution did not pass.
Raleigh residents and Jewish leaders are appalled that Jones was photographed publicly embracing Masri in January following a Raleigh City Council meeting in which speakers spent almost four hours targeting Israel — the only Jewish-majority country in the world.
“It is sickening to me to see Christina Jones, a member of the Raleigh City Council, embracing Rania Masri, who called Oct. 7 ‘a beautiful day,’” Marcia Harris — a Raleigh resident, Jewish leader, and retired UNC administrator — told The Algemeiner.
Stefanie Mendell, a former Raleigh City Council member who held the same seat currently occupied by Jones, told The Algemeiner that she was once a “huge supporter” of Jones, having worked to place about 800 election signs for her initial campaign and having hosted, with a friend, a “meet and greet” for the local politician. Mendell now opposes Jones’s candidacy for re-election.
In a Sept. 7 email to her large mailing list, Mendell endorsed Jones’s opponent, John Cerqueira.
“Where Christina [Jones] has been particularly active is in international issues that council has no ability to influence. She has promoted divisiveness in the community with her flagrant support of Palestinian demonstrators, including her public embrace of Rania Masri who has called Oct. 7 a ‘beautiful day’ in praising Hamas’s terrorist attacks on innocent civilians,” Mendell wrote.
“Christina insisted on trying to push through a one-sided ceasefire resolution despite calls from her Jewish constituents to refrain from involvement in a very complex issue that she clearly doesn’t fully understand,” Mendell continued. “Christina encouraged Palestinian demonstrators to continue coming to council meetings despite their intimidation of speakers with whom they disagreed. The inordinate amount of time devoted to this resulted in many Raleigh residents opting to forego their opportunity to address council — both because of the intimidating atmosphere and because of the time restrictions imposed as a result of the huge turnout of people speaking on issues that council has no ability to influence.”
Mendell concluded, “In sum, Christina has not lived up to her campaign promises and has disrespected a large segment of her constituency.”
Conner Taylor, 2nd vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, told The Algemeiner that Jones’s public embrace of Masri is now “infamous” and a “slap in the face” to the Jewish community.
Jones and Black were both recently endorsed by Solidarity with Humanity, which describes itself as “North Carolina’s first and only grassroots political action committee (PAC) building power for Palestinian freedom.” Jones and Black were pictured with a smiling Masri while attending a “Raleigh United for Gaza” fundraiser held by this new PAC. The two lawmakers were also photographed wearing keffiyehs at the event. In addition, Jones has recently donated to the PAC, as has Masri.
In a recent Wake County Democratic Party questionnaire, Jones stated that since Oct. 7 she has met “community members from both sides” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In response, Taylor told The Algemeiner, “I find that very concerning. That she [Jones] would have met with leaders from the Jewish community after Oct. 7, listened to the pain and fear our community is going through, and then still embarked on this very cozy political relationship with someone [Masri] who called Oct. 7 ‘a beautiful day.’”
The Algemeiner has reported extensively on Jones’s colleague on the council, Black, who has used social media in ways such as trivializing the Holocaust, using the antisemitic, white supremacist term “zios,” and dismissing concerns she is antisemitic as being “funny.”
Taylor recently explained to The Algemeiner the “betrayal” felt by the Jewish community observing Black and Masri’s close working relationship, seeing Black pose for photographs with Masri, speak on a panel with the pro-Hamas activist, speak at a fundraiser with Masri standing behind her, and speak at a local rally standing with the controversial figure.
The Wake County Democratic Party — which endorsed Black in 2022 — recently endorsed Black’s opponent, fellow Democrat Mitchell Silver. Political insiders told The Algemeiner that Black now has very little chance of winning her re-election bid. The North Carolina Democratic Party Jewish Caucus also endorsed Silver, as did Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue, the largest congregation in Raleigh.
However, community members, local Democrats, and Jewish leaders are furious that the Wake County Democratic Party — which includes Raleigh — recently endorsed Jones.
Solomon, a political progressive, wrote a widely viewed social media post condemning the decision.
“By endorsing Council Member Christina Jones, whose behavior has been just as abhorrent as Mary Black’s, the Wake County Jewish community’s worst fears were confirmed. Namely, that the local Democratic Party supports candidates who obsessively and singularly criticize Israel,” the rabbi wrote. “Christina Jones has done precious little to honor the trauma the Raleigh Jewish community is experiencing while she continues to embrace outspoken, violence-urging, pro-Hamas organizers like Rania Masri.”
Because of Jones’s endorsement from the Wake County Democratic Party, her re-election bid against fellow Democratic Cerqueira is expected to be close, according to political insiders.
The Algemeiner requested public record emails from the city of Raleigh for Jones and Black that contain keywords such as “Israel” and “Gaza” that were sent or received since Oct. 6. A representative of the city responded, “We’ve run the search you requested, and the volume of results that came back would take a long time for us to process.”
On Sunday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh and two Raleigh synagogues hosted a “Meet the Raleigh City Council Candidates” event where community members could “get to know” the candidates. About 15 candidates attended. Jones and Black were both invited. Neither attended.
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
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Trump Admin’s Crackdown on Universities Over Campus Antisemitism Supported by Most Americans, Poll Shows
College students hold dueling demonstrations amid Israel’s war with Hamas in April 2024. Photo: Vincent Ricci via Reuters Connect.
Most American adults, including college students, support the Trump administration’s cancellation of federal funding to universities which fail to address the campus antisemitism crisis, a new poll commissioned by the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) and conducted by Schoen Cooperman Research has found.
A striking 66 percent of US adults expressed “total support” for cutting federal grants and contracts to higher education institutions that “do not do enough to protect Jewish students or address antisemitism.” Only 34 percent said they “oppose it.”
A strong, but less overwhelming, majority of college students, 56 percent, said they approve of the cuts, compared to 44 percent who oppose them.
Meanwhile, a majority of US adults, 54 percent, indicated support for the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who led raucous anti-Israel campus protests and, according to the federal government, expressed support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Only 25 percent said they oppose his deportation.
College students are more conflicted about the Trump administration’s attempt to deport Khalil, who was an architect of the Hamilton Hall building takeover during the 2023-2024 academic year and organizer of several demonstrations which caused lockdowns at Barnard College this academic year. Forty percent of those surveyed, a plurality, approve of removing him from the US while 37 percent disapprove.
“The American public has sent a clear message: universities must be held accountable for failing to protect Jewish students from discrimination and harassment,” ICC chief executive officer Jacob Baime said in a statement. “Amid a rising crisis of antisemitism, too many academic institutions have neglected their duty.”
He continued, “With 66 percent of US adults and 56 percent of college students supporting the withdrawal of federal funding from schools that tolerate such failures, these findings signal that administrators must act decisively to ensure a safe, inclusive environment for Jewish students.”
The survey was conducted over three days in March, with 1,000 US adults and 450 college students participating.
The survey results come amid US President Donald Trump’s following through on his threat to inflict severe financial injuries on colleges and universities it deems soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.”
In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money.
Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber, to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Additionally, 60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
Trump’s deportation policy has, as indicated by the ICC’s survey results, proved to more controversial and, unlike his cancelling of taxpayer funds, difficult to implement. Khalil’s deportation is being delayed by the courts, and several other foreign anti-Israel activists selected for deportation have retained counsel who are so far staving off US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) efforts to repatriate them to their countries of origin.
Alex Joffe, anthropologist and editor of BDS Monitor for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Algemeiner in March that the administration’s actions are legal and safeguard US interests.
“The Trump administration’s new policy of deporting pro-Hamas demonstrators who are not citizens is an important step toward addressing problems related to Hamas in America,” he explained in a statement. “The Immigration and Naturalization Act clearly gives the Secretary of State the authority to deport aliens on a variety of grounds, including endangering public safety and national security.”
Joffe added that the expatriates selected for deportation violated the conditions of their residency in the US by “giving material support to a designated terrorist group (be it Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Houthis)” and “organizing demonstrations, which have included violence and the destruction of property.” In arguing his position, he pointed to the case of Brown University physician Rasha Alawieh, whom the federal government deported to Lebanon after learning that she had attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, who was the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
“Overall, however, due to the Trump administration’s haphazard messaging, the evidence showing the threats to public safety and national security has been overshadowed by allegations that the deportation policy is an effort to quash free speech and chill public discourse. The terrorist connections and revolutionary motivations of groups such as Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Within Our Lifetime have similarly been ignored by most media. So, too, has the role of their various funders and amplifiers, including left-wing American foundations [and] the Chinese Communist Party” Joffe continued. “The administration’s communications skills need to improve significantly on these issues to provide more detailed information on bad actors, their motivations and backers, and not simply superficialities that stir outrage.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Anti-Israel Activists Who Falsely Accused Washington, DC Rabbi of Stalking Forced to Pay $182K of Legal Bills
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Washington, DC. Photo: Screenshot
Anti-Israel activists who falsely accused a Washington, DC rabbi of stalking were directed to pay his $182,000 of legal bills, according to a recent ruling by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld — who is the former rabbi at Ohev Shalom synagogue and current Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Elimelech in Washington, DC — was falsely accused of stalking two anti-Israel activists in mid-2024 after he prayed outside the Israeli embassy for the hostages taken by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. The activists were seeking a restraining order against Herzfeld.
Atefeh Rochvand and Hazami Barmada staged a months-long protest outside of the embassy, and Herzfeld arrived at the facility three times during their protest. One time was to pray for the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, and two other times were to observe the protests and make comments toward those conducting them.
While Herzfeld was there to pray, an anti-Israel group harassed him — crowding near him, waving flags in his face, and blaring sirens, according to video circulated on social media. They also called him a Nazi.
DC rabbi harassed by pro-Palestinian protesters while praying for hostages wins $182K
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Judge orders pro-Palestinian activists to pay damages to Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld after falsely accusing him of harassment during his prayer vigil for Israeli hostages outside the embassy in… pic.twitter.com/bcdsUn2Daf— Ynetnews (@ynetnews) April 7, 2025
“It was the loudest outdoor scene I’ve ever seen in my life, it was ear-splitting, it was deafening,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “I never saw anything like that in DC.”
The petitioners never alleged that Herzfeld tried to contact or interacted with them on any other occasions. According to the ruling, they even referred to his presence as “hilarious” while he was there.
Videos submitted to the court contradicted the stalking claims that Rochvand and Barmada made against Herzfeld.
“There is no evidence that Respondent [Herzfeld] ever threatened the Petitioners [Rochvand and Barmada],” the ruling read. “There is no evidence that he ever followed, monitored or placed them under surveillance. The only times he ever saw them was at the location of the protests on three occasions (only two with regard to Ms. Rokhvand).”
It continued, “The evidence suggests that his presence on those occasions was not an attempt to locate Petitioners or any other particular individuals; he was going to the embassy to pray, observe the protests and at times (March 21 and May 2) make his own comments regarding the protests.”
Nevertheless, Rochvand and Barmada wrote in a comment to The Daily Wire that they “were shocked by the tone and findings outlined in the subsequent order granting outrageous legal fees. Albeit ultimately deemed ‘protected speech,’ the evidence at trial showed Rabbi Herzfeld and his cohorts, on multiple occasions, came inappropriately close to females and made offensive and vile remarks to intimidate them.”
One of these comments, they said, was when Herzfeld asked them, “Why do you support the raping of innocent women?” — likely referring to the gender-based sexual violence that took place during Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack across southern Israel.
The judge commented, “The Petitioners may very well have been offended by what the Respondent said on May 2, just as the Respondent was likely offended when Petitioner Barmada called him a Nazi and a supporter of terrorizing children on March 21, 2024.” He concluded, “These comments, while offensive, are constitutionally protected.”
Due to the false nature of the anti-Israel activists’ claims, the court ruled they had to pay Herzfeld’s legal fees, which were $182,000.
In the interview with Fox News Digital, Herzfeld spoke about his experience during the ordeal.
“It was Shabbos, my parents were over, and my children were there, and I come home from prayers. And my wife was, you know, horrified that police had – she said police came to our door and they left and they – and they gave me, you know, this temporary restraining order,” Herzfeld said.
Fox reported that Herzfeld “said it was highly stressful and was extremely embarrassed at the thought that his neighbors, who saw police arrive at his door, could have thought there was merit to the case.”
It went on to explain how he dealt with the stress of the trial. “I was reciting Psalm 121 to myself, ‘I lift up my eyes to the mountains from where will come my help,’” he said.
“I was reciting Psalm 132 [sic] to myself from the depths to – you know, to God as a prayer – ‘From the depths I call out to you, Please, God, answer me.’”
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Actress Patricia Heaton Becomes 100,000th Signer of Pledge to Support Jewish Causes, Israel’s Future
Patricia Heaton attends Lionsgate’s ‘The Unbreakable Boy’ New York Premiere at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater, New York, NY, February 19, 2025. Photo: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Emmy-winning actress Patricia Heaton has become the 100,000th person to join the global initiative Jewish Future Promise (JFP) in which individuals take an oath to safeguard the future of Jewish values, traditions, and the State of Israel.
JFP announced on Tuesday that the former “Everyone Loves Raymond” star, who is not Jewish, has helped the initiative reach a historic milestone of gathering 100,000 “promisers,” and $4.65 billion in commitments.
JFP is a moral commitment, not legally binding in any way, in which individuals promise to share Jewish stories, values, and traditions with family and friends. As part of the global commitment, pledgers also promise that if any charitable contributions are made upon their death, at least 50 percent will be allocated to Jewish causes and/or the State of Israel.
Others who have already made The Promise include Israeli actress and activist Noa Tishby, author and civil rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz, comedian Modi Rosenfeld, and social media influencer and activist Lizzy Savetsky. JFP also inspires young adults to support Jewish causes through the Jewish Youth Promise, which is catered for 13- to 24-year-olds.
“As a Christian, my spiritual heritage exists in the Jewish people. The bond Jews and Christians share is deep and profound,” said Heaton, the former star of ‘The Middle.”
“Along with that, our shared Judeo-Christian values are the foundation for the free and thriving democracies we see in Israel, America, and around the world,” Heaton added. “The Jewish future is everyone’s future!”
In the aftermath of the Hamas-led massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Heaton founded the October 7th Coalition (O7C), which is a network of Christians who stand up against the rise of antisemitism in the US and recognize Israel’s right to exist. “We are here to unite, promote, and encourage meaningful public and private action in the Christian community to strengthen relationships with our Jewish friends and neighbors,” reads a description on the coalition’s website.
Last year, O7C partnered with the nonprofit organization, JewBelong, to launch a nationwide billboard campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism in the US. Heaton has previously said that it should be a “natural” reaction among all humans to reject antisemitism and support the Jewish people.
The funds promised by individuals through JFP will support a variety of Jewish causes, including educational initiatives, community development, social services, and cultural preservation, both in and out of Israel. JFP founder Mike Leven said reaching the milestone of 100,000 people who have taken the pledge is “a profound reflection of our collective commitment to the future of Jewish life.”
“Each of the 100,000 promises made is a promise to sustain our heritage and nurture the values that have defined our community for generations,” Leven added. “Reaching 250,000, 500,000, and even 1 million promises is not just an aspiration; it’s necessary to ensure that Jewish causes continue to thrive and that the State of Israel remains strong. This is more than just a number; it is a living legacy that will continue to sustain and nurture Jewish life and values for years to come.”
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