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Mamdani’s progressive Jewish supporters are jubilant as they gain an ally in City Hall
BROOKLYN — There were plenty of “Jews for Zohran” at Brooklyn Paramount, the recently refurbished music venue where Zohran Mamdani and his biggest supporters celebrated his mayoral election victory Tuesday night.
Present at the rally were many of the Jews who make up left-wing organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, whose endorsements and campaigning under the Jews for Zohran mantle became a driving force behind the democratic socialist’s support.
“This is an amazing night for Jews for Zohran and Jewish New Yorkers,” said Carlyn Cowen, co-chair of JFREJ’s board, in an interview. “This is an amazing night for everyone who has been fighting for our democracy, for housing, for childcare, for the entire vision of Zohran’s campaign, which is joy and love. Incredible.”
Mamdani’s long-held anti-Israel views made the 34-year-old democratic socialist a polarizing candidate for many Jews in the city, with the Jewish establishment and a significant majority of Jewish voters backing his main rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“There’s going to be important bridging work to do in the Jewish community … so we can move forward and everybody can feel like their interests are being looked after and they can feel safe in the city,” said Jamie Beran, CEO of the progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc.
But healing would need to wait for another day. On Tuesday night, the mood was jubilant as eager energy erupted into an all-out dance party celebrating Mamdani’s decisive victory. News of the race being called, only about 40 minutes after polls closed, sent the at-capacity room into a frenzy. Waves of shouts and shrieks erupted. Friends hugged and cried tears of joy, some expressing disbelief despite Mamdani’s long stretch at the top of the polls.
“New York, tonight you have delivered,” Mamdani said during his victory speech. “A mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics.”
For progressive Jews in the city, the change could not be starker. Suddenly, following an Eric Adams administration largely unsympathetic to their views, left-wing groups such as JVP and JFREJ will have an ally in City Hall who’s aligned with them on an array of issues including income inequality, taking on Donald Trump and pro-Palestinian advocacy.
As his Jewish supporters gushed about what parts of Mamdani’s agenda they are most keen to see enacted, most did not bring up his longstanding, unwavering support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that has put a wedge between segments of the Jewish community.
“Universal childcare, number one!” said Cowen.
“All of his campaign promises around affordability are so critical for the lives of everyone who lives in New York City,” said Beran, who also said she is “really grateful” for Mamdani’s “commitments around hate crime prevention.”
“I think the fact that he was the only candidate that had a clear and specific platform, committing to an 800% increase to hate crime prevention to protect Jews and everyone in New York, is such an important part of his platform,” Beran said.
Katie Unger, who co-founded JFREJ’s political arm, the Jewish Vote, said she was most eager to see Mamdani fight back against Trump and protect immigrants.
“After 10 months of watching our immigrant neighbors getting abandoned by our mayor, I’m so glad that on day one, we’re gonna have a mayor who stands up for an immigrant city against ICE,” Unger said. “It’s been heartbreaking and appalling, particularly as a Jew, to watch this city of immigrants abandon our immigrant neighbors, from City Hall down.”
Rabbi Moishe Indig, the Satmar Hasidic rabbi who endorsed Mamdani in a split in his community, stood out for wearing a black suit and kippah, rather than the typical blue “Jews/tenants/hot girls/etc. for Zohran” T-shirt.
“We have large families, we could use affordable housing and to have a better life, hopefully,” Indig said about his community, saying he felt “great” about Mamdani’s win.
But while Stefanie Fox — JVP’s executive director who traveled from her home in Seattle for the event — said she was “thrilled about the affordability for this city,” she also emphasized that the mayor “has a tremendous role to play in defining the way that New York’s support for Israeli occupation and apartheid happens.”
She added, “So I’m really happy to see an administration where that might be possible to move.”
In a sign that pro-Palestinian activists are already geared up to lobby a mayor inclined to agree with them, Fox mentioned JVP’s new campaign, “Break the Bonds,” which is advocating for comptroller-elect Mark Levine to follow Brad Lander’s lead in not reinvesting in Israel bonds; Levine, however, has stated his intention to invest in them.
“That’s the kind of example where even though it’s the comptroller’s decision, it’s a different conversation in this New York,” Fox said.
Mamdani’s candidacy coincided with amid surging pro-Palestinian sentiments among the broader liberal electorate, and inside the hall, evidence of the cause was on vivid display. Some attendees wore keffiyehs as they embraced in celebration. Mamdani was joined on stage by his wife, an artist who was wearing a top by a Palestinian designer, and parents, a scholar and film director who are prominent supporters of the boycott Israel movement. And outside, a group of Neturei Karta anti-Zionist Jewish protesters stood holding a sign that read, “Congratulations NYC. Zohran Mamdani 0% AIPAC Funded.”
A number of Mamdani’s backers from the political and cultural worlds were in attendance, many of whom share his strongly critical views of Israel, including actress Cynthia Nixon, streamer Hasan Piker, and Jamaal Bowman, the former congressman whose name has circulated as a possible schools chancellor for Mamdani. (Mamdani has not indicated if he has a preferred chancellor.)
Brad Lander, Mamdani’s most prominent Jewish ally in city politics who cross-endorsed him ahead of the Democratic primary, was also on hand.
So was Jewish stand-up comedian and podcaster Adam Friedland, who went on a passionate rant against Israel to pro-Israel Rep. Ritchie Torres back in August.
“It’s a crap job, right?” Friedland said in an interview. “It’s really tough to be the mayor of such a big city, right? But I think he’s a genuine person. I met him and he’s kind of, like, he’s just a millennial. He likes soccer and democratic socialism.”
Mamdani did not mention Israel or Palestine during his speech, keeping his focus on New York City and the diversity of New Yorkers whom he hopes to represent as mayor.
“We will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” Mamdani said, drawing cheers.
As the election drew closer over the last two weeks, Jewish leaders and rabbis came out in droves to warn Jewish voters about his anti-Israel rhetoric. A letter signed by 1,100 rabbis from across the country warned of the “political normalization” of anti-Zionism, naming Mamdani.
Bend the Arc’s Beran said the election result may very well be a sign that the letter, despite its many signatures, did not achieve its intended effect.
“We’ll have to see how the actual vote shook out, but I think it’s clear that a lot of Jews saw through the fear-mongering,” she said. “I think people were able to see the complete picture of the campaign and also understand that Zohran actually cares about Jewish safety.”
An early exit poll conducted by CNN suggested that about a third of Jewish voters had cast their ballots for Mamdani, with two-thirds backing Cuomo.
Rafael Shimunov, a JFREJ member who hosts a radio show called “Beyond the Pale,” said Mamdani’s victory was proof that the tactics used by Cuomo and his mega-donors need not be successful.
“I’m feeling exhilarated and hopeful and excited about what this means for the rest of this country, every city and town in this country,” he said. “This proves tonight that even among all the attempts at dividing us, using my people, antisemitism, using the Jewish community as a wedge in the coalition — didn’t work.”
Now, Mamdani’s challenge will turn from campaigning, where he has a long track record of explosive success, to governing, which he said — slyly quoting Cuomo’s father Mario, himself a former governor — he intended to do “in prose.” He has never held an executive role.
“I don’t know if we’re going to accomplish everything, I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” said Rabbi Abby Stein, who’s closely involved with JVP and JFREJ, and was responsible for the Yiddish translations of the Mamdani campaign signs posted around Hasidic areas of Brooklyn. “But I know that we have someone who’s going to try.”
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EU-Funded NGO Backed Online Platform Targeting Jewish Businesses in Catalonia
Supporters of Hamas demonstrate outside the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, Oct. 18. Photo: Reuters/Guillermo Yllanes Gonzalez
The controversial online platform mapping Jewish-owned businesses, schools, and Israeli-linked companies in Catalonia, a region in northeastern Spain, was promoted by an EU-funded non-governmental organization.
On Tuesday, NGO Monitor — an independent Jerusalem-based research institute that tracks anti-Israel bias among nongovernmental organizations — released new information showing that Engineers Without Borders – Catalonia (ESF-C) and Universities with Palestine (UAP) jointly promoted the BarcelonaZ project on social media, identifying themselves as its primary backers.
First reported by the local Jewish outlet Enfoque Judío, the interactive map was launched by an unidentified group claiming to be “journalists, professors, and students” on the French-hosted mapping platform GoGoCarto.
As a publicly accessible and collaboratively created online platform, the map marked over 150 schools, Jewish-owned businesses — including kosher food shops — and Israeli-linked as well as Spanish and international companies operating in Israel, labeling them as “Zionist.”
“Our goal is to understand how Zionism operates and the forms it takes, with the intention of making visible and denouncing the impact of its investments in our territory,” the project’s website stated.
According to NGO Monitor’s newly released report, ESF-C is a European Union–funded NGO running a Youth Internship Program subsidized by the Public Employment Service of Catalonia, with 40 percent co-financing from the European Social Fund Plus — the EU’s primary program for funding employment, education, and social initiatives.
The EU Financial Transparency System shows that ESF‑C partnered on two EU grants worth about $2.8 million from 2019 to 2023 and received at least $164,000 in funding.
Jewish leaders in Spain have strongly denounced the BarcelonaZ initiative, warning that it fosters further discrimination and hatred against the community amid an increasingly hostile environment in which Jews and Israelis continue to be targeted.
“The mapping and boycotting of Jewish businesses in Catalonia is an echo of some of the darkest chapters in history, including the prelude to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany,” the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Director of European Affairs, Shannon Seban, said in a statement.
“The organizers of this initiative put a target on the backs of Spanish Jews, at a time when Jews are being hunted across the globe, as seen so horrifically in Australia just three weeks ago,” she said, referring to the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which killed 15 people and wounded at least 40 others.
“Clear incitement to violence of this nature must not be platformed or tolerated by internet companies or government authorities,” Seban continued.
On its website, ESF-C describes its mission as promoting “a fair international society, which does not exclude anyone,” and highlights its commitment to “non-denominationalism and non-partisanship.” Yet, the NGO’s 2024 annual report also asserts that it “cannot ignore the Palestinian resistance, a clear expression of the struggle for freedom of all oppressed peoples.”
In a social media post, the NGO also accused Israel of “genocide” during its defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, describing its platform as “a resource designed to inform, raise awareness, and mobilize the educational and student community in Catalonia.”
“The attacks that began on Oct. 7 have involved water and electricity cuts, the boycott of essential water infrastructure, and the contamination of Palestinian water sources,” ESF-C wrote in an Instagram post, without mentioning the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
“The violation of these basic rights is a key weapon used by the State of Israel to perpetuate genocide,” the statement read.
NGO Monitor also revealed that UAP is a network of Catalan faculty- and student-led anti-Israel organizations that co-sponsored the BarcelonaZ project.
Last year, UAP organized a “People’s Court” at Complutense University of Madrid on what it called the “Palestinian genocide,” with attendance from several terror-linked NGOs and individuals, including Samidoun, Masar Badil, Al-Haq, and Raji Sourani, NGO Monitor reported.
Several community organizations have filed complaints with GoGoCarto, demanding the site’s removal and arguing that it violates French laws against hate speech and discrimination.
Earlier this week, GoGoCarto announced it had removed the BarcelonaZ project from its website after local groups denounced the initiative as blatantly antisemitic and dangerous.
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Knesset member from Netanyahu’s party decries ‘new enemy’: Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens
(JTA) — In an address to the Knesset on Monday, Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz decried what he said was a “new enemy” rising within American politics: Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
“We are used to enemies from outside. We fight terror tunnels of Hamas. We fight the ballistic missiles of Iran. But today I look at the West, our greatest ally, and I see a new enemy rising from within,” said Illouz, who is originally from Canada originally, in an English address. “I am speaking of a poison being sold to the American people as patriotism. I’m speaking of the intellectual vandalism of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.”
Illouz’s comments come as the Republican party has been roiled in recent months by debates over the mainstreaming of antisemitic influencers within the GOP.
טאקר קרלסון וקנדיס אוונס הם לא פטריוטים – הם ונדלים אינטלקטואלים. הם טוענים שהם נלחמים בשמאל הקיצוני, אבל הם בדיוק אותו דבר: אותה שנאה למערב, אותו רלטיביזם מוסרי ואותו ניסיון להחריב את המורשת שלנו ואת המערב. pic.twitter.com/ygN70WtGEw
— דן אילוז – Dan Illouz (@dillouz) January 7, 2026
In October, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson hosted far-right antisemitic influencer Nick Fuentes on his platform, igniting outrage from Jewish conservatives who warned of the growing reach of antisemitic voices.
Owens has long made antisemitic rhetoric a hallmark of her YouTube channel, which has 5.7 million subscribers. A recent analysis of her content by the Jewish People Policy Institute found that three-quarters of her videos that mentioned Jews were antisemitic.
“They claim to fight the woke left. They are no different than the woke left,” said Illouz. “The radical left tears down the statues of Thomas Jefferson, Tucker Carlson tears down the legacy of Winston Churchill. The radical left says Western civilization is evil, Candace Owens says the roots of our faith are demonic. It is the same sickness.”
Carlson and Owens are among the right-wing influencers who have made opposition to Israel a centerpiece of their output, at a time when support for Israel is declining among conservatives, particularly younger conservatives.
In November, Amichai Chikli, the Israeli Diaspora minister, echoed Illouz’s concerns in an interview with the New York Post, telling the outlet that he was “far more concerned about antisemitism on the right than on the left.” The comments were notable because Chikli is himself a right-wing, anti-“woke” warrior who, in a first for Israel, has stoked relationships with far-right European parties that in some cases have ties to the Nazis.
“One of the worst moments was when a popular conservative broadcaster called one of the most vile Holocaust deniers in America ‘one of the most honest historians.’ That legitimizes hate — it normalizes it,” Chikli told the New York Post, appearing to refer to Carlson’s past praise of the Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper.
Chikli also warned against the rising influence of Fuentes and Cooper among young Americans.
“Antisemitism has become fashionable for Gen Z,” Chikli continued. “They listen to podcasts, not professors. When people like Nick Fuentes or Darryl Cooper are treated as thought leaders, that’s dangerous. These are neo-Nazis.”
The Times of Israel asked Illouz whether he was worried about appearing to interfere with American politics. “Defending the alliance between America and Israel is not interfering,” he said. “I am in touch with many pro-Israel conservatives who know that Candace and Tucker are a threat to America as much as to Israel.”
Top GOP officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have largely dismissed calls from Jewish conservatives, including Ben Shapiro, and others to draw a line against antisemitic influencers.
“Do you think you are the first to try to delegitimize the Jewish people? We are the people of eternity,” said Illouz toward the conclusion of his address, adding that “we will be here long after your YouTube channels are forgotten dust.”
The post Knesset member from Netanyahu’s party decries ‘new enemy’: Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens appeared first on The Forward.
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Texas Joins Legal Action Against American Muslims for Palestine as Move to ‘Counter Hamas Terrorism’
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA summit since the death of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona, US, Dec. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Cheney Orr
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced the state would join Virginia and Iowa in the filing of a legal brief against the nonprofit activist group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and other organizations which he characterized as “radical” in order “to combat Hamas terrorism.”
“Radical Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas must be decimated and dismantled, and that includes their domestic supporting branches,” Paxton posted on the social media platform X.
“Terrorism relies on complex networks and intermediaries, and the law must be enforced against those who knowingly provide material support,” Texas’s top legal officer added in a statement. “My office will continue to defend Americans who have been brutally affected by terrorism and ensure accountability under the law.”
In November, Texas began more aggressive legal efforts against organizations long alleged by researchers and law enforcement to be part of a domestic Hamas support network in the United States. Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Nov. 18, the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as terrorist organizations.
A month later, Paxton filed a motion defending the designation in court, countering a suit by the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin chapters of CAIR. “My office will continue to defend the governor’s lawful, accurate declaration that CAIR is an FTO [foreign terrorist organization], as well as Texas’s right to protect itself from organizations with documented ties to foreign extremist movements,” Paxton said at the time.
In its latest statement, Paxton’s office described how on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the groups AMP and National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) “declared that they were ‘part of’ a ‘Unity Intifada’ under Hamas’s ‘unified command.’”
“Those who have been victimized by Hamas’s terrorism brought claims against the radical groups under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act,” the statement continued. “Attorney General Paxton’s brief is in support of the victims and was filed to ensure terrorist supporters are brought to justice.”
The legal brief references the “unity intifada” and “unified command” sentiments before stating, “They should be taken at their word. And just like their predecessor organizations — convicted or admitted material supporters of Hamas — they should be held accountable.”
The brief charges, “Defendants here are alleged to have provided material support for Hamas, the brutal terrorist regime that not only oppresses millions in Gaza but that also murdered more than a thousand innocents and kidnapped hundreds more. States have an interest in ensuring that valid claims brought under material support statutes are allowed to be litigated in court and that any violators are held accountable.”
Last year, Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares — whose name appears at the lead of the brief — sought to press AMP to reveal its funding sources, which a judge ruled it needed to do May 9, 2025.
The latest brief provides a history lesson about how AMP and NSJP “did not begin their material support for Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023; rather, their material support has been going on for decades — both as the current organizations and through predecessor entities. Indeed, AMP was founded after a predecessor organization and five of its board members were convicted of providing material support for Hamas.” The brief describes the network beginning when “first, the Muslim Brotherhood founded the ‘Palestine Committee’ in 1988 to fund the terrorist organization Hamas.”
This network included “several organizations providing Hamas financial, informational, and political support,” the legal document explained. “Among those organizations were the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), organizations founded and controlled by senior members of Hamas leadership.”