RSS
Ezra Klein’s NY Times Op-ed Distorts the Truth About the American Jewish Community
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri
Ezra Klein’s July 20th New York Times column paints Zohran Mamdani’s primary victory in Queens as evidence of a community in disarray — an evocative but fundamentally misleading diagnosis. He frames Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and supporter of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” as a kind of Rorschach test for American Jews. Where some see antisemitism, others see progressive politics. Klein reads this divergence as proof that American Jewish life has collapsed into incoherence, unable even to agree on the meaning of antisemitism.
But the truth is not merely more complex — it’s more urgent. Mamdani’s rise isn’t just a matter of political disagreement or ideological diversity. It is a direct challenge to the foundational commitments of modern American Jewry.
In the heart of New York City — a place with the largest Jewish population outside Israel — Democratic voters elevated a candidate who has repeatedly refused to condemn calls for violence against Jews and who has embraced movements that explicitly reject Israel’s right to exist.
For American Jews, this isn’t a debate over tactics or nuance. It’s an existential breach. And Klein, in his determination to frame the moment as a story of pluralism and Jewish self-reinvention, distorts the stakes. He leans almost exclusively on institutional liberal voices who reflect his own worldview, while ignoring the clear and present threat Mamdani’s ideology poses — not only to Israel, but to Jews here in America. Worse, he misrepresents the facts on the ground and omits the voices of those most alarmed by the normalization of this rhetoric.
Mamdani is not just “controversial.” He has repeatedly aligned himself with anti-Zionist campaigns that veer into outright antisemitism. He has refused to distance himself from the slogan “globalize the intifada,” a call whose historical and contemporary connotations include suicide bombings, mass shootings, and civilian targeting. His supporters have included open advocates of political violence.
Yet in Klein’s telling, Mamdani becomes a symbol of generational change, while his most radical statements are hand-waved away or ignored altogether. This is not responsible analysis. It is narrative laundering.
In fact, Klein’s entire account reads like an effort to gaslight concerned Jews into thinking their fears are overblown or reactionary. But those fears are grounded in reality — and in data.
According to the 2024 American Jewish Committee (AJC) Survey of American Jewish Opinion — based on interviews conducted March 12 to April 6, 2024 — 85% of American Jews said US support for Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks was important, including 60% who said it was “very important.”
Among Jews aged 50 and older, 68% said Israel’s response to Hamas was acceptable, compared to just over half of younger adults. Additionally, fewer than one in four American Jews, even among younger cohorts, support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Crucially, a super majority — approximately 81% overall — say that caring about Israel is either very or somewhat important to what being Jewish means to them.
Moreover, the American Jewish Committee found that while Jews age 30 and over are more likely to say caring about Israel is “very important” to what being Jewish means to them compared to younger Jews between the ages of 18-29 (53% vs. 40%), this gap has narrowed significantly since October 7th. In 2023, 29% of young American Jews said caring about Israel was “very important” — with that figure climbing to 40% in 2024.
And the overwhelming connection to Israel in polls even takes into account differences with certain Israeli government policies. For example, 53% of Jewish Americans lack confidence in Netanyahu’s leadership, while 45% have confidence — yet they still say they are extremely invested in what is happening in Israel. This shows that support for Israel transcends disagreements about Israeli politics.
These numbers do not describe a community in collapse; rather, they depict one that — while diverse — retains a strong core of moral and political connection and interest in Israel.
Klein ignores this. He constructs his essay around rabbis and nonprofit professionals who share his ideological priors, as if theirs are the only Jewish perspectives that matter. Absent are Orthodox Jews, Sephardic Jews, Russian-speaking immigrants, Zionist progressives, or the large number of politically centrist Jews in New York who saw Mamdani’s victory as a five-alarm fire.
These omissions are not accidental — they are part of the essay’s architecture. By quoting only those who interpret Mamdani charitably, Klein builds a case that marginalizes Jewish alarm as overreaction and redefines antisemitism on his own narrow terms.
This is dangerous. We cannot afford to treat direct threats to Jewish safety and sovereignty as occasions for philosophical musing. Nor can we allow elite commentators to dictate the boundaries of legitimate Jewish concern — especially when those commentators minimize or rationalize hate. Klein’s selective sourcing is not just a stylistic failure; it is an surrender of moral responsibility.
I’ve argued that Mamdani’s refusal to disavow “intifada” chants, and the embrace he’s received from some Jewish leaders, reveal how moral clarity around antisemitism is being eroded in progressive spaces.
When a candidate declines to reject slogans historically tied to violence against Jews — and still wins support from parts of the Jewish institutional world — something foundational is breaking down. That breakdown is not about Jewish pluralism. It’s about the collapse of boundaries between debate and denial, between political disagreement and existential threat.
That conflation is now being amplified by figures like Klein, who treat any Jewish criticism of Mamdani as an obstacle to inclusivity rather than a valid and pressing concern. This is not a moment for neutral tones. The normalization of anti-Zionist extremism in the political mainstream is not a side issue. It’s a litmus test for whether we take Jewish security and dignity seriously.
In short, Klein’s framing doesn’t just misread the moment. It helps enable the very forces that threaten Jewish life in America. By casting disagreement over Mamdani as proof of “pluralism,” Klein erases the difference between healthy internal debate and the embrace of actors who reject the legitimacy of the Jewish State and traffic in language that too often ends in violence.
There is nothing pluralistic about a political space where Jews must justify their existence, where support for Israel is treated as shameful, and where candidates can win while embracing slogans tied to terrorism.
Yes, younger Jews are navigating identity in new ways. They are morally serious, politically engaged, and often skeptical of inherited institutions. But skepticism is not the same as antagonism, and what Klein fails to appreciate is that many of these same Jews still affirm Jewish peoplehood, care deeply about Israel, and want to see their values reflected in the communal conversation. What they do not want is to be told that embracing figures like Mamdani is a necessary part of that growth.
There is a path forward. It involves making space for generational shifts and political critique without capitulating to those who traffic in eliminationist rhetoric. It means drawing distinctions between policy debate and existential denial. And it requires that thought leaders and commentators confront uncomfortable facts — even when they conflict with ideological narratives.
Mamdani’s politics are not merely provocative. They are incompatible with Jewish safety and dignity. And any effort to obscure that — to soften it with euphemism or dress it up in pluralist language — is not analysis. It’s abdication.
Klein mourns the passing of an old institutional order. But he fails to see the real threat facing American Jews today: a political and intellectual elite that treats existential threats as abstractions, and smears moral clarity as parochialism.
Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
The post Ezra Klein’s NY Times Op-ed Distorts the Truth About the American Jewish Community first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
East German State Announces New Citizens Must Accept Israel’s Legitimacy
Beate Meinl-Reisinger (M), Foreign Minister of Austria, receives Johann Wadephul (CDU, l), Federal Foreign Minister of Germany, and Gideon Saar, Foreign Minister of Israel, at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria. Photo: Katharina Kausche/dpa via Reuters Connect
Those seeking citizenship in the East German state of Brandenburg must now acknowledge the right of Israel to exist.
René Wilke, minister of the interior and for municipal affairs of Brandenburg, told the state parliament in Potsdam on Thursday about the policy, which had gone into effect on June 1 for people seeking naturalization and passports. Wilke clarified that while the policy intended to demonstrate German solidarity with Israel, it would not provide a free pass for the Jewish state, warning that not all Israeli actions will receive support.
“This is a commitment to the right of the State of Israel to exist,” the minister said. “It is not a commitment that everything any head of government in Israel has ever done and will ever do will also receive solidarity and approval.”
Andreas Büttner, who serves as antisemitism commissioner for Brandenburg, advocated for the policy.
“Israel is the promise of protection and self-determination,” Büttner said, according to German media. “Anyone who attacks Israel is attacking this promise.”
However, not all leaders in Brandenburg support the prerequisite for citizenship.
Friederike Benda, state leader of the leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance party (BSW), pushed back, labeling the move “a slap in the face for democracy.”
“While Brandenburg is calling for a commit to peaceful coexistence between peoples and against wars of aggression, the German government continues to supply weapons to an Israeli government that is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and has attacked Iran in violation of international law. That is hypocrisy!” Benda wrote on Facebook.
The new citizenship policy required affirmation of other German values, including support for democracy and the country’s Constitution as well as recognition of the Nazis’ atrocities and the importance of protecting Jewish life. Applicants must also reject bigamy and wars of aggression. The laws have tightened in economic and national security terms too, now requiring potential citizens to show they will not rely on welfare, can speak the German language, and have not committed crimes in previous countries.
The German state of Saxony-Anhalt introduced a similar measure in 2023 linking naturalization to a recognition of Israel’s right to exist.
Berlin could be next, according to the German capital’s governing mayor, Kai Wegner.
“Personally, I can well imagine including the recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a prerequisite for naturalization,” Wegener told the German publication Tagesspiegel this past weekend.
Germany has experienced a sharp spike in antisemitism since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct.7, 2023, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, the semi-official German body that tracks antisemitism reported last month.
The Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) said it had registered 8,627 incidents of violence, vandalism, and threats against Jews in Germany, almost twice the 4,886 recorded in 2023, and far ahead of 2020’s 1,957. Approximately 25 percent of total outrages last year featured what the report described as “anti-Israel antisemitism.”
“Objectively, the risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since Oct. 7, 2023,” Benjamin Steinitz, head of RIAS told a press briefing when the figures were released. “But debates about what counts as an expression of antisemitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims.”
In Berlin specifically, the number of antisemitic incidents in just the first six months of 2024 alone surpassed the total for all of the prior year and reached the highest annual count on record, according to separate figures from RIAS.
The figures in Berlin were the highest count for a single year since the federally-funded body began monitoring antisemitic incidents in 2015, showing the German capital averaged nearly eight anti-Jewish outrages a day from January to June last year.
However, experts believe that the true number of incidents is much higher but not recorded because of reluctance on the part of the victims.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told Fox News in June that immigration had increased antisemitism.
“We are doing everything we can to bring these numbers down,” Merz said. “We are prosecuting those who are against the law. And frankly, we have a sort of imported antisemitism with the big numbers of migrants we have within the last 10 years, and we have to tackle this and we have to resolve this problem.”
In February, Berlin police arrested a Syrian refugee for allegedly stabbing a tourist at a Holocaust memorial. He reportedly told the officers he wanted “to kill Jews.”
Merz said he wanted “to make it very clear” that Germany’s government and “the vast majority of the German parliament” opposed antisemitism.
“We are doing everything we can to bring these numbers down,” Merz said.
In May, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned that the country’s longstanding support for Israel had its limits.
“Our committed fight against antisemitism and our full support for the right to exist and the security of the state of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul said. “We are now at a point where we have to think very carefully about what further steps to take.”
In April, Germany deported four pro-Hamas demonstrators — three European Union citizens and one US citizen — on the basis that they posed a “threat to public order.”
On Feb. 23, Merz — then a candidate for chancellor — expressed his support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the country without fear of arrest in response to an International Criminal Court warrant.
“I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” Merz said, revealing that he had told Netanyahu they “would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested.” Merz said he would support such a visit “in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the prime minister a war criminal.”
The post East German State Announces New Citizens Must Accept Israel’s Legitimacy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli FM Urges Action as Anti-Israel Protesters Block Cruise Ship at Greek Island, Forcing Diversion to Cyprus
Pro-Palestinian protesters gather at the port of Syros, Greece, blocking an Israeli cruise ship from docking and disembarking. Photo: Screenshot
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis, to take action after pro-Palestinian protesters prevented hundreds of Israeli passengers from disembarking a cruise ship near the island of Syros.
On Tuesday, approximately 1,600 Israeli passengers expecting a peaceful stop on their cruise were unable to disembark from a ship docked on the island of Syros — located in the central Aegean Sea — after large anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests erupted at the port, raising safety concerns.
In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that Saar “requested [Gerapetritis’] intervention in an effort to resolve the docking of the ship in Greece.”
Departing from Haifa in northern Israel on Sunday, the MS Crown Iris — owned by Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime and flying a Panamanian flag — stopped in Rhodes, a Greek island in the southeastern Aegean, and was scheduled to dock in Syros.
Amid the large anti-Israel protest, the cruise company chose to divert the ship to Limassol, Cyprus, rather than attempt to disembark at Syros, according to Hebrew media reports.
Όπως ήρθε-έφυγε από τη #Σύρο το κρουαζιερόπλοιο Crown Iris που μετέφερε Ισραηλινούς τουρίστες αφού κάτοικοι & φορείς που αντιδρούν στη γενοκτονία στην #παλαιστινη βρέθηκαν στο λιμάνι παρεμποδίζοντας την αποβίβασή τους! #antireport #FreePalestine #Συρος pic.twitter.com/ssqg9WzkAm
— Μένουμε Ενεργοί – Ενημέρωση, Αγώνας, Αλληλεγγύη (@menoume_energoi) July 22, 2025
Around 300 protesters gathered at the dock to protest against the war in Gaza, while Syros Port Authority police guarded the area and intervened to prevent violence until the ship departed.
In videos circulating on social media, protesters are seen waving Palestinian flags and holding banners with slogans such as “Stop the Genocide” and “No AC [Air Conditioning] in Hell,” while chanting antisemitic slogans.
Other footage captures Israeli passengers responding by waving Israeli flags and chanting “Am Yisrael Chai,” which means “The people of Israel live.”
Hundreds of Israelis aboard a Mano Maritime cruise ship were stranded at the port of Syros, Greece, after pro-Palestinian protesters blocked them from disembarking pic.twitter.com/npWwMDLPbW
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 22, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents have surged to alarming levels across Europe. This recent incident appears to be just one of the latest in a wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes that Greece and other countries have witnessed in recent months.
Last week in Athens, a group of pro-Palestinian activists vandalized an Israeli restaurant, shouting antisemitic slurs and spray-painting graffiti with slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here.”
The attackers also 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.
Last month, 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.
Although local police arrived promptly, a large crowd had already gathered outside the restaurant where the victim had sought shelter.
At first, authorities mistakenly arrested the victim, accusing him of the attack. However, after video footage clarified the situation, they apologized and took him to the nearest hospital.
The post Israeli FM Urges Action as Anti-Israel Protesters Block Cruise Ship at Greek Island, Forcing Diversion to Cyprus first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Netanyahu Brushes Off Arrest Threats From Mamdani: ‘There’s Enough Craziness in the World’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed threats made by New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to arrest him if he visits the city, calling the pledge “silly” during a Monday appearance on the “Full Send” podcast.
Speaking to host Aaron “Steiny” Steinberg, Netanyahu was asked about Mamdani’s repeated vow to enforce the International Criminal Court’s 2024 arrest warrant against him, related to alleged war crimes during Israel’s military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
“I’m not concerned,” Netanyahu said. “There’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends … It’s silly in many ways.”
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terrorist leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.
The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout much of the war.
Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblyman from Queens, surged to national attention in June after defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary, becoming the party’s nominee heading into November’s general election. He ran on a platform of aligning city policy with international law, promising that New York City would enforce ICC warrants, even if that meant arresting a visiting foreign leader.
Mamdani defended his vow to arrest Netanyahu if he visits New York during an event at the B’nai Jeshurun synagogue in Manhattan last month, comparing the Israeli premier to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“My answer is the same whether we are speaking about Vladimir Putin or Netanyahu. I think that this should be a city that is in compliance with international law,” Mamdani said. “And we have seen, other countries across the world that are signatories of the ICC that they would honor that same request, being Canada or other countries in Europe, and their honoring of it meant that Netanyahu did not travel there.”
Mamdani acknowledged that the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, but argued that “there are times where courage is required,” comparing his desire to arrest Netanyahu to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to defy federal law and issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples as mayor of San Francisco.
“What I am trying to showcase is a belief that international law is something that should be honored, should be respected, and something that we should actually bring our city into compliance with,” Mamdani said.
Netanyahu on Monday expressed disappointment in Mamdani’s victory but claimed that residents of the Big Apple will eventually become disillusioned with the progressive firebrand after confronting the “reality” of his far-left agenda.
“A lot of people have been taken in by this nonsense. You want to defund the police? You want to have people go into stores and rob them and be free, you think that creates a good society?” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu reaffirmed on the podcast that he still plans to visit New York City in the future and suggested he might travel with US President Donald Trump. The remarks echoed a statement Netanyahu made earlier this month, when he similarly downplayed Mamdani’s comments to arrest him while meeting with US officials in Washington, DC.
During the White House meeting, Trump dismissed Mamdani’s threats and labeled him a “communist.” Trump also added, “I’ll get him out,” referring to Netanyahu if the two leaders visit New York City together. Trump has also reportedly discussed the possibility of cutting federal funding to cities that attempt to act on ICC warrants without coordination with the US government.
Steinberg referred to Mamdani as an “antisemite” during Monday’s interview.
A little-known politician before this year’s mayoral 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.
Most recently, Mamdani 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. He later clarified that he would discourage its use while continuing to back the broader anti-Israel movement it represents.
The post Netanyahu Brushes Off Arrest Threats From Mamdani: ‘There’s Enough Craziness in the World’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.