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How Jewish leaders tried — and failed — to keep a Farrakhan follower off a Florida city council
(JTA) – When Brother John Muhammad emerged this fall as the leading candidate for a vacant city council seat in St. Petersburg, Florida, local Jews were distressed.
Muhammad is well known in the city as the president of a local neighborhood association and as a frequent advocate for minority groups. But Jewish leaders learned that he was also a follower of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who has a long history of antisemitism, and that he had made comments dismissing concerns about Farrakhan’s record.
Jewish leaders tried to stave off Muhammad’s appointment, pushing for more extensive vetting of the seven candidates and, in the case of the local Holocaust museum, actively lobbying against him. But the council confirmed him in a 4-3 vote, leaving local Jews frustrated — before they considered ways to make the situation a learning experience for their city.
“When I see a situation like this, it screams ‘opportunity’ to me,” Michael Igel, chair of the Florida Holocaust Museum, located in St. Petersburg, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The saga playing out in St. Petersburg, Florida’s fifth-largest city, unfolded during the same period that a handful of Black celebrities, including Kanye West and Kyrie Irving, first became enmeshed in controversy over their own antisemitic comments and social media posts. The coincidence meant a dicey environment for broaching a conversation about the antisemitism of the Nation of Islam, whose rhetoric disparaging Jews overlaps with that of Hebrew Israelites, the ideology that Irving promoted by sharing a link to an antisemitic film.
It also turned St. Petersburg into a window for understanding how ties forged between Jewish groups and others can be tested.
Local Jewish leaders initially sought to stop Muhammad from gaining the city council seat, which was vacated after its previous holder resigned following redistricting and accusations she no longer lived in her district. They learned about Muhammad’s city council application only a week before the council’s vote, leaving them with little time to mobilize. The information came from a political rival of Muhammad, former mayoral candidate Vince Nowicki, who shared information about Muhammad’s Nation of Islam affiliation with local Jewish groups.
Nowicki also shared a comment Muhammad had made about Jews in a 2016 video in which Muhammad interviewed local Black LGBTQ activists. In the video titled “A Conversation About Growing Up Black And LGBT,” which JTA viewed, Muhammad said, “Minister Farrakhan got accused of being antisemitic for a long time because he pointed out and made some corrections about the activity of Jews. And anybody who says anything critical of the Jewish community is labeled as being antisemitic. Good, bad, right or wrong, it doesn’t matter what you say. If you criticize them that’s what you are.”
He continued, saying, “And I’m finding that it happens when you are critical of the gay community, when you say anything critical or anything that doesn’t align with that ideology, now all of a sudden you’re homophobic.” Muhammad’s comments about gay people received some light but friendly pushback from his interview guests.
Muhammad did not reply to multiple requests for comment by JTA, including to questions emailed to him at his request. He said during a public meeting ahead of the council vote that he thought scrutiny of him by Jewish groups had been unfair.
To Jewish leaders, the comments in the video coupled with Muhammad’s Nation of Islam affiliation were clear signs that he should not be appointed to the city council.
“I would sure hope that being antisemitic would be a red line, that you could not be a candidate,” said Rabbi Philip Weintraub of Congregation B’nai Israel, a Conservative synagogue in the city.
Jewish leaders began to take action, issuing statements and launching a letter-writing campaign to the council. They felt so much urgency that some even conducted business on Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday when Jewish organizations typically pause their activities in accordance with Jewish law.
As a nonprofit, the local federation was constrained in how it could weigh in. Since it could not endorse or oppose specific candidates, it instead pushed for every candidate to be “properly vetted” and informed council members about Muhammad’s affiliations and past comments, according to Maxine Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast. She said the efforts did not have their intended effect.
“I don’t think anybody said, ‘Well, who is this Farrakhan, what does he stand for?’” Kaufman said. “I don’t think enough was done, personally.”
The entrance to the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Nov. 27, 2016. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Florida Holocaust Museum took another approach, circulating information about Muhammad to the wider community, along with a statement opposing the candidacy of anyone who would support Farrakhan’s antisemitism. Their goal, Igel said, was to educate the community about the severity of these views.
“There’s nothing else to talk about when somebody is supporting Louis Farrakhan,” Igel told JTA. “Particularly when you are seeking a position representative of a city, particularly one like St. Petersburg that is so known for its inclusivity and its openness.”
Igel praised some members of the city council who asked Muhammad pointed questions about his views at the vote, giving him the opportunity to refute Farrakhan’s comments about Jews. One council member who voted against Muhammad, Lisset Hanewicz, said her stepfather is Jewish and read Farrakhan’s past antisemitic statements into the record, saying, “I think people need to understand why a certain part of this community is upset.”
Igel acknowledged that getting involved in a city council appointment was an unusual move for a Holocaust museum. He said museum leaders had held a meeting beforehand to determine how to proceed but made a decision fairly quickly to weigh in.
“In this case, we don’t consider this to be a matter of politics,” Igel said. “This is a matter of morality. And this is what we teach.” If the candidate had been a white supremacist, Igel said, “that person would have been disqualified out of the gate.”
The Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center, two hate watchdogs, define the Nation of Islam as a group that propagates antisemitism and other forms of bigotry, not a religion. Founded in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad, the Black nationalist group is not the same as traditional Islam and is rejected by most Muslim clerics; it entered mainstream prominence in the 1960s after civil rights leader Malcolm X and boxer Muhammad Ali publicly joined the movement. (Both later left the group, with Malcolm X publicly denouncing its leadership; he was assassinated shortly after, and two Nation of Islam members who were wrongfully convicted of his murder recently received a large settlement from New York City.)
The Nation of Islam entered its current era after Farrakhan took over the group in 1977. Now 89, he has used his platform to issue a steady stream of antisemitism, including calling Jews “wicked” and the “synagogue of Satan,” saying they have “wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government,” and calling Hitler “a very great man.” Only a few years ago, the Women’s March progressive activist collective was nearly derailed over some of its founders’ associations with Farrakhan.
It is rare, but not unheard of, for public officials to have current or former associations with the Nation of Islam. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a practicing Muslim, was dogged by accusations that he had formerly been a member of the group when he first ran for Congress in 2006; he apologized for his past associations with the group. Trayon White, a Washington, D.C. council member and onetime mayoral candidate who has spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, has donated to the group in the past. Former President George W. Bush once praised the group, and a photograph showing Barack Obama in the same room as Farrakhan was fodder for Obama’s critics during his presidential run.
Muhammad, who is referred to on the city council website as John Muhammad and whose legal name is John C. Malone, declined to condemn Farrakhan at the city council meeting.
“I am not willing to denounce the leader of my faith no more than a Catholic would be willing to denounce their pope,” he said.
Muhammad’s reaction to questions about Farrakhan particularly concerned the federation and other local Jewish groups. Kaufman told JTA she didn’t know whether Muhammad himself is antisemitic, but she said his refusal to disavow Farrakhan was alarming.
“I do have issue with his reverence of someone who is blatantly antisemitic, and he won’t disavow him, he won’t reject him,” she said, echoing the the federation’s official statement on the vote.
At the meeting, Muhammad did say that he had reached out to the Florida Holocaust Museum but had not heard back — and that he thought the museum’s criticism of him was unfair.
“What I found when we reached out to have dialogue with the Holocaust Museum director, they did not want to talk to me,” he said. “They wanted to evaluate and disqualify me based on the association that I have as an individual. I don’t think that that’s just.”
Muhammad also defended his record with Jews by claiming that they were among the “diversity of those who support me.” He added, “And if you look at those who oppose me, they’re coming from one particular group.”
Since the vote, a local Black newspaper condemned the scrutiny on Muhammad, calling it a “perusal into his faith practice.”
Igel said the museum had no record that Muhammad had reached out but encouraged him to come and learn more about the Holocaust and the nature of antisemitism. Stuart Berger, head of the local Jewish Community Relations Council, acknowledged at the city council meeting that Muhammad “has made himself available to us” at the federation, but that none of the federation staff “had been in direct contact with him.”
The federation’s involvement in Muhammad’s case became its own issue at the council vote, when the candidate referenced an email Berger had written to the county commissioner. In the email, Berger wrote that Muhammad’s vetting process had been “good enough for me!”
While Muhammad took the email as proof that the federation believed him to be fit for office, Berger and Kaufman maintain that it meant nothing of the sort. Berger had not been speaking on behalf of the federation, they say, and had not intended for his email to be shared publicly.
Now that Muhammad is on the council, attention has turned to building relationships with him. Kaufman has been meeting with individual city council members, and hopes to eventually meet with Muhammad himself. She also aims to have the federation make a presentation to the council about the dangers of antisemitism and push them to make a statement about it.
She doesn’t think it’s complicated. “I think hate’s hate,” she said. “Many different colors.”
Weintraub’s congregation is celebrating its 100th anniversary in March, and one of its congregants, Eric Lynn, is also involved in politics: he was the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 13th Congressional district in the midterms but lost his race to Republican Anna Paulina Luna, who said she was raised as a Messianic Jew and campaigned with far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Weintraub himself is a member of an interfaith ministerial dialogue group with Black churches and says he’s “a professional optimist” when it comes to managing conflict between different communities. He sent JTA an episode of the public radio podcast “Hidden Brain” about how to keep conflict from spiraling, saying it “describes what I’ve tried to do.”
Since Muhammad was appointed, Weintraub has met with him; the pair had what Weintraub described as “a pleasant conversation.” The two talked about parenting and “shared traumas,” he said. They did not discuss Muhammad’s comments supporting Farrakhan, but the rabbi couldn’t help but think about him.
“I thought I was a termite, according to Farrakhan,” Weintraub said. In contrast, Muhammad “said I was a person, so that was nice.”
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Students for Justice in Palestine Surrenders Occidental College Encampment as Trustees Review Divestment Proposal
Member of Occidental College’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine addressing social media while occupying a section of the campus in April 2026. Photo: Screenshot.
Occidental College in Los Angeles informed the public earlier this week that Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) took down an encampment it established during the final weeks of the semester to protest the school’s financial ties to Israel, a grievance manufactured by the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement to promote its goal of eliminating the Jewish state.
By all accounts, the short-lived demonstration generated none of the widespread interest and enthusiasm that infused anti-Israel encampments of the 2023-2024 academic year, when many activists on campus vowed not to abandon their tents unless administrators acceded to the demands of the “global intifada.”
In contrast, SJP’s chapter at Occidental left the section of campus it occupied without permission “peacefully,” the college told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.
“Students involved in the encampment cited a recently submitted divestment proposal as their key issue,” it continued in a statement to The Algemeiner. “That proposal is currently under review by the College’s Board of Trustees through the college’s established process, which is designed to gather input from across our community.”
Further evidence of this encampment’s wilted spirit is the college’s confirming that it has successfully identified and initiated disciplinary proceedings against several protesters who engaged in “some actions” which violated the code of conduct as well as policies regulating peaceful assembly.
“These policies exist to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our entire community and to minimize disruption to campus operation,” the college said. “Occidental is committed to upholding these standards. We have been enforcing our policies in a way that prioritizes deescalation and our community’s safety.”
On Tuesday, SJP said it “will be back” in a post which proclaimed, “Long live the liberated zone!! Long live the intifada!! Long live the resistance!!” The statement hints at the possibility of a second encampment should Occidental College ultimately reject the divestment proposal that the school’s communications official said is already being review by the board of trustees.
Historically, Occidental College has opposed SJP’s call for adopting the BDS movement, arguing that doing so “would potentially chill the expression of diverse opinions” and be “divisive and damaging to the college community.” It has also welcomed working with Jewish advocacy groups to improve relations between DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) officials and Jewish students, the latter of whom continue to report that DEI officials across the country block antisemitism investigations or refuse to punish those found guilty of discriminatory conduct.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a federal civil rights complaint against Occidental which alleged that it had failed to correct a “pervasive and hostile environment” in which Jewish students were subject to “severe antisemitic bullying, intimidation, and physical threats.” To settle the case, the college agreed in November 2024 to “sweeping reforms” which included adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a reference guide for investigations of anti-Jewish hatred and adding a section on antisemitism to training courses on compliance with federal civil rights laws.
“As I believe this resolution demonstrates, antisemitism is antithetical to the college’s values,” Occidental president Tom Stritikus said after the resolution was announced. “Discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students should be unequivocally rejected in our community. As we continue campus discussions around inclusivity, Jewish and Israel identities should be recognized alongside other groups that have historically faced discrimination due to their religious, ancestral, or national identities.”
Occidental College is not the only higher education institution that SJP targeted for the establishment of an encampment this month.
On April 18, SJP at Smith College in Massachusetts occupied the Chapin Lawn section of campus and renamed it “The People’s University.” Armed with a litany of demands calling for “restructuring” Smith’s governance of its endowment, transferring power over the institution from administrators to faculty and students, and a “required course on race” informed by the divisive critical race theory discipline, the students initially vowed to dwell in the encampment indefinitely.
However, the mounting presence of public safety officers around the encampment site and little indication that the demonstration held the drawing power of encampments of previous academic years prompted SJP to consider settling for less than it wanted.
Additionally, the college had notified the group of being in violation of campus policies on peaceful assembly and threatened SJP with disciplinary sanctions, which the group described as “fear tactics.” Tamra Bates, director of student engagement, personally told the students they would be punished as “individuals” and, the group added, public safety officers addressed “at least one student” by their “full name.” After three days, paranoia took hold of the organizers, and they issued a prohibition on photography “at any time … especially of people’s faces.”
SJP ultimately agreed to enter negotiations with the college over email, a process which concluded with Smith College agreeing to hold a meeting with the group and college trustees “before the end of the semester.”
The students decamped the following Saturday.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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US Lawmakers Warn of Aid Cuts if Nigeria Fails to Counter Islamist Attacks Against Christians
A Nigerian police truck stands at the deserted Maiduguri Monday Market the morning after multiple explosions struck the northeastern city of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, March 17, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Kingimi
The US House Appropriations Committee has advanced a State Department funding bill which will restrict aid to Nigeria if the current government cannot stop what one lawmaker labeled a genocide against Christians.
“The Tinubu administration is spending millions lobbying Congress while failing to adequately address the genocide Nigerian Christians face daily,” Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) posted on X on Wednesday. He said the appropriations panel, on which he serves, “just passed our annual State Department funding bill which takes serious steps to address this crisis.”
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who assumed office in May 2023, is a member of the All Progressives Caucus (APC), one of Nigeria’s two dominant political parties, the other being the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The US legislation sets three conditions for Nigeria to receive full funding of aid: “taking effective steps to prevent and respond to violence and hold perpetrators accountable; prioritizing resources to support victims of such violence, including internally displaced persons”; and “actively facilitating the safe return, resettlement, and reconstruction of communities impacted by the violence.”
The bill limits US support for Nigeria to 50 percent unless the American secretary of state can certify the government adheres to all three conditions.
Moore posted on X that the bill requires Nigeria to focus on preventing atrocities, advancing religious freedom, prosecuting Fulani ethnic militia groups, and targeting jihadists. The congressman described how, if signed into law, the measure would insist on the government “bolstering faith-based organizations’ response in areas impacted by violence.”
According to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), “between October 2019 and September 2024, ORFA documented 66,656 deaths across Nigeria, of these, 36,056 were civilians. The Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) were responsible for a staggering 47 percent of all civilian killings — more than five times the combined death toll of Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State – West Africa Province], which together accounted for just 11 percent of civilian deaths.”
These killings heavily targeted Christians. ORFA notes that “the data reveals that 2.4 Christians were killed for every Muslim during this period, with proportional losses to Christian communities reaching exceptional levels. In states where attacks occur, Christians were murdered at a rate 5.2 times higher than Muslims relative to their population size.”
Following this terrorism, Nigeria has seen a surge in the number of orphans, with data from SOS Children’s Villages showing 17.5 million now in the country, the second highest globally after India.
The violence against Christians is part of a surge of Islamist terrorist attacks across the Sahel region of West Africa, concentrated in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Northern Nigeria. A report released last year from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point revealed that in 2024, 86 percent of all terrorism-related deaths occurred in just 10 countries, with seven in Africa and five in the Sahel.
Over the weekend, Mali saw terrorist attacks in multiple locations which left Defense Minister Sadio Camara dead and the northeastern town Kidal seized. The strikes came following an alliance between Al-Qaeda-linked terror group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM,) and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a separatist group seeking to establish its own state.
Nigeria released a statement of support for Mali.
“Nigeria stands in solidarity with Mali and reaffirms the enduring ties of brotherhood, shared destiny, and collective resilience that define the African spirit,” said the ministry of foreign affairs’ spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa. “The Federal Government of Nigeria condemns the cowardly acts perpetrated by terrorist groups in different parts of the country in recent days which have resulted in the loss of lives and properties.”
Moore explained that the US bill also appropriates millions to fund International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement to counter FEM violence. “That provision also bolsters support for the establishment of state level police forces so Christians in Plateau and Benue aren’t sitting ducks waiting for help from Abuja,” Moore wrote on X.
Under the legislation, Moore said the secretary of state must “submit a plan for every dollar appropriated to Nigeria, and every dollar spent will have direct congressional oversight.” He added that “in my view, the Tinubu administration has failed to live up to the conditions the appropriations committee placed on security assistance.”
On March 16, three simultaneous explosions hit Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeast state Borno, resulting in 25 deaths.
The Nigerian government has previously defended itself against claims of failing to fight terrorism against Christians.
“Recent external claims suggesting systemic religious persecution in Nigeria are unfounded,” Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Dunoma Umar Ahmed said in November 2025, in response to warnings from President Donald Trump that the US military might need to intervene. “The state continues to wage a comprehensive counter-terrorism campaign against groups that target Nigerians of all faiths.”
Polling from Pew in 2020 found that 56 percent of Nigerians embraced Islam while 43 percent practice Christianity. However, traditional African religious beliefs also maintain broad influence, with approximately 70 percent of adults believing that spells, curses, and magic can impact people’s lives.
Both Christian and Muslim communities saw substantial growth in Nigeria during the last decade. The Muslim population rose 32 percent from 2010 to 2020, while the Christian population increased 25 percent. Nigeria contains the fifth largest Muslim population and sixth largest Christian population.
Overall, Nigeria has a current total population of 241 million people, making it the most populous country in Africa and sixth highest globally after Indonesia and Pakistan.
On Wednesday, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) released a statement from its leader in response to attacks and kidnappings at a church in Eda Oniyo Ekiti (that left one pastor dead) and at the Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State.
“We condemn this heinous act in the strongest possible terms. People had gathered peacefully to worship God, and they were met with violence. This is not just an attack on a church; it is a brutal assault on our shared humanity and the sanctity of life,” Archbishop Daniel Okoh said. “We mourn with the family of the slain Pastor and stand in full solidarity with the victims and the entire Christian community in Ekiti State. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been taken, and we call for their immediate and safe release.”
The fight to defend Nigerian Christians cuts across the aisle.
“Cracking down on the crisis Christians face in Nigeria has been supported in two appropriations bills by both Republicans and Democrats,” Moore wrote on X, concluding the announcement of the bill. “The United States will not turn a blind eye to the brutal persecution of our Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Ebienfa said that “terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, remains a common adversary that demands unified resolve, sustained cooperation and reaffirmation of our shared humanity to tackle.”
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Janet Mills Drops Out of Maine Senate Democratic Primary, Clearing Path for Anti-Israel Candidate Graham Platner
Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at a campaign town hall meeting in Ogunquit, Maine, US, Oct. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday announced that she is ending her campaign in the Democratic primary for US Senate, a move that effectively clears the path for progressive challenger Graham Platner to secure the nomination in a high-stakes race against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
In a statement, Mills cited the financial demands of a competitive statewide campaign, acknowledging she lacked the resources to continue. Her withdrawal came after weeks of trailing Platner in grassroots fundraising and momentum, despite support from establishment Democrats.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else — the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said.
“That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate,” she continued.
The development represents a sharp ideological shift in the Democratic field. Mills, a two-term governor, had been viewed by party leaders as a pragmatic candidate with broad appeal and a traditionally strong stance on US alliances, including support for Israel. Mills’s candidacy failed to gain traction in the state, with observers pointing to a Democratic primary electorate that is both incensed and deeply desirous for a shakeup from the status quo.
Platner, in contrast to Mills, has built his campaign on an anti-establishment message and drawn increasing scrutiny in part for his rhetoric on the Middle East. Some of his past statements criticizing Israel have alarmed more centrist Democrats and foreign policy observers, who argue his framing downplays Israel’s security concerns and risks alienating key constituencies in a general election.
Platner has repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and vowed to vote against further military assistance to the Jewish state. Earlier this month, Platner accused Israel of “exterminating” people in Gaza and refused to clarify his stance on whether Israel should remain a Jewish state. Most of his criticisms of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza omit any mention of the Hamas terrorist organization, framing Israel as an aggressor with intent of wiping out the Palestinian population.
Further, Platner came under scrutiny last year after it was revealed that the Democratic insurgent possesses a tattoo of a Totemkopf — a symbol historically used by Nazi military units. Though Platner has emphatically denied any knowledge of the tattoo’s connections to Nazism, skeptics have pointed out that the oyster farmer identifies as a military historian, raising serious doubts about his claims.
Concerns about Platner’s conduct and Totemkompf tattoo are already emerging as a potential liability in a race Democrats had hoped to make competitive. Collins, a moderate Republican with a long record of electoral success in Maine, has historically attracted independents and crossover voters, groups that could be wary of candidates perceived as ideologically extreme.
Mills’s exit also highlights a broader dynamic within the Democratic Party, as insurgent candidates in several primaries continue to gain traction over more traditional figures. While that energy has reshaped races across the country, it has also raised questions about general election viability in closely divided states.
Many observers have argued that Platner’s ascendance in the Democratic Party serves as another signal that the party is shifting further away from Israel and becoming more tolerant of antisemitism. Across the country, support for Israel has emerged as a litmus test within Democratic primary competitions, with candidates vowing to curtail support for Israel and being pressured to condemn the Jewish state as a perpetrator of “genocide.”
Despite Platner’s vulnerabilities and personal baggage, he has racked up a bevy of endorsements from Democratic power-players such as Rep. Ro Khanna (CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA). On Thursday, the Democratic Party officially endorsed Platner as the nominee to take on Collins.
As of now, polling indicates a close race in the Maine general election, with several polls showing Platner with a narrow lead over Collins. However, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has not yet aired ads against Platner, and the Republicans are expected to weaponize Platner’s history of controversial commentary in the lead-up to Election Day in November.