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Steven Fulop, Jewish Jersey City mayor who responded to 2019 antisemitic attack, running for governor
(JTA) — Steven Fulop, the Jewish mayor of Jersey City who played a central role in responding to the 2019 attack on a kosher supermarket there, is running for governor of New Jersey.
Fulop, 46, has been the mayor of the city, New Jersey’s second-largest, for nearly a decade. The election to replace Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited, is more than two years away, in 2025.
Fulop, also a Democrat, has overseen major development in the city, according to Politico. He is a marine veteran and had previously explored a run for governor in 2017. He is the only candidate to officially enter the race thus far.
He was Jersey City’s mayor when, in 2019, two shooters fired on a kosher supermarket in the city’s small Hasidic community, killing one of the proprietors, a customer, an employee and a police officer at a separate location. The shooting happened amid a string of antisemitic incidents in the New York City area.
Fulop drew attention for calling the shooting a hate crime a day after it occurred and one day before the state attorney general made the same determination publicly. Fulop defended that choice on Twitter, writing that according to video, the shooters chose the kosher supermarket intentionally.
“We shouldn’t parse words on whether this is a hate crime at this point,” he wrote. “This was a hate crime against Jewish ppl + hate has no place.”
Days later, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “Had I said that we were unsure of the motives or the reasons or whether it was a hate crime, I feel like it would’ve jeopardized my relationship with the community, the trust I’ve built, and at the end of the day we would have looked very foolish.”
Before high school, Fulop attended Jewish day schools, and his father, who fought in the Israeli army during the 1967 Six-Day War, owned a deli in Newark. All four of his grandparents survived the Holocaust.
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The post Steven Fulop, Jewish Jersey City mayor who responded to 2019 antisemitic attack, running for governor appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.