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Why Is the NYPD Refusing to Protect Jews, But Enabling Genocidal Hamas Supporters?
Pro-Hamas students staging an anti-Hillel protest as New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers look on. Photo: Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students/Screenshot
It’s good to know that a New Yorker from a well-known Jewish family — and a dedicated public servant — has recently been named Commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD). With violence against Jews soaring, Jessica Tisch has a unique chance to lead the nation’s largest police force — and lead the way for law enforcement agencies nationwide to push back against antisemites — and pro-Hamas violent mobs — everywhere. We demand that Zionists and all Jews be protected in New York.
Just a few months ago, terrorist supporters menacingly chanted “We’re gonna get you” outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hotel, the Loews Hotel, which the Tisch family owns. and no one was arrested. But even worse than threatening one Israeli leader, is that pro-Hamas supporters have been marching with impunity since October 2023, demanding and supporting the murder of Jews in Israel, New York, and all across the world.
In response, the NYPD has insisted many of these marches are protected by freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. In reality, these marches are incitement to murder — and often descend into violence — and letting them happen with no consequence only encourages more violence.
I am writing to Commissioner Tisch with deep concern about the future of the Jewish community in New York City. Antisemitism has permeated all areas of daily life in New York, and Jew-haters operate with impunity in this city, which is no longer safe for Jews. We have had enough political speeches and empty promises. We don’t care what Mayor Eric Adams says about the hostages, we care that he does not keep the Jews of New York safe.
As the head of the NYPD, Commissioner Tisch must be aware that last Saturday evening, on 59th Street and 5th Avenue, a large disruptive pro-Hamas rally was held in front of the Park Lane Hotel, where Israel’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was staying. As masked terrorist supporters waved Hamas and Hezbollah flags and screamed “We don’t want no Zionists here” — amidst violent calls for “intifada” — Tisch’s NYPD removed American Jewish Zionists who were present from the scene, as the police said they could not protect Jews from violence.
If Jews (codeword Zionists) aren’t safe on a Saturday evening on 59th street — but Hamas supporters are — then the NYPD is not doing its job. There should be enough cops to protect everyone.
As a New Yorker, I see Jews beaten with shocking frequency, and threatened with impunity by jihadis with face coverings who intimidate, terrorize, and disrupt life daily. The NYPD’s job is to protect people everywhere, not allow jihadi supporters to run rampant.
Here were some of the chants heard on Saturday night: “Hitler should have finished you off” and we will “give you the United Health treatment.”
How is this allowed to happen? These are threats of murder — plain and simple. And as we Jews no, threats rarely often end there.
We demand that Commissioner Tisch immediately remove the handcuffs from the NYPD and arrest criminals. We demand the police enforce the law, and not pro-terrorist rallies block streets and roads. We demand she urge the FBI and Homeland Security to investigate people who openly support illegal terror organizations and work with the new presidential administration to get them deported if they aren’t citizens if they are breaking US law and threatening people with murder and violence.
We are past the crisis point for Jews in New York City. We want action to protect Jews, of which we have seen none. After heinous protests celebrating murder and rape took place at an exhibit on the Nova Festival massacre, Mayor Adams said, “We have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel right here in New York. This is not going to be a city where you’ll have to take off your yarmulke, be afraid to walk inside a synagogue.”
The reality is that many Jews have taken off their yarmulkes, as the streets have been surrendered to terrorists. Antisemitism is flourishing in New York City, and Jews have never been so unsafe as they are today in Gotham. Jews who haven’t yet escaped to Florida or elsewhere are wondering if there is a future for Jews in New York City. It certainly doesn’t feel like it.
The job you signed up for is to keep this city safe, Ms. Tisch. We demand you do your job, as you remind New York and America that not only are Zionists welcome here, but they are welcome everywhere.
Ronn Torossian is an American-Israeli entrepreneur, author and philanthropist.
The post Why Is the NYPD Refusing to Protect Jews, But Enabling Genocidal Hamas Supporters? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Iran and the United States have agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said on Saturday, though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi voiced “extreme cautious” about the success of the negotiations to resolve a decades-long standoff.
US President Donald Trump has signaled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a third round of the talks in Muscat through Omani mediators for around six hours, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
“The negotiations are extremely serious and technical… there are still differences, both on major issues and on details,” Araqchi told Iranian state TV.
“There is seriousness and determination on both sides… However, our optimism about success of the talks remains extremely cautious.”
A senior US administration official described the talks as positive and productive, adding that both sides agreed to meet again in Europe “soon.”
“There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the official added.
Earlier Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said talks would continue next week, with another “high-level meeting” provisionally scheduled for May 3. Araqchi said Oman would announce the venue.
Ahead of the lead negotiators’ meeting, expert-level indirect talks took place in Muscat to design a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
“The presence of experts was beneficial … we will return to our capitals for further reviews to see how disagreements can be reduced,” Araqchi said.
An Iranian official, briefed about the talks, told Reuters earlier that the expert-level negotiations were “difficult, complicated and serious.”
The only aim of these talks, Araqchi said, was “to build confidence about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.”
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said “I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,” but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
Shortly after Araqchi and Witkoff began their latest indirect talks on Saturday, Iranian state media reported a massive explosion at the country’s Shahid Rajaee port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, killing at least four people and injuring hundreds.
MAXIMUM PRESSURE
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has breached the pact’s nuclear curbs including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week Iran would have to entirely stop enriching uranium under a deal, and import any enriched uranium it needed to fuel its sole functioning atomic energy plant, Bushehr.
Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment program or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among “Iran’s red lines that could not be compromised” in the talks.
Moreover, European states have suggested to US negotiators that a comprehensive deal should include limits preventing Iran from acquiring or finalizing the capacity to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile, several European diplomats said.
Tehran insists its defense capabilities like its missile program are not negotiable.
An Iranian official with knowledge of the talks said on Friday that Tehran sees its missile program as a bigger obstacle in the talks.
The post Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named close confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy and likely successor on Saturday, the Palestine Liberation Organization said, a step widely seen as needed to assuage international doubts over Palestinian leadership.
Abbas, 89, has headed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 but he had for years resisted internal reforms including the naming of a successor.
Sheikh, born in 1960, is a veteran of Fatah, the main PLO faction which was founded by Arafat and is now headed by Abbas. He is widely viewed as a pragmatist with very close ties to Israel.
He was named PLO vice president after the organization’s executive committee approved his nomination by Abbas, the PLO said in a statement.
Reform of the PA, which exercises limited autonomy in the West Bank, has been a priority for the United States and Gulf monarchies hoping the body can play a central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Pressure to reform has intensified since the start of the war in Gaza, where the PLO’s main Palestinian rival Hamas has battled Israel for more than 18 months, leaving the tiny, crowded territory in ruins.
The United States has promoted the idea of a reformed PA governing in Gaza after the war. Gulf monarchies, which are seen as the most likely source of funding for reconstruction in Gaza after the war, also want major reforms of the body.
CALL FOR HAMAS TO DISARM
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the destruction of Hamas but it has also ruled out giving the PA any role in government there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas, which follows a militant Islamist ideology, has controlled Gaza since 2007 when it defeated the PA in a brief civil war after winning an election the previous year. It also has a large presence in the West Bank.
At a meeting of the PLO’s Central Council on Wednesday and Thursday that approved the position of vice president without naming an appointee, Abbas made his clearest ever call for Hamas to completely disarm and hand its weapons – and responsibility for governing in Gaza – to the PA.
Widespread corruption, lack of progress towards an independent state and increasing Israeli military incursions in the West Bank have undermined the PA’s popularity among many Palestinians.
The body has been controlled by Fatah since it was formed in the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993 and it last held parliamentary elections in 2005.
Sheikh, who was imprisoned by Israel for his activities opposing the occupation during the period 1978-89, has worked as the PA’s main contact liaising with the Israeli government under Abbas and been his envoy on visits to world powers.
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3rd Round of Nuclear Talks Between Iran, US Concludes in Oman
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – The third round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program has concluded on Saturday, US media reported.
The two sides are understood to have discussed the US lifting of sanctions on Iran, with focuses on technical and key topics including uranium enrichment.
On April 12, the US and Iran held indirect talks in Muscat, marking the first official negotiation between the two sides since the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The second round of indirect talks took place in Rome, Italy, on April 19.
All parties, including Oman, stated that the first two rounds of talks were friendly and constructive, but Iranian media pointed out that the first two rounds were mainly framework negotiations and had not yet touched upon the core issues of disagreement.
According to media reports, one of the key issues in the expert-level negotiations will be whether Washington will allow Iran to continue uranium enrichment within the framework of its nuclear program. In response, Araghchi made it clear that Iran’s right to uranium enrichment is non-negotiable.
The US, Israel and other Western actors including the United Nation’s nuclear agency reject Iranian claims that its uranium enrichment is strictly civilian in its goals.
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