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New York City’s top Jewish officials urge Mamdani to recognize Israel’s centrality to Jewish identity
New York City’s most senior Jewish elected officials are urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to do more to address the concerns of Jewish New Yorkers directly, including acknowledging the community’s deep emotional connection to Israel and reconsidering his pledge not to visit the country.
Mamdani, who rose to power aligned with pro-Palestinian activism and is the city’s first Muslim mayor, has declined to recognize Israel specifically as a Jewish state and vowed not to continue the tradition upheld by previous mayors to travel to Israel. New York City has the largest concentration of Jews outside Israel.
“We understand that in the city of New York, for a great number of Jewish people, Israel is a core issue to our identity and even our feeling of personal safety,” said Mark Levine, the city’s comptroller and its highest-ranking Jewish elected official, during a panel on “the future of being Jewish in New York” hosted by the 92NY on Wednesday. Also on stage were City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
Holyman-Sigal, who as a state legislator visited Israel weeks after the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack, said that it would be “an enormous step forward” if Mamdani followed the tradition of every mayor preceding him, going back to 1951, to demonstrate solidarity with their Jewish constituents. “Maybe now is not the right time exactly, but to get that on his radar screen is going to be meaningful to a large segment of New Yorkers,” he said. “If Nixon can go to China, I think the mayor might consider that in the future.”
Mamdani, a supporter of the boycott Israel movement who co-founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Maine’s Bowdoin College, was met with suspicion from the start as he rose in the polls during the mayoral race last year. His statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unsettled many of the city’s more than 1 million Jews, who were divided in the competitive race, including his refusal to explicitly condemn the “globalize the intifada” slogan used at some pro-Palestinian protests and his refusal to recognize Israel specifically as a “Jewish state.” Mamdani also faced backlash from his hard-line anti-Israel base for saying the country has a right to exist.
Three months into his mayoralty, Mamdani is still struggling to find a governing posture that reassures the largest Jewish community in America, as he insists he will not retreat from his criticism of Israel.
He has faced backlash from Zionist Jewish organizations, particularly after revoking executive orders on his first day in office tied to antisemitism and campus protests and his recent refusal to back legislation aimed at curbing disruptive protests outside synagogues and schools. He also promised to divest from city investments in Israel and pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to New York in compliance with an International Criminal Court warrant. Legal experts doubt Mamdani would have the authority to do that.
Nonetheless, Mamdani has increased his Jewish outreach efforts since taking office. Mamdani has also appointed Phylisa Wisdom, a progressive Jewish leader, to run the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. Wisdom has laid out an ambitious early agenda focused on building trust across the city’s diverse Jewish communities.
In March, Mamdani convened a roundtable with Orthodox and Hasidic leaders at City Hall, his most visible outreach yet. But the meeting also underscored the administration’s uneven engagement. Mainstream organizations — including groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federations of New York — were not invited. Mamdani attended Passover Seders hosted by his progressive allies.
At the 92NY event, Menin, who is seen by some as a counterweight to Mamdani on Jewish issues, said that signing the legislative package to combat antisemitism, at a time when anti-Jewish incidents continue to make up a majority of reported hate crimes in the city, would be a key test. The bill directs the NYPD to craft a plan within 45 days for managing protests around houses of worship. It passed by a 44-5 vote, a veto-proof margin. Mamdani has declined to say whether he will sign measures or oppose them.
“I really hope that there is not a veto of that legislation, because I think that will lead to more division when we need less divisiveness,” Menin said.
Hoylman-Sigal said Mamdani’s approach would signal whether he is committed to protecting the Jewish community. He added that he “would be disappointed to say the least” if the mayor chooses to veto the legislation.
City Hall did not respond to multiple requests to interview the mayor about his outreach to the Jewish community during his media tour marking his first 100 days in office.
The future of Israel Bonds
Levine, the city’s chief fiscal officer, who is responsible for auditing agencies and nonprofits, has remained consistent in his promise to resume the purchases of Israel Bonds, debt securities issued by the Israeli government with a roughly 5% return. New York held the bonds between 1974 and 2023, when then-comptroller Brad Lander, who is also Jewish, ended the city’s investment of $39,947,160 in them.
Mamdani had urged Lander to end it permanently, although the mayor can neither prevent the investment nor overrule it.
Levine defended his position on Wednesday. “This is about the fiduciary responsibility that I have and that we have in safeguarding these assets and deploying them in a globally diverse way,” he said. “Israel bonds have never missed a payment in 70 years, ever, not once. They pay excellent interest.”
The comptroller also called out critics who have been protesting outside his office. “We have had no protesting about our investments in Saudi Arabia, our investments in Pakistan or China, only this one little, tiny sliver,” Levine said. He added, “I have many criticisms of the policies of the current government of Israel, have many criticisms of the policies of the current government of the United States, but we own treasury bills because it’s a financial instrument that meets an important need for us.”
The post New York City’s top Jewish officials urge Mamdani to recognize Israel’s centrality to Jewish identity appeared first on The Forward.
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Attacks in South Lebanon Strain Ceasefire on Eve of Washington Talks
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in southern Lebanon, March 24, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
An Israeli strike killed two people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanon‘s state news agency reported, and Hezbollah said it launched an attack drone at Israeli forces in the south, further straining a ceasefire between the Iran-backed terrorist group and Israel.
On the eve of talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut would seek an extension of the 10-day, US-mediated ceasefire, which is set to expire on Sunday.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the Lebanese Islamist group opened fire in support of Iran.
The US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce. The United States has denied any link between the tracks.
Lebanon‘s state-run National News Agency said the Israeli strike hit a car in al-Tiri, a village in south Lebanon, killing two people inside. The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah said it attacked an Israeli artillery position in southern Lebanon with a drone, in response to what it said was an Israeli violation of the ceasefire. The Israeli military said it had intercepted “a hostile aircraft” launched by Hezbollah toward Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon.
More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched an offensive in response to Hezbollah’s March 2 attack, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel says the vast majority of those killed have been Hezbollah terrorists, who often embed themselves in civilian areas.
Israeli forces have seized a belt of territory at the border where troops remain, saying they aim to create a buffer zone to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the conflict.
BEIRUT TO SEEK END TO ISRAELI DEMOLITIONS
Aoun said Beirut’s envoy to Thursday’s talks, Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada Moawad, would seek a ceasefire extension and a halt to demolitions being carried out by Israel in villages in the south, according to a statement.
A Lebanese official said Beirut wants a ceasefire extension as a prerequisite for talks to expand beyond the ambassadorial level to the next phase, in which Lebanon would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel, and a delineation of the land border.
Hezbollah, which says the Lebanon ceasefire was the fruit of Iranian pressure, has condemned Beirut for seeking talks with Israel, reflecting wider splits with the government that has sought Hezbollah’s peaceful disarmament for a year.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a speech, said Israel had taken a “historic decision to negotiate directly with Lebanon after more than 40 years” whilst also calling it a “failed state.”
“I call on the Government of Lebanon: Let’s work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built in your territory. This cooperation is needed by you even more than by us,” he said.
The Israeli military said it had killed two terrorists who had crossed its “Forward Defense Line” in south Lebanon on Tuesday and approached Israeli soldiers, saying they had violated the ceasefire.
DRUZE LEADER URGES CLEAR AGENDA, INCLUDING WITHDRAWAL
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to attend Thursday’s meeting. Israel will be represented by its ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter.
Aoun has cited goals including halting Israeli attacks on Lebanon and securing the withdrawal of Israeli troops. In a speech on Friday, he said a ceasefire should be transformed into “permanent agreements that preserve the rights of our people, the unity of our land, and the sovereignty of our nation.”
Announcing the ceasefire on April 16, US President Donald Trump said he had instructed Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine to work with the two countries to achieve lasting peace.
Lebanon and Israel have remained in an official state of war since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Lebanon‘s most senior Shi’ite state official, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, is against face-to-face negotiations with Israel, saying Beirut could have negotiated indirectly.
Lebanon‘s leading Druze politician, Walid Jumblatt, said on Tuesday that the most Lebanon could offer is an update to a 1949 armistice agreement with Israel.
In comments to reporters after a meeting with Berri, Jumblatt said there should be a clear agenda for talks that includes a withdrawal of Israeli troops still in southern Lebanon.
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Dutch Prosecutors Seek 30-Year Sentence for Alleged Syrian Torturer Who Backed Assad
Fighters of the ruling Syrian body inspect the site of a mass grave from the rule of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, according to residents, after the ousting of al-Assad, in Najha, Syria, Dec. 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Prosecutors in the Netherlands on Wednesday demanded a 30–year prison sentence for a Syrian man accused of torturing and raping prisoners when he was a member of a militia that backed the government of former president Bashar al-Assad.
Prosecutors have charged 58-year-old Rafik A., whose last name is withheld by the Dutch court, with 25 counts including torture, sexual violence, and rape as crimes against humanity against nine people in 2013 and 2014.
Rafik A. has repeatedly denied any involvement with the alleged crimes. The case is the first in the Netherlands to deal with alleged atrocity crimes in Syria committed by pro-government forces. It is also the first time Dutch prosecutors have charged sexual violence as a crime against humanity.
Cases against Assad-era security officials have also been brought in other European countries, including Germany.
Witnesses who survived the defendant’s attacks spoke of the physical and psychological torture inflicted by A. during the trial.
“Not only did he tear my body apart, but he trampled on my soul. He was the worst nightmare of my life,” one witness said, recounting that he entered detention as a child and emerged as a traumatized adult.
Prosecutors say Rafik A. was the head of the interrogation unit of the National Defense Forces (NDF) in Salamiyah, Syria, in 2013 and 2014. The NDF was a militia that fought on the side of the government of Assad, who was ousted in December 2024.
Rafik A. was arrested in 2023 in the Netherlands, where he had lived for several years as an asylum seeker.
Under the concept of universal jurisdiction, Dutch law broadly allows cases to be brought against foreign nationals for crimes committed abroad if the perpetrators or some of the victims are present in the Netherlands.
Rafik A.’s lawyers and lawyers for his alleged victims will give their closing arguments on Thursday. The verdict is expected on June 9.
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French Soldier Dies of Wounds After Attack on UN Force in Lebanon, Macron Blames Hezbollah
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference in Paris, France, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that a second French soldier had died following an attack on United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon last week, which he said was carried out by Iran‑backed Hezbollah.
The soldier, Chief Corporal Anicet Girardin, was severely wounded on April 18 and died of his wounds after being evacuated to France on Tuesday, Macron said in a post on social media platform X.
One of his colleagues was killed immediately while clearing a road in southern Lebanon in the same attack on the UN peacekeeping mission.
Macron blamed Hezbollah terrorists for the attack.
UNIFIL said initial assessments indicated the fire came from non‑state actors, allegedly Hezbollah, and that an investigation had been launched into what it called “a deliberate attack.”
Hezbollah has denied any involvement, expressing its “surprise at positions that rushed to make baseless accusations” against the Islamist group.
During a visit to Paris on Tuesday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he was personally following the investigation into the incident.
“I have instructed the police force to carry out all necessary inquiries in order to identify those responsible and bring them to justice,” he said.
France, which has deep historical ties to Lebanon, has about 700 troops as part of the UNIFIL mission.
Three French soldiers have now died in the region since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran at the end of February. One was killed earlier in northern Iraq after a drone attack on a French‑Kurdish base.
Since 1978, more than 160 French soldiers have been killed in Lebanon.