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Zohran Mamdani makes his case to Jewish New Yorkers at Congregation Beth Elohim
Tensions ran high Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn’s Congregation Beth Elohim, where dozens of pro-Israel protesters gathered to oppose mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s appearance at the synagogue.
Mamdani’s visit, his first speaking engagement at a Jewish institution since before the primary election, was billed to the Reform synagogue’s congregants as an opportunity to hear directly from the candidate that has drawn condemnation from some Jewish New Yorkers for his sharp stances against Israel.
Mamdani has faced backlash from Jewish leaders for his failure to condemn the pro-Palestinian phrase “globalize the intifada,” as well as for his support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement against Israel. He has since said he would “discourage” use of the slogan and has sought to strengthen relations with Jews in New York.
Some congregants at Congregation Beth Elohim, or CBE, objected to Mamdani’s visit, which directly followed his participation in the NYC Gaza 5K raising money for the Palestinian aid agency UNRWA, held in nearby Prospect Park on Sunday morning.
Elaine Kleinberg, a 25-year member of CBE, joined the ranks of the roughly three dozen protesters gathered across the street of the event out of fear that her temple was being used as a “political prop.”
“I think it’s very clear that any group that wants Israel to be eliminated is not to be embraced by our congregation. It’s like inviting Yasser Arafat into our into our midst,” said Kleinberg. “I feel very tormented right now and conflicted because I felt like this was my welcoming sanctuary, and I’m not so sure.”
A Park Slope pro-Israel activist, Ramon Maislen, helped organize the event. “Does anyone think that CBE would invite a Proud Boy adjacent Republican candidate for Mayor who said that White Power meant different things to different people just 3 weeks before the election?” he tweeted late Sunday, reiterating his comments from the demonstration.
The demonstrators waved Israeli flags and held signs reading “No to Zoh-cialism,” “Jews for Jihadists?” and “Make Love not Intifada.” As the crowd grew, a passing driver yelled “Free Palestine,” prompting one protester to shout back at him.
While the protesters seemed to be mixed between congregants and those unaffiliated with CBE, as the demonstration began singing “Shalom Aleichem,” a song of peace, congregants in line across the street joined the chorus.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner, the senior rabbi of CBE, said she felt that the protesters misunderstood the purpose of Mamdani’s visit.
“I feel that there’s a misunderstanding with the people outside, because I think that they clearly are viewing this as if it’s an act of support, and it is actually an act of expressing the views of the Jewish people as they affect our city,” said Timoner, who spoke last week at an Oct. 7 vigil held by Israelis for Peace that Mamdani attended.
Last month, CBE hosted a member listening circle that centered on congregants’ thoughts about the mayoral race. There, Timoner said many expressed a desire to ask questions to the candidates directly.
In response to that sentiment, Timoner said CBE had invited all the mayoral candidates to speak and take questions from congregants. Mamdani’s appearance, she noted, would be followed by a discussion with Curtis Sliwa next week. (She added that Cuomo’s campaign had not responded to multiple invitations.)
Rabbi Rachel Timoner, the senior rabbi at Brooklyn’s Congregation Beth Elohim, delivers her Rosh Hashanah sermon on Thursday, Oct 3, 2023. (Facebook screenshot)
For Mamdani’s appearance Sunday, Timoner said they had received almost 400 registrations and 82 member-submitted questions to pose to the mayoral frontrunner. Of the questions selected to be asked of Mamdani, she said about half related to his stances on Zionism, Israel and antisemitism while the rest focused on his policies.
Timoner said she received between 15 and 20 emails from congregants urging her to cancel the event, fearing it could be seen as an endorsement.
“This is not in any way about endorsing a candidate,” said Timoner. “This is about platforming our members’ concerns, lifting up our members’ concerns in the conversation about the future of our city.”
Among the synagogue’s most prominent members is Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader who has not endorsed Mamdani despite criticism from others in the Democratic Party.
To quell concerns that the visit could be seen as a “photo-op” for the candidates, Timoner said Mamdani and Sliwa had both agreed not to post about the events on social media.
Speaking with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency ahead of the event, which was closed to the press, Timoner said she hoped the engagement could offer Mamdani an opportunity to hear from Jewish New Yorkers directly.
“I am hoping that he is going to hear us. We’re going to ask some hard questions, and we’re going to raise some deep concerns, and I’m hoping that he is going to listen with an open mind and an open heart to the real pain and fear and experience of the Jewish community,” said Timoner.
Following the event, as roughly 300 congregants filed out of the synagogue, reactions to his appearance were mixed.
“I walked in on the fence, not feeling comfortable voting for Cuomo, although I voted for him in the primary, and definitely not going to vote for Sliwa,” said one 80-year-old congregant who requested anonymity to protect his privacy as a voter. “I left a little more leaning towards Mamdani. I really want to like him. He’s a likable guy. I think he provides some sense of enthusiasm for big portions of our population.”
When asked how he felt about Mamdani’s responses to questions about his stances on anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the congregant said he was “trying to figure out how to deal with that.”
“The guy has a history of being pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist, anti-Israel as a Jewish state. I am typical of this community, anti-the prosecution of the war by the current Israeli government. I’m against them, but I am for Israel as a Jewish state, and I’m not quite sure. He’s still sort of vague where he stands or not,” the congregant said.
He described Mamdani’s responses to questions about Israel as including “a lot of nice rhetoric,” but said he was unsure how things would play out if he is elected.
“I’m not sure what happens if there are anti-Jewish protesters, protests or actions against Jewish students,” the congregant said. “I don’t know what he’d do about that. Would he come down hard? Does he lean a certain way?”
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Herzog Says Wellbeing of Israelis His Only Concern in Deal With Netanyahu’s ‘Extraordinary’ Pardon Request
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during a press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics in Riga, Latvia, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
i24 News – In an interview with Politico published on Saturday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog remained tight-lipped on whether he intended to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extraordinary” pardon request, saying that his decision will be motivated by what’s best for Israel.
“There is a process which goes through the Justice Ministry and my legal adviser and so on. This is certainly an extraordinary request and above all when dealing with it I will consider what is the best interest of the Israeli people,” Herzog said. “The well-being of the Israeli people is my first, second and third priority.”
Asked specifically about President Donald Trump’s request, Herzog said “I respect President Trump’s friendship and his opinion,” adding, “Israel, naturally, is a sovereign country.”
Herzog addressed a wide range of topics in the interview, including the US-Israel ties and the shifts in public opinion on Israel.
“One has to remember that the fountains of America, of American life, are based on biblical values, just like ours. And therefore, I believe that the underlying fountain that we all drink from is the same,” he said. “However, I am following very closely the trends that I see in the American public eye and the attitude, especially of young people, on Israel.”
“It comes from TikTok,” he said of the torrent of hostility toward Israel that has engulf swathes of U.S. opinion since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, “from a very shallow discourse of the current situation, pictures or viewpoints, and doesn’t judge from the big picture, which is, is Israel a strategic ally? Yes. Is Israel contributing to American national interests, security interests? Absolutely yes. Is Israel a beacon of democracy in the Middle East? Absolutely yes.”
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Syria’s Sharaa Charges Israel ‘Exports Its Crises to Other Countries’
FILE PHOTO: Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday escalated his messaging against Israel at the Doha forum.
“Israel is working to export its own crises to other countries and escape accountability for the massacres it committed in the Gaza Strip, justifying everything with security concerns,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Syria, since its liberation, has sent positive messages aimed at establishing the foundations of regional stability.
“Israel has responded to Syria with extreme violence, launching over 1,000 airstrikes and carrying out 400 incursions into its territory. The latest of these attacks was the massacre it perpetrated in the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside, which claimed dozens of lives.
“We are working with influential countries worldwide to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied after December 8, 2014, and all countries support this demand.
“Syria insists on Israel’s adherence to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. The demand for a demilitarized zone raises many questions. Who will protect this zone if there is no Syrian army presence?
“Any agreement must guarantee Syria’s interests, as it is Syria that is subjected to Israeli attacks. So, who should be demanding a buffer zone and withdrawal?”
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Turkey’s Fidan: Gaza Governance Must Precede Hamas Disarmament in Ceasefire Deal
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Saturday that not advancing the US-backed Gaza ceasefire plan to its next stage would be a “huge failure” for the world and Washington, noting that President Donald Trump had personally led the push.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Fidan said a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, trained police force needed to be in place to allow Hamas to disarm, and that the group was prepared to hand over control of the enclave.
“First of all, we need to see that the Palestinian committee of technical people are taking over the administration of Gaza, then we need to see that the police force is being formed to police Gaza – again, by the Palestinians, not Hamas.”
NATO member Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza. It played a key role in brokering the ceasefire deal, signing the agreement as a guarantor. It has repeatedly expressed its willingness to join efforts to monitor the accord’s implementation, a move Israel strongly opposes.
Talks to advance the next phase of President Trump’s plan to end the two-year conflict in Gaza are continuing.
The plan envisages an interim technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave, overseen by an international “board of peace” and supported by a multinational security force. Negotiations over the composition and mandate of that force have proven particularly difficult.
Fidan said the Gaza police force would be backed by the international stabilisation force. He added that Washington was pressing Israel over Turkey’s bid to join the force, to which it has voiced readiness to deploy troops if needed.
FIDAN SAYS KURDISH SDF IN SYRIA NOT WILLING TO INTEGRATE
Asked about a landmark deal in March in which the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus agreed that the SDF would be integrated into Syria’s state structures, Fidan said signals from the SDF showed it had “no intention” of honouring the accord, and was instead seeking to sidestep it.
Ankara, which considers the SDF a terrorist organisation, has threatened military action if it does not comply, setting a deadline of the end of the year.
“I think they (SDF) should understand that the command and control should come from one place,” Fidan added. “There can be no two armies in any given country. So there can only be one army, one command structure … But in local administration, they can reach a different settlement and different understandings.”
Almost a year after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, Fidan said some issues of minority rights were unresolved, insisting that Turkey’s backing of the new Syrian government was not a “blank cheque” to oppress any groups.
He said Damascus was taking steps toward national unity, but that Israeli “destabilisation policies” were the chief obstacle.
Israel has frequently struck southwestern Syria this year, citing threats from militant groups and the need to protect the Druze community near the frontier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he expected Syria to establish a demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to the border.
TURKEY: U.S. COULD REMOVE SANCTIONS ‘VERY SOON’
Fidan also said Washington’s initial 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war was just a “starting point,” and that it was now evolving in a new format. He said mediation by US officials was “on the right path.”
“I just hope that nobody leaves the table and the Americans are not frustrated, because sometimes the mediators can be frustrated if they don’t see enough encouragement from both sides.”
Asked about efforts to lift US sanctions imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, he said both sides were working on it, adding: “I believe we’ll soon find a way to remove that obstacle.”