New York City Comptroller Mark Levine came under fire on Wednesday after he revealed to The New York Times that he would reverse course on a long-standing pledge to reinvest municipal pension dollars in State of Israel bonds — criticism that came even from his predecessor in the role, Scott Stringer.

Speaking to the Times, Levine stressed his continued personal relationship with and support for the Jewish state, and maintained his decision not to purchase the bonds was based solely on “technical challenges” and “financial considerations.” In a statement to Jewish Insider, his office explicitly echoed a recent analysis by the ratings agency Fitch that cited upcoming Israeli elections as a stability risk, and further pointed to growing state debt and the possibility of additional military clashes with Iran or Hezbollah.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun and other administration officials joined the families of former hostages and victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel for a commemoration event on Wednesday at the State Department.

The commemoration took place a week after the third anniversary of the attacks.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that the Labour party would not enter into a partnership with the left-wing Green Party while it maintains its recently adopted policy declaring Zionism a form of racism, condemning the motion as “antisemitic” while speaking in the House of Commons.

“It is wrong, it is antisemitic, and this side of the House will have nothing to do with it,” Burnham said in response to Conservative MP Dame Harriett Baldwin, who pressed him to rule out cooperation with the Greens following the adoption of the motion at the party’s annual conference earlier this month.

The mayor of Reggio Emilia, Italy, defended the city’s handling of a controversy where Israeli and American Jewish preschool teachers were asked to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza before being permitted to join a trip to his town, denying that the pledge was a requirement to attend. 

Marco Massari, speaking to the city council on Monday, said the city’s Charter for Democratic and Participatory Education, a document associated with Reggio Emilia’s early childhood education approach, was intended to be open for discussion, not a requirement that visitors sign on to a particular position. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that the Biden administration should have acted “sooner and more forcefully” to restrain Israel during the war in Gaza, criticizing the Israeli government’s “horrific conduct” and accusing President Donald Trump of giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “blank check.”

Speaking at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, South Korea, Harris said the United States had fallen short of its “moral obligation to human rights and international law” by failing to use its influence to curb Israel’s actions in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. The remarks came during a broader speech focused on American leadership and artificial intelligence.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sharply criticized Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — the GOP candidate for New York governor — on Wednesday, calling the Republican’s assertions that he would not protect Hasidic communities from arson and sexual violence “directly racist.”

Speaking after an unrelated event in Manhattan, the mayor maintained he had not seen the televised debate between Blakeman and Gov. Kathy Hochul Tuesday night where Blakeman, who is Jewish, refused to back away from controversial remarks he made at a private meeting over the weekend. At that meeting, first reported by The New York Times, Blakeman warned Williamsburg leaders that Mamdani would likely do little “if there is rioting here, if they’re burning down the yeshivas and your shuls, and burning down your house and raping your women.” 

A Dublin hotel canceled 70 rooms booked for participants in an international conference of envoys for combatting antisemitism, attendees and organizers said on Tuesday.

Maurice Cohen, the head of the Irish Jewish Representative Council, said at the opening gathering of the summit that the Herbert Park Hotel canceled the group’s reservation made in May, after finding out the nature of the event. The hotel’s manager also asked if the conference was connected to the IDF. The Herbert Park Hotel declined to comment. 

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for New York governor, declined to back away from warnings he made at a weekend event in Brooklyn with Hasidic leaders about the threat of mass arson and sexual assault to their communities — but he specified that he expected the violence would come from anti-Israel protesters.

The New York Times first reported that Blakeman, himself Jewish, had suggested in a private meeting in Williamsburg on Sunday that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would not intervene “if there is rioting here, if they’re burning down the yeshivas and your shuls, and burning down your house and raping your women.”