A former Democratic Socialists of America organizer has been a top advisor to independent Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn and Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.

Daniel Moraff was a longtime DSA member, including acting as a local and national DSA organizer and leader in the mid-to-late 2010s, though he said his membership lapsed in 2019 because his local chapter became too focused on internal matters. He argued in a now-deleted 2017 article that the best way for socialists to gain political power and achieve elective office would be by running in Democratic primaries.

He subsequently recruited now-Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), among the farthest-left and most anti-Israel members of the House, to run for the Pennsylvania Statehouse, and served as her campaign manager.

Moraff reportedly helped recruit Osborn into the Nebraska Senate race in 2024 and has continued to serve as a consultant for Osborn. Campaign disclosures show that Osborn’s wife, Megan Osborn, has received compensation from Moraff’s firm for work on her husband’s current Senate campaign.

Osborn has cultivated an image as a heterodox populist, seeking to appeal to moderate and Republican voters, by adopting center-right views on border security and government spending while maintaining progressive views on abortion rights and unions. 

Osborn was also recently endorsed by the anti-Israel group A New Policy. 

“Daniel Moraff has advised candidates across the country who seek to give the working class a voice in our politics. The fact those candidates have diverse backgrounds and beliefs is not a story,” an Osborn spokesperson said in a statement to Jewish Insider.

Amid a reshuffle of Platner’s campaign — he shed staff as revelations emerged about his tattoo of a Nazi symbol and extreme prior social media posts — Moraff reportedly served as Platner’s de-facto campaign manager.

Platner’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Moraff personally.

In addition to his DSA ties, as a Brown University student in 2012, Moraff was an undergraduate representative on an advisory committee on investment practices, responsible for “dialogue” with Brown Students for Justice in Palestine over its push for Brown to divest from Israeli-linked companies.

The committee, with Moraff as a signatory, said in a letter to Brown’s president that “the documented abuses of Palestinian citizens by the Israeli Defense Force in the Occupied Territories are deeply troubling” and “Israel is indisputably engaged in ongoing systemic abuses of human rights and violations of international law, as documented by the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Court of Justice.”

The committee said that Brown University may be invested “in firms whose products and services are being used to commit human rights violations in Palestine” and recommended further discussions over divestment.

As Washington, D.C., voters get ready to elect their first new mayor in more than a decade, the two leading candidates — former colleagues on the Council of the District of Columbia — are proposing drastically different visions for the city’s future: political moderation or democratic socialism.

In an interview with Jewish Insider this week at his campaign headquarters in Northeast Washington, former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie drew a direct contrast between his campaign and that of his Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival, Janeese Lewis George. 

“I didn’t seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America, or any organization, for that matter, that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community of the District of Columbia,” McDuffie said.

He was referring to a DSA endorsement questionnaire that asked candidates not to engage with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” Lewis George, a longtime DSA member, vowed not to attend events that promote Zionism when she filled out the questionnaire, which earned her the DSA endorsement. 

Lewis George’s responses sparked concern among many in the Jewish community, and she apologized in a closed-door meeting with rabbis in March. But she has not offered any public remorse. 

“I think it’s important for elected officials to have the courage to say in public things that they say in private,” McDuffie said. “Any message that depends on taking a pledge to exclude entire communities as a condition of a political endorsement is extraordinarily divisive and disturbing.” 

Amid the controversy surrounding her DSA questionnaire and the meeting with rabbis, Lewis George released a statement last month pledging to stand firm in both her opposition to antisemitism and her support for “Palestinian human rights.” McDuffie told JI that he did not see the mayoral race as a place to litigate debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I think a mayor’s responsibility is to look out for all of its residents, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” said McDuffie. “At a time where the Jewish community is seeing rising antisemitism worldwide, and even the District of Columbia, it’s important that they understand that their elected officials are going to use every tool possible to protect them.” 

“I didn’t bring those issues into this race. My opponent did it when she sought the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America,” McDuffie said. “I’m not running for Congress. I’m not engaging in the crafting of foreign policy. I’m running for mayor of Washington, D.C., the most beautifully diverse city in America, and I’m running to fight and deliver for all D.C.”

McDuffie is actively courting votes in the Jewish community. He will appear next week at a meet-and-greet with Jewish young professionals in the District. 

“I think a mayor’s responsibility is to look out for all of its residents, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” said McDuffie. “At a time where the Jewish community is seeing rising antisemitism worldwide, and even the District of Columbia, it’s important that they understand that their elected officials are going to use every tool possible to protect them.” 

McDuffie pledged to speak out against antisemitic violence and rhetoric so that the District’s Jewish residents “understand that they have a mayor and elected leadership who’s going to strongly oppose those kinds of activities and threats and do everything humanly possible to protect them.” He called the city’s nonprofit security grant program, which provides funding to several local synagogues to pay for security expenses, a “nonnegotiable,” even if the city faces other budget challenges. 

Born and raised in Northeast Washington, McDuffie entered politics circuitously. He worked as a mail carrier for the USPS before ultimately going to college and law school, in a career pivot he said was inspired by witnessing the death of two friends to the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. He spent a few years as a prosecutor, in Maryland and at the Justice Department, before running for Council in 2013. McDuffie represented Ward 5, which includes the neighborhoods Bloomingdale, Eckington, Brookland and Fort Totten, until being elected to a citywide at-large position in 2022 where he served until January.

His message now is about affordability, a buzzword brought into style last year by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a DSA member like Lewis George. The way to make the city more affordable, according to McDuffie, is “economic growth with guardrails” — a contrast to the sweeping changes promised by Lewis George, the viability of which McDuffie has questioned.

“They want experience. They want vision. They want bold. They want change. What they don’t want is more empty promises,” said McDuffie. “What they don’t want is rhetoric that isn’t supported by an actual plan. What they don’t want is somebody who engages with organizations seeking to divide residents, and what we think we have as an advantage is both a vision that is about building a big tent and inviting people in and a record.” 

“We’re the nation’s capital. We can walk and chew gum,” McDuffie said. “I think that’s important for people to understand, that we can have innovative, transformational policies at the same time that we’re delivering core services on time and within a budget that doesn’t default to raising taxes on hard-working residents.” 

McDuffie seemed to recognize that pushing a vision of pragmatism may not be as seductive as promises powered by major spending increases. For instance, both Lewis George and McDuffie want to build new housing in the city, but Lewis George has promised to build 72,000 new units compared to 12,000 suggested by McDuffie, The Washington Post reported. But McDuffie argued that voters want honesty.

“They want experience. They want vision. They want bold. They want change. What they don’t want is more empty promises,” said McDuffie. “What they don’t want is rhetoric that isn’t supported by an actual plan. What they don’t want is somebody who engages with organizations seeking to divide residents, and what we think we have as an advantage is both a vision that is about building a big tent and inviting people in and a record.” 

Though McDuffie and Lewis George are widely viewed as the frontrunners in the race, they are not the only candidates running in the Democratic primary which, in deep blue Washington, will almost certainly decide the eventual victor. Other candidates in the June 16 primary include real estate developer Gary Goodweather and former Councilmember Vincent Orange.

Tomorrow (April 15) isn’t just Tax Day, but it’s also the deadline for candidates vying in the pivotal midterms to report their latest fundraising figures — an important marker on the political calendar in determining which candidates are raising enough money to run credible campaigns and which will be left financially behind. 

Historically, having a critical mass of prominent, well-heeled supporters was a prerequisite for a congressional candidate being able to get their message out to the public. 

Not long ago, candidates with extreme or exotic views — such as those affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America on the left or those embracing conspiracy theories on the far right — would have a hard time being taken seriously by rank-and-file donors, who typically want a back a winner and would shy away from those with far-out-of-the-mainstream views. 

Similarly, the pro-Israel community historically benefited from the presence of strong organizations like AIPAC that helped pool supporters’ money to favored candidates, giving them outsized impact within both parties. More recently, AIPAC’s super PAC has led the way in engaging directly in political campaigns, directly spending money on behalf of favored candidates and attacking some of the most radical candidates on the ballot.

But in our brave new decentralized world of politics and media, where a critical mass of small-dollar donations from passionate individuals can easily be amassed online (especially through an incendiary video clip or well-timed fundraising appeal), the comparative advantage of having a defined group of reliable donors can be neutralized by an online feeding frenzy that galvanizes enough individuals to give to a radical cause or candidate. 

At the same time, the social media-driven public conversation — without any guardrails and few standards — has totally transformed what is viewed as normal. One recent example: 27-year-old Kat Abughazaleh, a far-left social media influencer without any roots in the Chicago-area district she was running in, raised well over $3 million for her (unsuccessful) primary campaign, fueled by high-volume, low-dollar, largely out-of-state contributions. 

If Tip O’Neill once said all politics is local, the opposite is true today. All politics is now nationalized, with the most outlandish hot takes and incendiary commentary most likely to go viral. 

The same viral clips that lead unsuspecting audiences to extreme voices like Hasan Piker and Candace Owens live in the same ecosystem that makes it easy for a candidate like Abughazaleh to bring in big money. It’s not a coincidence that former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) were among the top fundraisers within their respective parties this cycle. 

There are two different ways for Jewish and pro-Israel voices to adapt to this still-evolving revolution in both media and politics — one on the supply side and one on the demand side. 

On the demand side, it’s clear that the algorithmic preferences for leading social media platforms prioritize constant unthinking engagement (at best) and rage and radicalism (at worst). 

It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Twitter/X’s decision to unblock neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes from the platform in May 2024 quickly led to an upsurge in antisemitic content being embraced by a wide range of far-right podcasters. There are thoughtful policy proposals that have been floated to do a better job regulating what has increasingly become an anarchic space. 

Most of the focus, however, has been on how politicians and outside groups can adapt on the supply side. As Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in The New York Times last week, “A successful campaign in 2026 must operate like a full-time production studio…  It means creating output tailored specifically for TikTok or Instagram or YouTube.”

Plouffe also noted that campaigns need to focus on what he called “answer engine optimization” for artificial intelligence, essentially working to ensure friendlier responses from AI bots. 

If the old media and fundraising model was to rely on scale (of donations) and volume (of ads) to persuade voters, the new media ecosystem requires nimbleness and adaptability. Raising the most money and saturating the airwaves with advertisements was once a time-tested tool of success. 

Now, campaigns and advocacy groups alike are facing a multifront challenge, figuring out whether to accommodate what appears to be a new political and media reality where the loudest and most polarizing voices prevail — or fight for a more fair-and-balanced ecosystem while also engaging with the fractured landscape as best as possible. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) reportedly committed on Tuesday to opposing “any spending on arms for Israel, including so-called defensive capabilities” for Israel as well as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, according to an editor from City & State New York.

The New York Democrat made the comments on a Democratic Socialists of America endorsement call on Tuesday evening.

“I believe the Israeli government is well able to fund the Iron Dome system, which has proven critical to keep innocent civilians safe from rocket attacks and bombardment. Consistent with my voting record to date, I will not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and U.S. law,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. 

“Netanyahu’s allies in the Knesset just approved a $45 billion defense budget, and the Prime Minister himself also asserted his interest in withdrawing from the MOU in January,” she continued. “It is fully within their ability to fund Iron Dome and other defensive systems. Our allies who need our military aid must understand that we will provide it consistent with the Leahy amendment and the foreign assistance act.”

Though Ocasio-Cortez has not voted in favor of aid to Israel, she did vote against an amendment last year by then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to cut funding for defensive systems such as Iron Dome, earning the ire of the far left.

“I have not once ever voted to authorize funding to Israel, and I will never,” Ocasio-Cortez reportedly said during the forum. “The Israeli government should be able to finance their own weapons if they seek to arm themselves.”

The systems in question have no offensive use, and are only used to intercept incoming attacks on Israel. Just five lawmakers — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Al Green (D-TX), Summer Lee (D-PA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — voted with Greene on the amendment.

Last year, Ocasio-Cortez framed the vote as a clear choice.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s amendment does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of U.S. munitions being used in Gaza. Of course I voted against it,” she said. “What it does do is cut off defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to continue. I have long stated that I do not believe that adding to the death count of innocent victims to this war is constructive to its end. That is a simple and clear difference of opinion that has long been established.”

Some on the far left have resurfaced that vote in recent days to criticize Ocasio-Cortez, and circulated a petition opposing an endorsement if she didn’t change her stance. During a standalone vote in 2021 on Iron Dome funding, Ocasio-Cortez ultimately voted present, but said she regretted not voting against the funding.

She suggested on the forum that DSA members were misrepresenting her record in a way that would make it harder to grow the group’s membership. “It does not benefit us as a movement, because I see when we try to persuade our colleagues, I see the effect that that has when people feel like if they vote our way, they are just going to be lied about anyway,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s commitment to the DSA suggests she has no plans of moderating her stance on Israel — even to support purely defensive systems that still enjoy support among progressives critical of Israel — as she looks toward a potential bid for higher office.

Though she voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would codify the Department of Education’s use of the IHRA definition, Ocasio-Cortez still took heat from the far left for voting for a nonbinding resolution expressing support for the State Department’s global guidelines on combating antisemitism.

Those nonbinding recommendations, issued by the State Department under the Biden administration and dozens of international partners, recommend that governments around the world adopt the IHRA definition.

Just 21 House members — mostly from the right wing of the GOP — voted against the resolution, including Omar, Tlaib and then-Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who were the only Democrats to oppose the resolution.

Relatives of a Shanghai-based software magnate devoted to promoting Chinese, Iranian and Russian interests are operating inside the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, supporting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preferred candidates for Congress and playing significant roles in shaping and advancing key elements of his agenda, Jewish Insider has found.

Onstage with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last September, Mamdani credited one of his signature campaign promises to the political director of the far-left nonprofit Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

“The idea of making buses fast and free was not my idea,” the video posted to JFREJ’s Instagram account shows the then-Democratic nominee announcing. “It was an idea I had given to me in a meeting with another New Yorker who was passionate about transit, Alicia Singham Goodwin.”

The name prompted applause from the crowd at Brooklyn College, and the mayor quickly added that he and his team had solicited Singham Goodwin’s input. What he did not mention was that just months earlier, the New York Post had identified Singham Goodwin — who spearheaded “Jews for Zohran,” an independent canvassing initiative targeting Jewish New Yorkers — as the niece of Maoist financier Neville “Roy” Singham, who has poured the fortune from the sale of his software firm, Thoughtworks, into undermining the interests of the U.S., Israel and Ukraine. 

Besides running Jews for Zohran, Singham Goodwin bundled thousands of dollars in contributions for Mamdani’s campaign, including $1,000 each from her father, Daniel Goodwin, and from her mother, Shanti Singham, an academic and sister of the far-left financier.

Mamdani’s team did not respond to repeated questions about his relationship with Singham Goodwin and his reasons for consulting her as a candidate. No member of the Singham-Goodwin family replied to JI’s inquiries regarding their personal, political and financial relationships with Roy Singham, their interactions with Mamdani or their status and influence in NYC-DSA.

Business ties further link the New York-based clan to Singham, whose network of propaganda- and protest-spreading nonprofits was the subject of a recent congressional hearing: Records show that Daniel Goodwin served as Thoughtworks’ CFO and general counsel. Meanwhile, the Singham siblings have also long been politically aligned, having joined their names to the same petitions and collaborated with the same “third-worldist” scholars.

They also share a relationship with Chinese government interests. The New York Times found Neville Singham had collaborated with the country’s propaganda apparatus, while Shanti Singham holds a post at the state-controlled East China Normal University — which hails her instruction on “Pan-Africanism, Marxism and Socialism” and its “profound impact on Chinese academia” — and she has advocated for the Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes across Africa.

Singham Goodwin, meanwhile, posed for photos at a 2022 protest with her uncle’s wife, Jodie Evans, co-founder of far-left outfit CODE PINK, which the Times identified as part of her husband’s global influence operation.

Days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Singham Goodwin and Mamdani, then a member of the state Assembly, were among a raft of activists arrested for protesting outside the Brooklyn home of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over his support for Israel. A few months later, she took a photo with the future mayor at a 5K fundraiser for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Meanwhile, records show how Singham Goodwin and her parents have worked behind the scenes to advance leftist causes in New York City. Materials from NYC-DSA meetings show the trio, all members, have collaborated on resolutions shaping the group’s practices and policies, including its candidate endorsement process.

Joining the family on this last initiative was Mamdani. Singham Goodwin and Mamdani also collaborated in shaping NYC-DSA’s Socialists in Office Committee, a key instrument of its influence, through which its supported candidates agree to take direction on legislation and votes. The future mayor was an early and abiding participant of the committee during his time as a state lawmaker.

NYC-DSA did not respond to repeated queries about the family’s membership and leadership roles in the organization. 

But materials reviewed by JI show that Singham Goodwin and her parents’ efforts on Mamdani’s behalf did not end with his victory last November. One week after the mayor’s January swearing-in, Singham Goodwin helped lead a DSA call with current state legislators in the Socialists in Office program on developing a “pressure campaign” to secure needed approval from the state Senate and Assembly for the mayor’s proposal to raise taxes on high-earners to finance social programs.

“We need to understand how Albany works in order to know how to push the players in Albany to get what we want,” Singham Goodwin says on a recording of the call obtained by JI. “We have to figure out what tactics we believe are going to effectively get them to do what we want.”

More recently, the Singham-Goodwin clan has been involved in the campaign of former city Comptroller Brad Lander, Mamdani’s endorsed candidate against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY). Singham Goodwin is featured in multiple photos Lander has shared on social media of his canvassing team, while her parents have both donated to his campaign. 

Federal Election Commission filings also show Shanti Singham and her husband have given money to Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, the mayor’s endorsed candidate to succeed Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) in Congress.

Neither the Valdez nor Lander campaigns responded to questions for this story.

After Janeese Lewis George met last week with Washington rabbis and other local Jewish leaders who were concerned about her views on Israel and antisemitism, the Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate released a statement pledging to stand firm in both her opposition to antisemitism and her support for the Palestinian cause. 

“Those two things are not in conflict,” Lewis George, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, wrote in a statement that was posted to her campaign website on Wednesday. 

Her campaign has not publicly acknowledged the meeting at Congregation Ohev Sholom, where Lewis George discussed a DSA questionnaire she filled out in which she pledged to avoid events that promote “Zionism and apartheid” and took issue with local Jewish groups’ approach to fighting antisemitism, according to attendees who spoke to Jewish Insider. 

At the meeting, Lewis George apologized for the language she used in the questionnaire and attributed it to a staff member. She said she would have responded differently if she had written the answers herself. A spokesperson for Lewis George did not respond to requests for comment from JI about the meeting.

“To the Jewish community in DC: I will not be a mayor who includes or excludes you based on your opinions or feelings on matters here and across the world. I will always protect your freedom, safety, and sense of belonging,” Lewis George, a D.C. councilmember, wrote in the statement. She described going to synagogues when she was growing up and working with Jewish organizers in Washington. 

“As Ward 4 Councilmember, I worked with Jewish organizations and neighbors to secure security grants for our schools and synagogues,” Lewis George wrote. “Antisemitism is morally wrong and unacceptable, and it is spreading. It is part of the same machinery of division and fear used against Black people, immigrant communities and others. We must work together to stop it.” 

Lewis George then noted that she was one of the first councilmembers in the District to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and that she met with students at George Washington University who were advocating for a ceasefire.

“Together, we mourned the innocent lives that have been lost in Israel as well as in Gaza and the West Bank. I will continue to stand up against efforts to silence local pro-Palestinian speech and organizing,” Lewis George wrote. “I have no problem voicing my disagreement, loudly, when it is needed. I do not shy away from standing by my values in front of all audiences.”

Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie criticized his Democratic primary opponents for pledging to avoid campaigning with elements of the Jewish community — an apparent jab at Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival Janeese Lewis George, who is facing backlash from Jewish leaders over her pledge to boycott events she described as promoting Zionism.

“Recent reporting has raised serious concerns about how some candidates for office in DC have pledged not to engage with the majority of Jewish organizations in exchange for political support,” McDuffie wrote in a campaign email on Tuesday. “That is wrong. Full stop.”

McDuffie did not mention Lewis George or any specific candidates in his email. 

Lewis George, who earned the endorsement of the Metro D.C. chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, wrote in a DSA questionnaire that she would not attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid.” She met last week with rabbis and local Jewish leaders who were concerned about her posture toward the Jewish community, Jewish Insider reported on Monday. 

She privately apologized for her responses and blamed them on a staff member, but has not expressed that sentiment publicly. 

“There is no place in this city for shutting out any community — especially in pursuit of political gain,” McDuffie wrote. “Not antisemitism. Not Islamophobia. Not racism. Not sexism.” 

The DSA questionnaire also asked candidates to refrain from affiliating with the Israeli government and “Zionist lobby groups.” In her responses, Lewis George defended her appearance at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington meeting in December, but said she was there to talk about immigration enforcement. 

She said she did not align with JCRC’s stance on Israel and Zionism, and that she disagrees with the organization’s “definition of anti-semitism that criminalizes dissent, and their attacks on activists.” 

“Leadership matters in moments like this,” wrote McDuffie. “As your next mayor, I will bring people together across lines of difference. I will engage every community in this city, especially when it is not easy or politically convenient.” 

Washington, McDuffie said, “must be a city where every resident — regardless of faith, race, gender, or identity — feels safe, respected and heard.” 

Janeese Lewis George, a Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidate for mayor of Washington, D.C., met with prominent local rabbis and Jewish community leaders last week amid fallout over a DSA questionnaire she filled out outlining her views on Israel and antisemitism.

The March 19 meeting, at the Orthodox Ohev Sholom Congregation in Shepherd Park, was arranged after her responses to a DSA endorsement questionnaire were made public last month, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. 

In the questionnaire, Lewis George pledged not to attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid.” She also said that she had attended a D.C. Jewish Community Relations Council event in December only to talk about opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation measures in the region, and that she did not agree with JCRC’s stances on Israel, Zionism and antisemitism. 

At the meeting at Ohev Sholom, Lewis George apologized for her statements in the questionnaire, one of the event’s attendees told Jewish Insider, and cried when someone in the meeting described feeling hurt by her answers in the questionnaire. 

She blamed the anti-Israel responses on one of her staff members, and said she would have submitted a different response if she had seen it before it was submitted. 

However, she has not expressed that same sentiment publicly. A spokesperson for Lewis George did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Monday. 

Lewis George did not make any promises to apologize publicly or to further address her comments in the DSA questionnaire, according to the meeting attendee. 

The meeting included rabbis and senior leaders from Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School, the Edlavitch D.C. JCC, Temple Sinai, Ohev Sholom, Adas Israel Congregation, Tifereth Israel Congregation, the JCRC and Tzedek DC, a legal services organization. 

Lewis George will appear at a rally hosted by the Metro DC DSA chapter on Wednesday alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), one of the most vocal detractors of Israel in Congress.

Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, wrote in an op-ed published Monday that Metro DC DSA threatens “the sense of attachment and belonging that we [Jews] have long enjoyed in D.C.”

“Their questionnaire for political candidates encourages the systematic erasure of Jewish and pro-Israel Americans from public life. It is an outrageous and revolting display of religious discrimination,” Halber wrote in Washington Jewish Week. He did not specifically mention Lewis George.

Correction: A previous version of this article identified Temple Micah as one of the participants in the meeting. They did not have a representative in the room.

A veteran operative for former Chicago mayor and congressman Rahm Emanuel has established a new political action committee to fight New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America in the Big Apple — an effort that sources say could involve former city Comptroller Scott Stringer and aides to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The Next NYC PAC registered with the New York State Board of Elections on March 11, using the address of Gregory Goldner’s home in the Mid-North District of Chicago. Goldner, who helmed Cuomo’s mayoral campaign in the final weeks of the 2025 cycle and ran a PAC aimed at preventing the election of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson two years prior, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

However, sources — who spoke anonymously with Jewish Insider as Next NYC remains in its formative stages — said that it could fuse the political infrastructure of two candidates who failed to block Mamdani from City Hall last year: Cuomo and Stringer. 

Stringer, once a powerful figure on Manhattan’s affluent Upper West Side, declined to confirm or deny his role in the new independent expenditure committee when reached for comment.

However, Stringer, one of the few candidates in the 2025 mayoral race to tout his pro-Israel credentials and specifically refer to himself as a Zionist, spoke to The New York Times in February about a need for a similar committee that would support moderate candidates for local office.

Multiple insiders who had participated in or been informed of meetings related to the new PAC asserted that Jen Bayer Michaels, a longtime Cuomo fundraiser, would also help acquire funds for Next NYC’s efforts, which will focus on protecting and electing centrist candidates for the state legislature over Mamdani- and DSA-backed contenders.

Bayer Michaels gained some prominence in December with a Wall Street Journal editorial that spoke out against growing antisemitism on the left, in which she called for a “Democratic Party that Believes Jewish Lives Matter.”

Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George told the Metro D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America that she will not attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid,” according to a questionnaire from the group that she filled out prior to earning its endorsement earlier this month. 

“I will refrain from going on any political junkets to Israel. I will also not attend events focused on obfuscating the realities of occupation or promoting Zionism and apartheid,” Lewis George wrote in her answers on the questionnaire, which the local DSA group posted to its website. Lewis George described herself as “a proud member of Metro DC DSA.”

The DSA questionnaire asks candidates to publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and to refrain from engaging with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups” — a category that it said includes AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, Christians United for Israel and the more liberal J Street. 

It also asks candidates in the region to “oppose legislation that harms Palestinians and supporters of the Palestine solidarity movement,” including legislation promoting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, efforts to counter the BDS movement or measures that “send any military or economic resources to Israel.” 

Lewis George did not say if she backs the BDS movement but said she supports “the right of all people, including Palestinians, to use nonviolent strategies like boycotts and calls for divestment to build a more just world.” She said D.C. “has no business sending military or economic resources to Israel.”

Lewis George, a D.C. Council member who is running in the open race to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser, defended her appearance at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington event in December, where she committed to taking proactive steps to protect the Jewish community.

“In my current role as a councilmember and as mayor, however, I will have to attend events and meet with many people and organizations who do not share my values or with whom I’m not totally aligned,” Lewis George wrote in the questionnaire. “The JCRC legislative breakfast in December was an example. I disagree with the JCRC on a number of issues, including their opposition to using the word ‘genocide’ to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza.” 

Lewis George told DSA that she disagrees with JCRC’s “definition of anti-semitism that criminalizes dissent, and their attacks on activists.” At the JCRC event, she gave a speech criticizing antisemitism and pledging to stand by Jewish Washingtonians, although she did not mention that in the DSA questionnaire. 

“Attending that JCRC event was not an endorsement of JCRC and does not signal that I agree with their stance on Israel or Zionism. I did not go to the JCRC event to talk about Israel and that was not the focus of the event,” Lewis George wrote. “I went to the event to advocate for an end to ICE collaboration, seek allies in that effort, and build on our shared goal of ending the inhumane treatment of our neighbors who are being taken by ICE.”

Lewis George reiterated her support for George Washington University students who had organized an anti-Israel encampment in the spring of 2024.

“I will continue to stand up against efforts to silence local Pro-Palestinian speech and organizing,” she wrote. “I believe that democracy requires freedom of expression and I oppose the government penalizing anyone for participating in non-violent protest, no matter the subject. People surely disagree on many important issues but I think our community and country are at their best when the government does not stifle dissent.”

Lewis George represents Washington’s Ward 4, which encompasses Upper Northwest D.C. around Rock Creek Park, including the neighborhoods of Shepherd Park, Chevy Chase, Brightwood, Petworth and Sixteenth Street Heights.

JCRC CEO Ron Halber told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that he’s noticed the D.C. DSA chapter has been more active since Zohran Mamdani was elected as mayor of New York City with the backing of DSA in November.

“What we noticed was there’s been an uptick in DSA locally, both in Montgomery County [Maryland] and in D.C., approaching candidates for their endorsement,” Halber said. “They’re basically saying that candidates should not be with any Jewish organization, whether it be a synagogue or a mainstream organization like JCRC, through the criteria they establish. As far as I’m concerned, [the questionnaire] is an antisemitic manifesto. They are making the price of their endorsement the social exclusion of Jews.” 

Halber declined to comment on DSA’s endorsement of Lewis George, saying JCRC does not get involved in electoral matters as a nonprofit organization.

A New York City councilmember known for her fervent criticism of Israel faced harsh questioning at a recent gathering of the Democratic Socialists of America — because she had also spoken out against Hamas, as well as supporters of the terrorist organization who demonstrated outside New York synagogues.

The comments came during Councilmember Shahana Hanif’s interview earlier this month with the NYC-DSA Socialists in Office committee. Hanif, a DSA member who long lambasted Israel prior to facing a centrist challenger last year, appeared before the group in order to receive formal endorsement and volunteer support from the organization in the future.

But during the interview process, held both in-person and over Zoom, Hanif faced questioning for her condemnation of Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — which came belatedly in April 2024 — and her denouncement of protesters who chanted, “We support Hamas” outside a Queens synagogue in January, according to a recording obtained by Jewish Insider.

“Something that concerned me is the comparison of protesters who chanted support of Hamas to neo-Nazi protests, equating them both as antisemitism. Many of us, with 60% of Gen Z supporting Hamas against Israel, many of us are realizing now that we’ve been lied to all our lives,” one participant in the interview said to Hanif. “We do so under fear knowing that the politicians that represent us are supporting a genocide, as well as supporting political repression against us.
So will you fight back against that effort to repress us, or will you take part in it yourself?”

Hanif asked the questioner to clarify her query.

“When we are accused of antisemitism for supporting the Palestinian resistance, many leftist politicians equate that to the antisemitism of neo-Nazis and I feel that is extremely dangerous,” the young woman said.

In response, Shanif did not directly engage with the speaker’s comments on Hamas but appeared to agree that too many protesters had been identified as antisemitic.

“The propaganda on antisemitism and what is antisemitism has certainly hurt our city in many, many ways,” the Brooklyn Democrat said. “I’m only looking forward to making sure to call out the bullshit where there is. And listen, I’m not perfect on messaging. This takes not only practice, but it also takes learning.”

Hanif further indicated that if admitted to the Socialists in Office group, which currently includes only two of the Council’s 51 members, they could collectively coordinate to push back on allegations of antisemitism.

“I think it’s a very important question, and I think having this cohort of city SIOs to work with will provide a healthy scholarship on issues pertaining to what is antisemitism, or calling out what is not antisemitism that is being called antisemitic,” Hanif continued.

Hanif’s office did not answer questions seeking clarity on her post-election stance toward Hamas. In a statement to JI, NYC-DSA stressed that all dues-paying members had access to the forum and that the group did not vet questions in advance. It also maintained it has criticized the conduct of both Israel and Hamas, even though it promoted protests against the Jewish state just one day after the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Individual participants and members do not reflect the positions of the organization,” said NYC-DSA Vice Chair Grace Mausser. “We have long been on the record in condemning all war crimes and massacres.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute accused the Democratic Socialists of America, in a report released in late January, of activities that may run afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — alleging that the far-left group may be acting as an unregistered agent of various U.S. adversaries.

The report points to foreign trips by DSA members to Venezuela, Cuba and China which have included access to top level officials and, the report alleges, lodging, transportation and other services provided by the host governments “that may constitute in-kind benefits from foreign government-linked entities” and “participation in quasi-official functions.”

The report claims that the DSA’s foreign engagements are followed by brief upticks in the group’s promotion of U.S. adversaries’ priority issues, such as removing sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, “consistent with campaign-style political activity rather than incidental commentary.”

The NCRI alleges that the DSA’s “pattern of conduct across multiple countries raises material questions as to whether certain political activities were undertaken with foreign support, facilitation, or expectations of continued engagement.”

Noting that the DSA itself has stated its desire to create formal partnerships with foreign governments, the report suggests that a FARA investigation could look into “whether these stated partnership goals remained aspirational or were operationalized through material coordination, facilitation, or support, and whether any resulting activities required registration or remedial compliance.”

The report acknowledges that none of the activities described “conclusively establish that DSA or its members acted as agents of a foreign principal” but argues that the “pattern of conduct,” taken in sum, “meets the threshold for a good-faith FARA compliance inquiry.”

Adam Sohn, the co-founder of NCRI, is set to testify at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Tuesday on foreign influence in U.S. nonprofit organizations.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies in the Democratic Socialists of America are set on contesting congressional turf home to one of the city’s biggest Hasidic Jewish communities — setting up a battle royale in the 7th Congressional District that could either blunt Mamdani’s brand of socialist politics, or bolster the new mayor and his far-left supporters.

Mamdani was only days into his term when he endorsed New York state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who, like Mamdani, is a DSA member, to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), whose district delivered Mamdani’s strongest primary margins last year and contains most of the so-called “commie corridor”: a chain of trendy, gentrifying Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods where socialist support runs strong. 

Velázquez, meanwhile, has backed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to be her successor, and some community and labor organizations have aligned behind him, pitting Mamdani’s hard-left bloc against the older progressive establishment.

Mamdani has so far been cautious in spending his political capital on behalf of DSA allies. Even before entering City Hall, Mamdani scuttled a left-flank challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and persuaded a DSA-aligned city councilwoman to drop her bid against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) to consolidate a left-wing lane for former city Comptroller Brad Lander. 

Democratic observers who spoke to Jewish Insider were split over whether Mamdani is steering DSA or DSA is steering the mayor.  

But Mamdani has now put his name and credibility on the line in this race, argued veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

“He’s not a mayor. He’s a movement,” Sheinkopf said. “If he beats [Velázquez’s candidate], he gets more powerful than he’s ever been. As long as you’re winning, people are afraid of you. You start losing, the fear is no longer there and it makes him less significant.”

Not long ago, Velázquez and Reynoso themselves were considered the left wing of the party, defying the once-feared power of the Brooklyn Democratic machine, helping to build a coalition of idealistic new arrivals, community groups, unions and longtime political reform organizations that became the dominant force in the borough’s politics. But the political struggles of the last 20 years are long forgotten, and with the rise of DSA and Mamdani, the residents of what local political observers have humorously tagged the “commie corridor” are no longer content to be one factor among many — or to accept compromise candidates — in their demographic heartland.

“Progressive’s not good enough any more. If you aren’t part of the DSA, that isn’t enough,” said Marcos Masri, a political consultant and native of the district. “They are hungry, they want to hold the reins.”

Valdez’s career path is stereotypical for a DSA member. The daughter of an engineer from Texas, she studied sculpture at the prestigious School of the Art Institute in Chicago before arriving in New York for a job at a Queens-based museum. She then took a role in the visual arts department at Columbia University, and pivoted from creative pursuits to politics when an organizer recruited her to a bargaining unit for the United Auto Workers — itself amid a pivot in New York from its old base of industrial employees and dealership mechanics to radicalized grad students and administrative workers. 

At Local 2110, Valdez signed an open letter just weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks that blasted the American labor movement for its historic support of Israel, and demanded the UAW as a whole embrace the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. The letter makes no reference to the Hamas massacre in Israel that incited the latest phase of conflict.

“Workers in the U.S. are struggling against many of the same capitalist forces that maintain and bolster the Israeli occupation of Palestine. These forces rely on racialized exploitation, dispossession, and policing in the United States and around the world,” reads the missive, which makes no mention of Hamas or the then-fresh terror attacks. “A global class of workers will not achieve liberation if fragmented by colonization, apartheid, and borders. These are the structures on which an ascendant global fascist movement is shoring up white supremacy, nativism, militarism, heteropatriarchy, and other tools of oppression to further divide us.”

The epistle ends with the sign-off “Until Liberation and Return.” A little over a year later, Valdez won election as a DSA-backed insurgent to the New York state Assembly, where she co-sponsored Mamdani’s “Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act.” This legislation would forbid nonprofit organizations in New York from “unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity,” including in Jerusalem, and establish both monetary penalties as well as a basis for individual lawsuits for damages.

Reynoso, born in Brooklyn to Dominican immigrant parents, has followed a more traditional political career path. He served as an organizer for the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), before he joined the staff of City Councilwoman Diana Reyna. He succeeded Reyna in the City Council in 2013, part of a progressive wave that also lifted Bill de Blasio to the mayoralty, and participated in a council trip to Israel in 2015 over the protests of some activists. He won the largely symbolic borough president’s office in 2021. 

A Valdez victory would enhance both DSA and Mamdani’s reach and prestige, said Sheinkopf, as well as give the mayor “a wedge” against the more pragmatic Jeffries in the House. If Reynoso wins the seat, Masri said it would show the mayor and his socialist cadres still depend on other, older institutional actors to win and exercise power, and their clout — and ability to pressure elected officials leftward — would diminish.

But the race promises to be a test, too, for the district’s large Hasidic Jewish community, the bulk of whom belong to the Satmar movement. Despite their religious objections to Zionism and strong network of social service networks that rely on city funding — and despite a few of their rabbis’ receptiveness toward Mamdani — sources predicted the group’s leaders would largely endorse Reynoso. The borough president, who had an at-times fraught relationship with Satmar leadership in the City Council, has heavily networked within the community in his current role. 

But Masri questioned whether the community’s mobilization would match the inevitable DSA get-out-the-vote campaign, which will draw on a city-spanning web of activists to knock doors for Valdez.

Further complicating the picture is the recent entry of another Democrat, Councilwoman Julie Won, into the contest. Won, who filed paperwork to run on Monday, has little institutional support, but could scrape off more centrist or right-leaning voters who might otherwise support Reynoso.

“If it’s a very close race, and she pulls like 2,000 votes, that is something that can decide the race,” Masri said.

Sheinkopf was more bullish on Reynoso’s prospects, noting the political organization and trust Velázquez, his backer, built during her 16 terms in Congress. He argued Mamdani risks alienating potential progressive allies loyal to the borough president and congresswoman as he seeks to expand his socialist domain.

“He believes he is immune from any blowback,” the strategist said. “This is not a credit card with unending credit. At some point the credit runs out. The shine runs out. You can’t do this forever.”

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Jared Golden (D-ME) blasted a roster of progressive groups for their silence regarding the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown on recent protests, following the organizations’ outspoken criticisms of Israel over the past two years.

In a letter sent on Monday addressed to the League of Conservation Voters, Democratic Socialists of America, Sierra Club, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Jewish Voice for Peace, Queers for Liberation, Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, the lawmakers said that “as the Iranian regime guns down peaceful protesters, tortures dissidents, and shuts off the internet to hide its crimes, your voices are unfortunately and conspicuously silent.”

They said the groups had “shown no hesitation in loudly and unequivocally condemning our democratic ally Israel, after terrorists brutally raped, burned alive, decapitated, and murdered more than 1,200 people, including dozens of Americans.”

They called for the groups to speak out against the Iranian regime, in alignment with their own professed principles.

“The Iranian government is violently repressing its own people for demanding basic freedom and dignity. Silence in the face of such clear oppression is a failure to uphold the principles you claim to defend,” the letter continued. “If you claim to stand against oppression, your outrage cannot be selective.”

Prominent Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch left a meeting on Thursday afternoon with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and a dozen diverse rabbis and community leaders feeling “encouraged,” saying that there is “reason to be optimistic” that Mamdani will protect the Jewish community.  

Still, given Mamdani’s affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and antagonistic views on Israel — including his refusal to condemn the term “globalize the intifada” —  Hirsch told Jewish Insider there remains “reason for the New York Jewish community to be anxious about Israel and safety.”

“I hope that our concerns will be proven to be less acute given the mayor-elect’s behavior in office, but we’ll have to wait and see,” said Hirsch, senior rabbi of the Upper West Side’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and a self-described liberal who voiced opposition to Mamdani throughout the mayoral election. 

Hirsch, who spoke with JI following the mayor-elect’s private meeting with the New York Board of Rabbis, of which Hirsch is the president, said he was “encouraged by [Mamdani’s] willingness to continue to dialogue, knowing in advance that he’s going into meetings with people who have significant disagreements with him, and that he continues to be open to having these kinds of discussions.”

“That’s good for the New York Jewish community,” he continued. “I wasn’t surprised that this meeting happened because I think he is making an effort to reach out to as many representatives, particularly in the Jewish community, as he can. I think he’s trying to do that for his own sense of what is in his political interest and the well-being of the Jewish community. There’s reason to be optimistic.” 

The meeting was held just weeks before Mamdani’s Jan. 1 inauguration — and as the Jewish community remains divided about his victory. Hirsch was among the leading Jewish voices expressing concern during Mamdani’s election over his hostility toward Israel. Hirsch also publicly expressed frustration with the lack of organized effort among Jewish leaders to oppose the then-candidate. Days before the election, he told JI that opposition to Mamdani is a Jewish “imperative.” 

Hirsch declined to share the content of Thursday’s meeting, but called it “productive.” 

“The mayor-elect stayed a little longer than anticipated so we were pleased with that,” he told JI. “He listened attentively. We shared our concerns. We agreed that we’ll set up a mechanism to meet regularly with him and his senior staff so we can keep lines of communication open. We agreed to keep content and details confidential.”  

Ahead of the meeting, invitees told CNN that several rabbis planned to “propose a unified agenda, asking Mamdani to back away from his rejection of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state” and his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Some Jewish leaders also said they “will put pressure on other New York officials like Gov. Kathy Hochul and incoming city council speaker Julie Menin to not work with Mamdani more broadly if he follows through on promised anti-Israel moves and doesn’t provide more reassurances to Jews in the city.” 

In addition to Hirsch, other rabbis in attendance on Thursday, according to CNN, included Rabbi Joshua Davidson of Temple Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue; and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of the Modern Orthodox Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue.  

“It’s in the interest of the Jewish community to keep an open line of communication with [Mamdani],” said Hirsch. “He’s a talented politician and very charismatic. You can understand how he was able to connect with people. I hope, for our sake and the sake of New York generally, he will pursue the policy matters that he ran on and not focus on things that happen overseas.” 

On Wednesday night, Mamdani — wearing a kippah — attended an event hosted by the Satmar Hasidic movement in Brooklyn marking Kuf Alef Kislev, an annual celebration of the Satmar Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum’s escape from the Nazis in 1944. The New York City Satmar movement, which is anti-Zionist, was split over its endorsement of Mamdani during the election.

Two political activists closely affiliated with Omar Fateh, a far-left Minnesota state senator who is now running for mayor of Minneapolis, have expressed a range of extreme views on the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, endorsing the violence as a justified act of resistance and accusing Israel of initiating the war in Gaza, among other inflammatory comments.

Their rhetoric could fuel concerns among local Jewish leaders who sounded alarms about Fateh’s close alliances with anti-Israel activists after he won the state Democratic Party endorsement last month over Jacob Frey, the incumbent seeking a third and final term. Fateh, a 35-year-old democratic socialist whose campaign has recently drawn comparisons to New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, has likewise been a staunch critic of Israel, calling its conduct in Gaza a genocide and pushing for a ceasefire 10 days after Hamas’ attack.

In a mayoral candidate questionnaire solicited by the Twin Cities chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — which endorsed his bid after facing widespread criticism over its response to the Oct. 7 attack — Fateh also backed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, according to portions of the form reviewed by Jewish Insider. 

He additionally pledged, without explanation, to “refrain from any and all affiliation” with what the DSA questionnaire dismissed as “Zionist lobby groups,” citing AIPAC, J Street, Christians United for Israel and, most notably, the Jewish Community Relations Council, a nonpartisan organization that typically engages with a diverse group of elected officials in both parties. The local JCRC — which represents the Jewish community to Minneapolis government officials — has voiced reservations about its ability to interact with Fateh if he is elected, in light of his statements on Israel.

But some of Fateh’s campaign staffers have gone significantly further than the state legislator, raising questions over his tolerance for incendiary language on a sensitive issue that has stoked growing internal tensions in the state party and could possibly inflect an increasingly bitter mayoral race in the lead-up to November.

In a series of now-deleted social media posts, for instance, Fateh’s communications manager, Anya Smith-Kooiman stated that Israel “does not have a ‘right’ to exist” and “must be dismantled,” while amplifying comments dismissing widespread reports of sexual violence on Oct. 7 as “propaganda” and hailing the attacks as a form of “resistance” that succeeded where the peace process had failed.

Elsewhere, Smith-Kooiman, who joined Fateh’s campaign in December, according to her LinkedIn page, declared a month after the Oct. 7 attacks that she did “not give a flying f**k about Hamas,” claiming “the root of the problem is a colonial government segregating, ethnically cleaning, murdering Palestinians, stealing their land with impunity and not expecting a resistance group to violently fight back.”

“Colonial and oppressive regimes love to call everyone but themselves a terrorist,” she continued in her November 2023 post to X, now removed from her profile. “Israeli terrorism created Hamas and the cycle will go on and on until Israel, Britain and the U.S. are held accountable for their violence and thievery. Let’s address root causes: imperialism.”

More recently, Smith-Kooiman, in a June social media post, advocated for the release of what she called “all Palestinian hostages,” equating prisoners held in Israel with the captives who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7.

In addition to Smith-Kooiman, another activist with ties to Fateh’s mayoral bid, David Gilbert-Pederson, has unreservedly praised the Oct. 7 attack, which he has characterized as a heroic feat of defiance against “imperial domination.”

Speaking on a panel discussion about “connecting movements for collective liberation” in December 2023, Gilbert-Pederson — who has been listed as a Fateh campaign staffer in filings — celebrated “what happened collectively for the people of Palestine on Oct. 7,” saying it was not his place to cast judgment on the violence. 

“We as Americans, people who live in the imperial core, our job is to stand in unconditional solidarity with those resisting oppression,” Gilbert-Pederson, a close ally of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), explained in his panel remarks. “Unconditional solidarity does not mean that we get to say, ‘Oh, this tactic you did, we don’t really like that,’ or, ‘We agree with you, but I think that some of your methods are too extreme.’ That’s not what unconditional solidarity means.”

“We live in the core of the empire,” he said, “so it is our job to demand that our government divest from Israel, divest from the colonial project, and start to free the U.S. as well.”

Broadly summarizing his approach, he argued that “all resistance to that kind of imperial domination is justified.”

Fateh’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about Gilbert-Pederson and Smith-Kooiman, both of whom have previously faced some scrutiny for their rhetoric on Israel and Oct. 7, or his answers to the DSA’s questionnaire.

For his part, Frey, a Jewish Democrat, has been outspoken against rising antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ attacks. The mayor, 44, has clashed with the City Council over anti-Israel resolutions he has dismissed as one-sided, even as he has condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s handling of the ongoing war in Gaza.

In recent years, Jewish and pro-Israel activists in New York City have been successful in defending favored incumbents while boosting candidates in open-seat local races. But they have struggled to go on the offensive against far-left Israel critics on the City Council aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, which has gained prominence in some districts.

Now, however, some Jewish community activists and pro-Israel strategists are expressing optimism that a competitive City Council election in southern Brooklyn could be their best pick-up opportunity in next week’s citywide primaries, delivering a possible upset that has so far proved elusive at the local level.

In one of the city’s most hotly contested local races, Alexa Avilés, a two-term councilmember backed by the DSA, is facing a formidable challenge from Ling Ye, a moderate former congressional staffer making her first bid for elective office with a focus largely on public safety.

The race is playing out in a redrawn district that now includes more moderate constituents in Dyker Heights who are likely less receptive to reelecting a socialist, strategists say, fueling hopes among allies of Ye eager to pick off an incumbent whose hostility to Israel while in office has rankled Jewish leaders.

Ye, who immigrated to the United States from China in her early teens, is also depending on the sizable population of Chinese American voters who live in the ethnically diverse district — which covers such progressive pockets as Red Hook, winds down through a heavily Latino section of Sunset Park and terminates around Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights in southwestern Brooklyn.

“She is hyper focused on the issues impacting the community she grew up in and served through her many roles in government,” Haley Scott, a spokesperson for Ye, told JI. “She’s fighting to make south Brooklyn safer and more affordable, and to make sure every community in this district is being heard and represented in City Hall.”

One political consultant supportive of Ye said that he had seen recent polling showing Avilés with an eight-point lead over her opponent, but cautioned the district is difficult to accurately survey because the electorate is so diverse and voters speak several different languages.

“There are a bunch of voting pockets, between the Asian population and working-class moderate white voters, that could break toward Ye,” the consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity to address the race, told Jewish Insider this week.

Haley Scott, a spokesperson for Ye, also projected confidence ahead of Tuesday’s primary, saying the first-time candidate “is running a campaign to win” and built “overwhelming grassroots support and an aggressive turnout operation to make sure everyone who can vote exercises that right.”

“She is hyper focused on the issues impacting the community she grew up in and served through her many roles in government,” Scott told JI. “She’s fighting to make south Brooklyn safer and more affordable, and to make sure every community in this district is being heard and represented in City Hall.”

Ye, who most recently was a staffer for Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), is backed by a pro-Israel super PAC as well as a group with ties to the real estate industry that has invested in attack ads targeting Avilés over past calls to defund the police, among other issues.

Like some other candidates who have previously endorsed such efforts — which have more recently become a political liability — Avilés has softened her rhetoric on public safety issues as she faces scrutiny over her positions while seeking reelection to a third term in the changed district.

As recently as last August, for instance, Avilés had explicitly advocated for “defunding the NYPD” in a platform section on her campaign site, according to archived screenshots on the Wayback Machine. But her current platform features no such language, and even acknowledges that a “police presence” coupled with public services like “better street lighting” have helped constituents “feel safe” in their communities. 

Rather than calling for a wholesale divestment from law enforcement, Avilés’ platform now pushes for increased police accountability while arguing that officers are unfit to respond to mental health calls, among other things.

Her campaign did not return a request for comment from JI on Thursday.

The Puerto Rican-born councilwoman, who chairs the Committee on Immigration, has otherwise been emphasizing constituent services, citing her efforts to protect residents from federal agents conducting what she has called “unlawful” raids and arrests as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown targets New York City.

For her part, Ye has countered that Avilés’ tenure has been more defined by what she characterizes as performative gestures such as voting against the city budget, while suggesting that her vociferous support for defunding the police has damaged relations with law enforcement at the expense of the community’s immediate needs. Ye has called for “strengthening relationships between local police precincts and the neighborhoods they serve” amid local concerns over violent crime, among other policies that she casts as practical solutions better aligned with the district.

Ye, who has drawn donations from Jewish and pro-Israel donors, is supportive of Israel but has stressed that the City Council is not an appropriate venue for litigating foreign policy and has sought to focus on local issues throughout the race, according to her campaign. The district is home to just a small number of Jewish voters, according to experts, even as it includes some parts of Borough Park, a Hasidic enclave.

“New York’s AIPAC is spending big against me,” Avilés said during her speech on Saturday before a packed audience at Terminal 5, referring to Solidarity PAC, a local pro-Israel advocacy group supporting Ye that has no formal ties to the Washington-based federal lobbying organization. “Because I’ve stood up over and over to demand a ceasefire in Gaza,” she added defiantly to cheers from the crowd. “We want to end the genocide and we want a free Palestine!” 

Still, Israel’s ongoing wars have fueled tension in the district. Pro-Palestinian activists have heckled Ye on the campaign trail, according to video seen by JI, accusing her of supporting “genocide” and taking “blood money” from Israel, a false claim that echoes antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of American politics. Ye has also faced xenophobic rhetoric amid the race, as one of her public campaign posters was defaced with graffiti labeling her a “Zionist” as well an affiliate of the “CCP,” or the Chinese Communist Party, a photo recently shared with JI shows.

Even as Avilés has somewhat tempered her rhetoric on law enforcement, she has continued to speak out stridently in opposition to Israel, most recently at a campaign rally in Manhattan for Zohran Mamdani, a far-left state assemblyman from Queens polling in second place in the Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday. 

“New York’s AIPAC is spending big against me,” Avilés said during her speech on Saturday before a packed audience at Terminal 5, referring to Solidarity PAC, a local pro-Israel advocacy group supporting Ye that has no formal ties to the Washington-based federal lobbying organization. “Because I’ve stood up over and over to demand a ceasefire in Gaza,” she added defiantly to cheers from the crowd. “We want to end the genocide and we want a free Palestine!” 

In keeping with the DSA, which drew widespread backlash for promoting a Manhattan rally at which attendees were seen celebrating Hamas shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Avilés backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions moment targeting Israel and has faced scrutiny for being among a handful of City Council members who abstained from voting in favor of a City Council resolution to establish an annual “End Jewish Hatred Day.”

Sara Forman, who leads Solidarity PAC, criticized Avilés in a statement to JI as “a DSA ideologue” who during her time in office has “sidelined” key issues such as affordable housing “in favor of empty promises, an obsession with foreign policy and political posturing.”

Solidarity PAC, Forman said, “proudly supports Ling Ye, who has called Brooklyn’s 38th District home since immigrating to the United States at 14, as someone who understands the real and pressing needs of the community.”

As she seeks to fend off her primary challenger, Aviles’ allies have raised some concerns about the race, even as she has won a range of high-profile endorsements from such progressive leaders as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and the Working Families Party. In a recent Zoom discussion about the “Israel lobby,” Yuh-Line Niou, a former far-left state assemblywoman who lost a tight congressional contest in 2022, warned that Avilés is running in “a very tough race” and urged viewers to support her campaign.

“There are people who are Asian voters who will literally see an Asian name on the ballot and be willing to vote for them,” suggested Niou, who is Taiwanese American.

Despite some unease among supporters of Avilés, the race has largely flown under the radar and has been overshadowed by a separate City Council race in Brooklyn where Shahana Hanif, the DSA-aligned incumbent, has drawn backlash from Jewish voters over her strident criticism of Israel. 

“It’s going to be the closest of the DSA races,” said one Jewish leader, speaking anonymously to discuss the primary. “But Alexa still wins,” he predicted, while speculating that Mamdani’s “coattails” in the district “will help.”

In her primary, Hanif is defending her seat against Maya Kornberg, a pro-Israel Jewish Democrat also backed by Solidarity PAC who, like Ye, has accused her opponent of failing to provide solid constituent services while advocating for policies like defunding the police that have not helped the district.

But while the race has drawn national attention as well as spending from outside groups backing both candidates, some strategists and Jewish leaders who are eager to see Kornberg win expressed skepticism she will ultimately unseat Hanif — owing largely to the ideological makeup of the district that includes deeply progressive Park Slope. 

Some Jewish community activists are also cautious about Ye’s race further south. “It’s going to be the closest of the DSA races,” said one Jewish leader, speaking anonymously to discuss the primary. “But Alexa still wins,” he predicted, while speculating that Mamdani’s “coattails” in the district “will help.”

Still, others following the race are holding out hope that Avilés’ new district lines will favor a moderate Democrat like Ye, who has argued the community “doesn’t need another professional protester” in City Hall.

“There’s a really good chance for a pick-up here,” said another Jewish community activist who has tracked the race.