Julie Menin, a moderate Jewish Democrat from Manhattan who last week declared an early victory in the New York City Council speaker race, is widely expected to serve as an ideological counterweight to the incoming administration of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist hoping to advance a range of far-left agenda items.

Some of their biggest clashes could stem from their sharply opposing views on Israel and antisemitism.

Menin, who would be the Council’s first Jewish speaker if officially elected in January during an internal vote, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and visited the country on a solidarity trip months after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Menin, 58, has advocated for Holocaust education funding and warned of rising antisemitism as a three-term city councilwoman.

For his part, Mamdani, a 34-year-old Queens state assemblyman, has long been a detractor of Israel — whose right to exist as a Jewish state he has refused to recognize. He has said that he will not participate in the Israel Day parade up Fifth Avenue, which Menin regularly attends, and indicated that he could move to enact some policies aligning with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting the Jewish state, even as he has also promised to protect Jewish New Yorkers by calling for a major increase in funding to prevent hate crimes, among other measures.

Their diverging approaches to such issues were on display late last month, when Menin and Mamdani each shared contrasting statements responding to a demonstration outside of a synagogue in her district during an event about immigration to Israel. 

While Mamdani admonished the synagogue for promoting “activities in violation of international law,” a comment he revised after facing backlash, Menin condemned the protest as “not acceptable,” saying “congregants must have the right to worship freely and to enter and exit their house of worship without impediment.”

Jewish community leaders suggested that Menin, whose district includes a wide swath of the Upper East Side, could find herself at odds with Mamdani if he chooses to act on some of his campaign pledges that raised red flags among pro-Israel advocates. The mayor-elect has said, for instance, he intends to revoke the city’s embrace of a working definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. He has also indicated he will reassess the partnership between Cornell University and Israel’s Technion, potentially kicking the joint Cornell Tech campus out of its home on Roosevelt Island, which sits in Menin’s district.

A spokesperson for Menin said that she was not available for an interview with Jewish Insider on Monday. 

In a recent conversation with Errol Louis of NY1, Menin defended the Cornell-Technion partnership, saying that it has “created thousands and thousands of tech jobs.”

“I was just there last month. They’ve created hundreds of new tech companies, innovative tech companies that are now housed in New York City, that are really the future of our great city,” Menin added. “I think, look, we need to really try to come together on these issues, and I think it’s absolutely possible to do so.”

One Jewish leader close to Menin, who spoke with JI on condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue, said that “the community sees her as a check and a safeguard” against Mamdani’s administration and that she “understands the historical importance of this moment,” as she is poised to become the first Jewish speaker. “She is a proud Jewish woman who represents a proud Jewish district.”

Still, the Jewish leader noted, Menin is “not the type to look for any fights,” stressing she is more likely to first seek common ground on divisive issues, unless she has “no choice but to push back.”

In recent public statements, Menin has struck a collaborative tone in regard to Mamdani, who will be the city’s first Muslim mayor, stressing their shared focus on affordability goals such as universal childcare, one of the mayor-elect’s top priorities.

Menin announced last week that she had secured enough backing to become the next speaker, touting votes from at least 36 members of the council. Though allegiances could shift in the coming weeks, Menin, who added endorsements Monday, is not expected to fall below the minimum threshold of 26 votes required to win in the 51-seat body. Her chief rival, Crystal Hudson, a progressive from Brooklyn who was seen as more closely aligned with Mamdani’s agenda, conceded the race last week.

In a statement last Wednesday, Menin, who did not make an endorsement in the mayoral race, said she was “honored and humbled by the trust and faith that my colleagues have put in me to lead the City Council as a force of action for New York families.”

“With this broad five-borough coalition, we stand ready to partner with Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s administration and deliver on a shared agenda that makes New York more affordable through universal child care, lowers rent and health care costs and ensures that families across the city can do more than just get by,” she continued.

A spokesperson for Mamdani, who did not publicly take sides in the speaker race, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor-elect, said in a statement last week that Mamdani “looks forward to working with her and the entire City Council to deliver on our affordability agenda for New Yorkers.”

Lynn Schulman, a Jewish councilwoman from Queens and an ally of Menin, said she believed her colleague “will be an excellent speaker” and “fair to everybody,” especially as she prepares to negotiate a massive, $116 billion budget. 

“The Council is made up of a very broad and diverse group,” she told JI. “I think that there is going to be a lot of collaboration. Julie is someone who’s always brought a lot of people together. We have to work as a collegial body.”

Sydney Altfield, CEO of Teach Coalition, an Orthodox advocacy group, said that she was “encouraged” that Menin locked up a super majority among council members, adding that she had “worked closely” with the likely speaker and trusts “she is someone who can turn policy into progress.” 

“As New York moves forward with a Muslim mayor, a Catholic governor and now the potential of a Jewish council speaker, we have the chance to see something powerful,” Altfield said in a statement to JI. “Leaders from every faith standing shoulder to shoulder for our children.”

Despite looming tensions over Israel, Sara Forman, executive director of New York Solidarity Network, a local pro-Israel group, said it was “premature” to speculate about any possible friction with Mamdani, focusing instead on how Menin is poised to become the first Jewish speaker — which she called “hugely significant in this moment” of rising antisemitism.

“It gives the community some reassurance moving forward that there’s somebody just like us,” Forman said.

Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) surprise decision on Monday to retire at the end of his current term has set off what is expected to be a crowded primary to succeed the long-serving Jewish Democrat — with a growing number of candidates weighing bids for the coveted Manhattan House seat he has held for more than three decades.

The looming open-seat primary has also raised questions about whether candidates will embrace Nadler’s increasingly skeptical views on Israel, and how the issue will shape the race. The 78-year-old lawmaker, who represents one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the nation, has long identified as a pro-Israel progressive, even as he has vocally criticized Israel’s conduct during its ongoing war in Gaza and drew scrutiny from some Jewish community leaders over his early endorsement of Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City.

In an interview first announcing his retirement on Monday, Nadler, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation, told The New York Times that he believed Israel was committing mass murder and war crimes in Gaza “without question,” and said he would back efforts to withhold offensive weapons transfers to Israel during the rest of his term — in a sharp break from his previous stance on continued military aid to the Jewish state.

It remains to be seen how Nadler’s approach will influence the race. The list of potential candidates includes Micah Lasher, a Jewish assemblyman who is expected to claim Nadler’s blessing, according to people familiar with the situation. Lasher, a former aide to Nadler, has built strong ties to the pro-Israel community, but he faced backlash from local rabbis over his similarly quick choice to support Mamdani, in spite of the nominee’s hostile views on Israel.

One Jewish leader said it was premature to draw conclusions about Lasher’s positions on Israel, while voicing confidence that he “makes up his own mind” on tough issues, regardless of where his allies may stand. 

“Lasher is center-left but has always been relatively moderate on Israel,” a pro-Israel strategist added in assessing the assemblyman’s stances on the Middle East.

Still, “the Zohran thing threw a lot of people off,” another Jewish leader said of Lasher, 43. “I do worry with Micah that, because of the political pressures, he could end up turning himself into a Jerry.”

Lasher did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider on Tuesday.

Despite speculation about his approach, Jewish activists and some Democratic strategists broadly suggested that the pro-Israel community would, by varying degrees, likely be comfortable with Lasher, in addition to other lawmakers from state and local office who are said to be mulling campaigns of their own in Nadler’s district, which covers Manhattan’s Upper West and East Sides.

Among them are two City Council members, Erik Bottcher and Julie Menin, who are also eyeing bids for state Senate and Council speaker, respectively. Menin, a Jewish Democrat, was among some local elected officials who chose not to attend a meeting with Mamdani this summer that had been organized by Nadler, a person familiar with the matter told JI. Keith Powers, a city councilman who recently lost a bid for Manhattan borough president and is looking at another open state Senate race, is also weighing a bid, sources said, as is Alex Bores, an assemblyman on the East Side.

“I commend Congressman Nadler for his years of public service,” Bores said in a statement shared with JI on Tuesday, indicating he is exploring a bid for the open House seat. “Rep. Nadler has always led with his convictions and cared deeply about his constituents; that is the exact kind of representation that the people of the 12th Congressional District deserve.”

Pro-Israel strategists indicated that they had more urgent concerns about another possible candidate, Lina Khan, the former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission and a progressive icon who now lives in Harlem and has been “shopping around for a district for months,” according to a source familiar with the situation. 

Khan, whose name has been floated as a potential candidate, could be a prolific fundraiser in a campaign, sources speculated. While she does not appear to have publicly addressed key Middle East questions, the anti-monopoly advocate has praised Mamdani’s campaign, raising early concerns that he would have a close and powerful ally in Congress if both are elected. Khan did not respond to a request for comment about her plans.

In addition to Khan, another prominent figure whose name has been privately mentioned in the days after Nadler’s unexpected announcement is Chelsea Clinton, according to people familiar with the conversations. Clinton has not confirmed her interest in the race to succeed Nadler but is actively considering a campaign after debating a run for an open City Council seat last cycle, said one person informed of her thinking. Her mother, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, voiced appreciation for Nadler in a social media post on Tuesday, after he officially announced his departure from the House.

Chelsea Clinton, 45, has been outspoken against antisemitism and would bring considerable name recognition to the race, though pro-Israel activists said they were largely unfamiliar with her views on Israel’s war in Gaza. 

The primary is likely to draw outside spending from pro-Israel groups including AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel, both of which have engaged in a number of House races where divisions over Middle East policy have fueled mounting tensions amid the war in Gaza.

Brian Romick, chairman of DMFI’s political arm, DMFI PAC, said the group “will be watching closely as the field takes shape and look forward to meeting with the candidates.”

A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to comment on Tuesday.

Two potential candidates who would likely align most closely with AIPAC and are currently weighing bids include Natalie Barth, a philanthropist who has previously served as the president of Park Avenue Synagogue, and Elisha Wiesel, son of the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel, people familiar with their plans told JI. 

Wiesel, who has been critical of Mamdani’s approach to Israel and antisemitism, had endorsed former Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) when she ran against Nadler in a bitterly contested primary three years ago.

Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund executive who ran a failed campaign for New York City mayor as a moderate pro-Israel Democrat, is also considering a bid to replace Nadler, writing in a social media post on Tuesday that residents of the district, which had narrowly favored Mamdani in the primary, “have a special responsibility to lead the” fight against President Donald Trump, “defend the rule of law” and “support our allies, especially Israel and Ukraine.”

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Jewish campus activist who has celebrated Trump’s crackdown on antisemitism, also confirmed to JI on Tuesday that he is weighing a campaign, saying he has been “encouraged to run by a group of New Yorkers from a broad ideological spectrum.”

“I am actively considering it,” he said. “If I can make a positive difference to my city and community, I would be foolish not to. There is a strong desire amongst New York Democrats for a return to normalcy. The party has steered too far to the left and I will help in any way I can, including running for office.”

Some observers have suggested that Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a moderate Jewish Democrat whose deeply progressive district includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, could potentially jump over to Nadler’s race — where he could face a more friendly electorate and forestall challengers to his left. 

But a spokesperson for Goldman, Simone Kanter, dismissed such speculation. “No truth at all, no idea where that’s coming from,” he told JI on Tuesday.

As the field takes shape, Nadler is already facing a younger challenger, Liam Elkind, who in his launch video in July called on the veteran congressman to retire to make room for a new generation of party leadership. 

But Elkind, a 26-year-old nonprofit leader who is running on a broadly pro-Israel platform, is likely to face an uphill battle with the primary now expected to draw more well-known rivals with establishment credentials.