Plus, British pols' 'thoughts and prayers' after another antisemitic attack
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
People cast their in-person early ballot for the 2024 general election at the Northwest Activities Center on October 29, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at what Carl Wilson’s special election win for a New York City Council seat portends for the agenda of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who backed a far-left opponent to Wilson, and talk to Rep. Mike Lawler about congressional efforts to push the White House to fill the role of special envoy for the Abraham Accords. We talk to Senate Republicans about whether Congress will authorize an extension of the Iran war, and report on yesterday’s terror attack in London in which two Jewish men were injured. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Noa Tishby, Mohamed Hagi and Zach Florman.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper is set to brief President Donald Trump today on plans for potential renewed military action in Iran to break the deadlock that has paralyzed talks with Tehran. Options on the table, Axios reports, include “short and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets and a partial takeover of the Strait of Hormuz. The president said on Wednesday that he intended to continue the U.S. naval blockade after rejecting an Iranian offer to reopen the waterway in exchange for delaying talks on its nuclear program.
- Meanwhile, the State Department sent a cable to U.S. embassies this week pressing diplomats to encourage the countries in which they’re stationed to join a new U.S.-led international coalition to assist ships transiting through the strait.
- Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is expected to force a Senate vote today on his war powers resolution, the sixth attempt to constrain the Trump administration’s military campaign targeting Iran.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine will testify this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee, a day after appearing before the House Armed Services Committee. More on their HASC testimonies below.
- The Department of Justice is hosting this year’s annual Interagency Holocaust Remembrance Day event. DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen Germain and Holocaust survivor Frank Cohn are slated to speak this morning at the event, which will include prerecorded remarks from Jacob Helberg, the Trump administration’s under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment.
- King Charles III and Queen Camilla wrap up their trip to the U.S. today. They’ll visit Front Royal, Va., before departing for Bermuda.
- The annual Jewish pilgrimage to Djerba, Tunisia, begins today. Organizers said that this year’s events — three years after five people were killed in a terror attack during the pilgrimage — will be “open to everyone, Tunisians and foreigners, as part of a gradual return to normal,” following two years of scaled-down celebrations.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
The combination of history and polling is pointing to the likelihood of a Democratic wave election in the 2026 midterms, which would give Democrats control of the House and a fighting chance to claw back a Senate majority.
Polls show Democrats holding a sizable edge on the generic ballot, their favored candidates are running competitively even in red states and congressional districts, all while President Donald Trump’s approval rating is sagging amid high gas prices, executive overreach and an uncertain outcome in the aftermath of the war in Iran.
But the one X-factor keeping Republicans competitive is the Democratic Party’s lurch leftward in the last year, leading to the emergence of extreme, exotic and out-of-the-mainstream candidates in pivotal battleground races.
Indeed, a new poll commissioned by The Argument magazine finds that the generic ballot shows Democrats have been stuck with a six-point lead for a while even as Trump’s job approval has declined precipitously in the last several months. They’re voting to put a check on the GOP’s dominance of Washington, without endorsing the direction of the Democratic party.
“Democrats still have tangible policy misalignments with many voters who dislike Trump,” The Argument concluded in its polling analysis.
All told, the question becomes: Will the anticipated Democratic wave closely resemble the Democrats’ version of the GOP Tea Party election of 2010? In that election, Republicans swept into power in the House but far-right and extreme Senate candidates in key races blew golden opportunities, costing Republicans the upper chamber.
SPECIAL ELECTION SIGNALS
Mamdani bruised but not beaten after City Council candidate loss
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took a hit to his political credibility on Tuesday when his endorsed candidate in a special election for City Council went down in overwhelming defeat — but it’s not clear if the loss will lead to an override of his veto of school buffer zone legislation or further stall his political momentum, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Impact: Legislative aide Carl Wilson’s trouncing of Mamdani-backed Lindsey Boylan in a West Side district was not just a loss for Mamdani but a triumph for Council Speaker Julie Menin, sources told JI, noting she had lent Wilson not just her endorsement but an effective ground game turning out his voters. “It was a resounding dominant victory,” said Jewish Community Relations Council of New York CEO Mark Treyger, himself a former city councilmember. “It’s not just about one seat. It’s about the message it sends to the body, and the message it sends to New York, not to underestimate her and her operation.”
ENVOY WANTED
Lawler: Congress expected to push Trump to fill Abraham Accords envoy position
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) expects Congress to make another “big push” to urge President Donald Trump to fill the role of special envoy for the Abraham Accords once the Iran conflict subsides, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. The role was created in 2023, when Lawler and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) introduced a bill to establish a Senate-confirmed, ambassador-level special envoy position dedicated to expanding the Abraham Accords and Middle East normalization.
State of play: The measure was ultimately signed into law as part of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). But despite the legal mandate, the position has remained open. The vacancy has drawn frustration from congressional Republicans, with 47 House GOP members sending a letter in January 2025 urging Trump to immediately fill the post while condemning former President Joe Biden’s failure to do so during his term.
WAR WEARY
GOP senators express uncertainty about authorizing extension of Iran war
Senate Republicans are increasingly skeptical about the future of U.S. military engagement in Iran as the 60-day deadline for the war mandated by the War Powers Resolution approaches this week. Under the 1973 law, the president cannot sustain military operations for more than 60 days without congressional authorization or a formal declaration of war, after which U.S. forces must be withdrawn. The White House can request a 30-day extension should it present “unavoidable military necessity,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Senators say: Four GOP lawmakers told JI they expect the White House to comply with the statute and notify Congress of a 30-day extension — though they remain uncertain and divided over whether they would support authorizing continued military action. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he will not “quibble” over whether the exact deadline is met, however he stressed that the White House should respect the law on the books.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and John Cornyn (R-TX).
COMMUNITY TARGETED
Two Jewish men stabbed in heavily Jewish London suburb
Two Jewish men in a heavily Jewish suburb of London were stabbed on Wednesday in what police called a terrorist incident. The victims — one in his 70s and one in his 30s — remain hospitalized in stable condition, according to the Metropolitan Police, after the attack shortly before noon in Golders Green, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Details: The suspect, a 45-year-old man who allegedly also attempted to stab law enforcement, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder, police said in a statement. The man had “a history of serious violence and mental health issues,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters. “This has now formally been declared a terrorist incident,” said Laurence Taylor, London’s head of counterterrorism policing, adding that police are investigating “whether this attack was deliberately targeting the Jewish community in London.”
Cover conversation: Amid concerns over government inaction in the wake of regular attacks targeting the Jewish community, the latest print edition of the U.K.’s Jewish News, out today, pointedly calls out the rote statements from U.K. government officials, calling the comments, in a banner headline, “Bull$#@#bingo.”
EXCLUSIVE
L.A. school district recognizes Jewish American Heritage Month after Noa Tishby push
The Los Angeles Unified School District unanimously passed its first-ever resolution recognizing May as Jewish American Heritage Month, incorporating a new educational curriculum on Judaism and Israel provided by Israeli activist and author Noa Tishby, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What it involves: Designed for middle and high schoolers, the curriculum is based on Tishby’s eight- episode YouTube series, “What is?,” which explores topics including Judaism, antisemitism, the Holocaust and Israel. “We decided the series needed to be a curriculum in schools,” Tishby, founder of the nonprofit media company Eighteen and Israel’s former special envoy for combating antisemitism, told JI.
FRIENDLY FACES
Somaliland’s new envoy to Israel praises the two countries’ ‘special relationship’
Mohamed Hagi, Somaliland’s newly appointed envoy to Israel, spoke on Wednesday about the country’s “special relationship” with the Jewish state, saying that the ties are built on mutually beneficial economic and security interests, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Podcast playback: “Our relationship with Israel should be understood as part of a purely strategic orientation,” Hagi said on the podcast “Ask Haviv Anything,” hosted by Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur. “Somaliland is deliberately cultivating relationships with partners that value stability, innovation or responsible governance.” Hagi said that the relationship will be “based on economic development,” noting that the two countries could benefit from “practical cooperation” in areas such as technology, water management, agriculture and security.
Worthy Reads
That’s Oil, Folks: The Wall Street Journal’s Summer Said, Jared Malsin and Dov Lieber do a deep dive into the United Arab Emirates’ decision to break from OPEC — a move hastened by the Iran war, during which the Gulf state suffered more Iranian attacks than any other country in the region. “Confronted with Iranian attacks that imperiled its economic model and frustrated with what its leaders saw as a lack of support from its Arab neighbors, the Emirates doubled down on its partnership with the U.S. and its half-decade-old relationship with Israel — in spite of Arab unease with the instability flowing from the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. ‘It came as a result of some deep thinking, in light of the 40 days of drones and missiles,’ said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent Emirati political scientist.” [WSJ]
Let Down in London: The Jewish Chronicle’s Stephen Pollard slams the British government for having “bitterly failed British Jews” amid regular antisemitic attacks targeting the community. “We have authorities which have stood and watched as hate marches have taken over the streets and have allowed pure, unbridled Jew hate to run free. Make no mistake: the hate marches are the single biggest factor behind the escalation in Jew hate, not least because they comprise much of that escalation – and inspire the rest. And we have politicians as a class whose response to the rise of Jew hate is to mouth the obscene platitude that there is no place for antisemitism on the streets, when every one of these attacks shows that there is a very large place for antisemitism on our streets.” [JewishChronicle]
No Direction Home: The New York Times’ Jennifer Medina talks to Jewish Democratic officials who feel increasingly isolated by their party’s increasing tolerance for antisemitism. “They have faced antisemitic slurs and menacing voice mail messages, including threats of assassination. Protesters have called members of Congress ‘dirty Jews’ during town hall events and thrown red liquid — meant to look like blood — on their front lawns. For Jewish elected officials trying to navigate this shift, the atmosphere has felt alienating. ‘It is very isolating,’ said Representative Josh Gottheimer, who represents northern New Jersey in Congress. ‘It’s like you’re losing your home in the Democratic Party and in the country.’” [NYTimes]
Blaming Bibi: The Dispatch’s David Drucker talks to Democrats about the party’s leftward shift on Israel, finding that much of the animus toward the Jewish state is focused on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The blame for growing opposition to Israel on the left belongs entirely to Netanyahu versus some wholesale souring on the Israel-U.S. alliance, Democratic-aligned groups that exist to cultivate support for Israel inside the party asserted to The Dispatch. The prime minister has held Israel’s top post for 19 of the past 30 years and nearly all of the past 17 years, often aligning himself with the GOP during that latter period. And because Netanyahu has been in charge for so long, many Democrats view him as synonymous with Israel.” [TheDispatch]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit Israeli action against Hezbollah in Lebanon to “surgical” strikes amid a tenuous ceasefire between Beirut and Jerusalem…
Roll Call spotlights Zach Florman, the communications director for Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) and creator of The Capitol Wire, an AI bot that tracks upcoming legislation…
Politico looks at efforts by — and challenges facing — Israeli opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they seek to rebuild relationships with Democrats in the U.S. amid cratering support in the party for the Jewish state…
Rachel Goldberg Polin’s book When We See You Again, about her son, Hersh, who was murdered in Hamas captivity, debuted in the No. 1 spot on The New York Times’ Best Sellers list of hardcover nonfiction a week after its release; read our interview with Goldberg-Polin here…
Yeah That’s Kosher looks at how New York State legislation banning three food additives, including potassium bromate, could impact the state’s kosher baking industry, which relies on the oxidizing agent to give bagels and pizza dough their texture…
The Jewish Theological Seminary announced that Israeli President Isaac Herzog will deliver the school’s 2026 commencement address, and will receive an honorary degree alongside Rabbi Edward Feld, former Washington Post editor Ruth Marcus, actress Debra Messing and rabbinic Judaism scholar Peter Schäfer…
Authorities in Los Angeles are investigating as a hate crime the assault of a Jewish man outside of a synagogue earlier this week in the city’s Pico-Robertson neighborhood that was recorded on security footage…
An interim report from Australia’s royal commission into the December 2025 terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach, Sydney, issued more than a dozen recommendations, including calling for better coordination of security efforts for Jewish events, and establishing a full-time position within the federal government of a counterterrorism coordinator…
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will end its funding for LIV Golf when the season concludes, dealing a blow to players in the league who strained ties with the PGA Tour to join the Riyadh-backed circuit…
Organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza said that Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla’s boats, which departed from Spain earlier this month, in international waters off the coast of Greece…
The Jewish National Fund-KKL is halting most of its funding to West Bank programs at farming outposts for at-risk Israeli youth amid concerns that the outposts were becoming hubs for settler violence against Palestinians living in the enclave…
Pic of the Day
Swiss Ambassador to the U.S. Ralf Heckner spoke at an event in Washington on Wednesday co-hosted by the American Jewish Committee and the Embassy of Switzerland, the latter of which is currently chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to discuss antisemitism across the OSCE region.
Birthdays
Screen, stage and television actress and singer, Dianna Agron turns 40…
Rabbi, scholar and professor of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University, Saul J. Berman turns 87… Founder and CEO of Kansas City-based American Public Square, he was the U.S. ambassador to Portugal during the Obama administration, Allan J. Katz turns 79… Brooklyn-based clinical social worker, Marsha S. Rimler… Psychologist, author of several children’s books and president of the Saban Family Foundation, Cheryl Saban turns 75… Israeli Supreme Court justice until 2021, he was previously attorney general of Israel, Menachem “Meni” Mazuz turns 71… Partner in the communications and ad agency GMMB, he served as an advisor to President Obama in both his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, James David “Jim” Margolis turns 71… London-based international real estate investor and developer, Zachariasz “Zak” Gertler turns 70… Cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his over 100 magazine covers appearing in The New Yorker and other publications, Barry Blitt turns 68… Former commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she was a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk, Chai R. Feldblum turns 67… Professor of sociology at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, she served as president of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Eva Illouz turns 65… Senior fellow at Misgav: the Institute for Zionist Strategy and National Security, he is a diplomatic columnist for The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom newspapers, David M. Weinberg… New York city comptroller, Mark D. Levine turns 57… CEO of Newton, Mass.-based Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, focused on children with special educational needs, Tamar Davis… Senior director for U.S. Jewish grantmaking at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, David Rittberg… Executive director of federal affairs at General Motors, Eric Feldman… Senior advisor for policy and communications for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Omri Ceren… Chief operating officer of Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy, Ali Kaufman Yares… Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot turns 41… Senior policy advisor at Alston & Bird in Washington, D.C., Jonathan Jagoda… Chief communications officer at Business Insider, Ari Isaacman D’Angelo turns 41… Founder of Lubin Strategies, he is also an affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, Nathaniel “Nate” Lubin… Communications director for Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Rachel S. Cohen… Associate in the D.C. office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Daniel E. Wolman… Elementary schoolteacher at Broward County Public Schools, Jenna Luks… Economics reporter at The Wall Street Journal, Rachel B. Wolfe… Director of WJC Elevate at the World Jewish Congress, Yonatan “Yoni” Hammerman… Co-founder of Impact Nation and Tech4Cancer, Idan Megidish… Global account sales manager for Isotopia Molecular Imaging, Noam Aricha…
Carl Wilson’s victory over Lindsey Boylan, who was endorsed by the mayor, marks a triumph for Council Speaker Julie Menin, Next NYC PAC and buffer bill legislation
Laura Brett/Sipa USA via AP Images
On the first day of early voting in a special election, Lindsey Boylan receives the endorsement of city elected officials including Mayor Zohran Mamdani in her run for City Council District 3 at a rally in Chelsea Park, in New York, NY on April 18, 2026
New York City Council candidate Lindsey Boylan, who was backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in this week’s special election, was resoundingly defeated on Tuesday night by community activist Carl Wilson — a result that also marks a step forward in the evolving fight over a buffer zone bill vetoed by Mamdani last week.
With 99% of the vote in, Boylan received just over 25% in the contest for the Manhattan district, while Wilson, the preferred candidate of Council Speaker Julie Menin, had clinched a plurality of 43%.
Wilson also had the backing of Next NYC PAC, which Jewish Insider reported last month represented a coalition of forces linked to two men Mamdani defeated on his path to City Hall: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Wilson’s win is also a victory for legislation Mamdani vetoed last week over the objections of Jewish community groups: a bill that would compel the NYPD to establish formal protocols for security perimeters around educational institutions during protests. Wilson alone among the four candidates for the seat vowed to vote to override the mayor’s veto: if the measure retains the support it passed the Council with last month, it needs only three more votes to overwhelm Mamdani’s opposition.
The other two candidates split the remainder of the more than 14,000 ballots cast in the race to fill the seat of former councilman and now-state Sen. Eric Bottcher, who won election to the state Legislature last fall. The district covers areas of lower Manhattan, including the Stonewall Inn, central to the gay rights movement.
But in the past week-and-a-half, after Mamdani endorsed Boylan — the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual misconduct — the race took on the character of a power struggle, pitting the mayor and Brad Lander — a Mamdani ally and the city’s former comptroller now challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) from the congressman’s left — against Menin, local politicos, Next NYC PAC and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).
Mamdani has backed Lander against Goldman and endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez for the seat held by Velazquez, who is retiring, over the congresswoman’s favored candidate, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
Menin, Mark Levine and Brad Hoylman-Sigal — the most senior Jewish elected officials in NYC — beseeched the Jewish community not to flee the city despite tensions with the mayor
Vladimir Kolesnikov/Michael Priest Photography
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Comptroller Mark Levine and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal speak at 92NY on April 22, 2026.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin warned Wednesday morning that if Mayor Zohran Mamdani vetoes the council’s legislation intended to regulate protests at religious and educational sites, the city will face “more divisiveness,” calling the decision a critical test for the mayor.
The bills, which include measures to create standard NYPD policy for deploying buffer zones during protests at educational and religious facilities, face a potential veto as Mamdani has repeatedly declined to take a stand on the issue. He has acknowledged concerns against the legislation from left-wing activists and civil rights groups who have targeted synagogues and yeshivas with anti-Israel demonstrations, and has until the end of this week to veto the bills or they become law automatically.
“We need less divisiveness. I really hope — and I’ve said this to the mayor — that there is not a veto of the package of bills. That’s necessary. It will create much more division,” Menin said during a panel discussion at 92NY on “the future of being Jewish in New York,” featuring the city’s most senior Jewish elected officials: Menin, who is the first Jewish council speaker, Comptroller Mark Levine and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
The panel, moderated by 92NY CEO Seth Pinsky, comes as the city has experienced historic levels of antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks — and as Jews navigate a tense relationship with a mayor who has held hostile views towards several key communal issues. New York City has the largest population of Jews outside of Israel.
Asked by Pinsky what advice each would give to Mamdani to try to reassure the roughly 70% of the Jewish New York City electorate that did not vote for him, Hoylman-Sigal called on Mamdani to “follow the tradition of every mayor preceding him [since 1951] and visit Israel.”
He added that Mamdani already has some “really good Jewish advisors,” including Phylisa Wisdom, a progressive Jewish leader Mamdani tapped in February to run the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. A range of Jewish Democratic politicians and advocates had lauded Wisdom’s selection, though she has alienated some Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish leaders over her work criticizing the secular education taught at yeshivas in the past.
Hoylman-Sigal’s assertion that the mayor’s heart “is in the right place” when it comes to the Jewish community was met with a chorus of “boos” from the audience.
Addressing the city’s long-standing Israel bonds investments, which Mamdani has called to end in a key source of tension for him and Levine, Levine said the investments “are not political [and] shouldn’t be political.”
“Israel bonds have never missed a payment in 70 years,” said Levine. “And by the way, we’ve had no protests about our investments in Saudi Arabia, our investments in Pakistan or China.”
All three Jewish leaders echoed the sentiment that despite a turbulent past few years, the New York City Jewish community remains resilient, and urged New Yorkers not give into the rising calls to decamp to Florida.
“Absolutely stay in New York,” said Menin. “This is not a time to lose hope. Hopefully the three of us here can embody the future of the commitment to fighting antisemitism, the commitment to supporting the Jewish community. This is a time to lean into it as opposed to shy away from it. New York is a city that has been a beacon of inclusion and tolerance; we need to make sure that it stays that way.”
“I believe the Jewish community in New York City is stronger than it’s ever been,” said Levine, who praised Mamdani’s decision to retain former Mayor Eric Adams’ NYPD commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish and openly identifies as Zionist.
“In many synagogues, attendance is way up. Jewish New Yorkers are active in ways they haven’t been. We’ve seen new coalitions come together … This engagement gives me real hope for the future,” continued Levine.
“My wish looking forward to the next 25 years is that we see a community that fought — that didn’t move to Miami with its bad bagels — and that we kept this story going of what is really one of the most glorious Jewish communities.”
Council Speaker Julie Menin says the mayor ‘hasn’t indicated’ he will veto her signature legislation
John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, left, and Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, during an announcement in Brooklyn, New York, on Jan. 12, 2026.
The New York City Council passed a suite of legislation Thursday intended to battle antisemitism — and to formalize NYPD policy toward protests at religious and educational facilities — leaving it up to Mayor Zohran Mamdani to try to block the bills or let them become law.
Council Speaker Julie Menin told reporters before the vote that she’s received no signal that Mamdani would veto her signature bill, which would compel the city’s police commissioner to lay out official department procedure for its longstanding practice of establishing buffer zones around religious institutions during protest activity.
Mamdani has repeatedly refused to take a stand on the issue, though he has acknowledged concerns against the bill from civil rights organizations and left-wing activists in his base who have targeted synagogues and yeshivas with anti-Israel demonstrations.
“I have many conversations with the mayor, we meet one-on-one all the time. He hasn’t indicated to me that he will do that,” Menin said when asked about the potential for a veto.
The NYPD told the Council it had “no objections” to a revised version of the proposal at a council hearing in February, which would typically signal the mayor, who oversees the police department, intends to sign the legislation, or take no action, at which point it would automatically become law after 30 days. The bill had 35 co-sponsors and passed with 44 of 51 council members voting in favor, well in excess of the two-thirds majority needed to override a mayoral veto.
Far closer was the vote on a bill advanced by Bronx Councilman Eric Dinowitz, chair of the body’s Jewish Caucus, which would similarly obligate Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to create formal protocol for police security perimeters — but near educational institutions rather than religious ones. Michael Gerber, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for legal affairs, expressed hesitation as to this measure at last month’s hearing, arguing that a single uniform policy may not be appropriate to police actions around private property.
Dinowitz maintained after the vote that the bill’s language makes clear the NYPD should only establish perimeters around entrances and exits onto public parks and sidewalks, not school facilities themselves.
“We wanted to be clear that the intent of the bill is not to police what’s going on at college campuses,” Dinowitz told reporters.
Still, the bill passed with just 30 votes, four shy of what it would require to overcome a veto.
City Council legislation to shield synagogues and other religious institutions pits Jewish groups against progressive activists — and sets up a potential fight with the Mamdani administration
Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Anti-Israel demonstrators gather at 'No Settlers on Stolen Land' protest against a Nefesh b'Nefesh event at the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan in November 2025.
A bill introduced in the New York City Council in response to pro-Hamas demonstrations outside New York synagogues has sparked a battle between mainstream Jewish advocacy organizations and protest groups and their allies — and leaves New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the NYPD in an awkward spot.
At the center of the agenda to counter antisemitism that Council Speaker Julie Menin unveiled in January was her proposal directing the NYPD to establish a plan for “security perimeters,” demarcated with police barriers or tape, up to 100 feet from entrances and exits at religious facilities to prevent protesters from obstructing or harassing people attempting to enter or exit.
In response to feedback from the police department, the speaker’s office stripped out any specific reference to distance, and a new draft of the bill simply compels Commissioner Jessica Tisch to propose her own plan for “buffer zones” of sizes she deems appropriate “to address and contain the risk of injury, intimidation, and interference, while preserving and protecting protest rights.” Like the previous bill, the zones in the updated legislation could extend from both doorways and driveways.
The measure faces its first hearing in the council on Wednesday, but it has already accentuated and even deepened the split between long-standing Jewish institutions and the activist forces that elevated Mamdani to power last fall.
“Access to religious institutions must be protected so that people can enter their houses of worship without fear of harassment or intimidation,” said Eric S. Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York, which has sought to organize Jewish communal support for the bill. “Speaker Menin’s proposal advances that goal through a carefully designed framework that appropriately balances First Amendment rights with safety and prevention,” Goldstein said.
By contrast, a bevy of far-left groups — Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, the American Council for Judaism, Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and IfNotNow NYC — several of which have ties to the mayor, collectively denounced Menin’s legislation earlier this month.
“The right to protest in this country is sacrosanct and must be protected,” the organizations said in a joint statement, arguing that the synagogues at the center of recent demonstrations had hosted “non-religious political events” — namely, for groups encouraging and facilitating immigration to Israel — that made them legitimate targets. “We urge our city leaders to take seriously that a free and open democracy is essential towards ensuring the safety of all New Yorkers, including Jewish communities.”
The Menin bill is distinct from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for 25-foot buffer zones around houses of worship, which would subject violators to criminal penalties, or from calls for similar actions on the national level. A corollary piece of City Council legislation, introduced by Councilmember Eric Dinowitz, would establish similar perimeters around educational institutions.
Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs for the Combat Antisemitism Movement, noted that the Supreme Court had upheld electioneering laws barring campaign activity within 100 feet of polling places.
“It really shouldn’t be so controversial,” Lewin told JI. “They determined that setting up a 100-foot zone around the polling place did not impermissibly interfere with the speech rights of those campaigning. You have a similar situation here. And here you’re talking about a constitutionally protected right to the free exercise of religion.”
The speaker’s office acknowledged it had looked to the high court precedent Lewin cited while crafting the legislation. But Menin’s team stressed to Jewish Insider that the bill would not prohibit protesting within the buffer zones.
Menin’s office maintained that the legislation would compel the police department to have an official, public protocol for ensuring access and egress at places of worship during demonstrations.
“It does not limit protest activity,” said Menin spokesperson Henry Robins. “The bill directs the NYPD to develop and publish a plan to ensure individuals can safely enter and exit these institutions without harassment or obstruction, while fully respecting First Amendment rights.”
Mamdani has declined to express his opinions on the proposal from Menin, a Manhattan Democrat and the first-ever Jewish council speaker, frequently seen as representing moderate elements of the party that opposed his election. He has instead alluded to vague “concerns” with the proposal from Tisch, a scion of one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families and a holdover from his predecessor’s administration.
However, multiple sources asserted that concerns from the NYPD were not constitutional but logistical.
Moreover, former Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order in December that directed the NYPD to consider instituting zones limiting protest from 15 to 60 feet from the doorways of religious facilities. Moshe Davis, who headed the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism under Adams, said his team developed this directive in concert with the NYPD and the city Law Department, which have not changed under the new administration.
Mamdani repealed Adams’ order, along with others the outgoing mayor signed just before his term ended, his first day in office — but then signed an identical decree into effect. His office did not respond to requests for comment from JI.
Menin’s bill currently has 20 co-sponsors, six short of the majority needed for passage. However, 34 of the 51 members of the council would need to back the bill to override a mayoral veto.
Speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN Monday night, Mamdani said he would reserve comment until his administration had conducted a legal review.
Congressional candidates in New York and Illinois also signed onto the campaign, linked to Shanghai-based magnate Neville ‘Roy’ Singham and a series of anti-Israel groups
Roberto Machado Noa/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Havana, Cuba, Residential district cityscape from an elevated point.
A raft of Democrats — including 23 members of the 51-seat New York City Council, multiple state lawmakers and four candidates for Congress — have joined forces with a Beijing-aligned tech tycoon to bail out the fuel-starved dictatorship in Cuba.
The officials in question lent their names to the “Let Cuba Live” campaign, which denounces President Donald Trump’s oil embargo on the island nation and seeks to triage solar panels and generators to defray the crippling impact on its energy production.
All donations for the effort run through the People’s Forum, a Manhattan-based nonprofit established and financed by Shanghai-based magnate Neville “Roy” Singham, part of his sprawling web of organizations promoting the interests of China and its allies Russia and Iran.
The People’s Forum and Singham, a devout Maoist who reaped a fortune from the sale of his software firm Thoughtworks, were at the center of a House hearing last week on foreign influence operations and overseas funding of activist groups.
Let Cuba Live’s website reveals the involvement of other Singham-linked groups, including CODEPINK — co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans — and the ANSWER Coalition, both of which spearheaded anti-Israel protests beginning the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace and the Democratic Socialists of America are also signatories, along with well-known left-wing celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Roger Waters who have long been vocally hostile to Israel.
But unlike Singham’s other attempts to influence U.S. policy and promote its geopolitical foes, this effort has attracted backing from dozens of leading Democrats, the vast majority of them representing parts of New York City.
Several of the elected officials who have joined the crusade are DSA members: Councilmembers Alexa Aviles, Tiffany Caban, Chi Ossé, Shahana Hanif, state Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblymembers Diana Moreno and Claire Valdez.
Moreno was Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s handpicked successor to his old seat in the New York Legislature, while Mamdani has endorsed Valdez to replace Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) in Congress.
However, the bulk of the New York co-signers are not card-carrying DSA members, but simply members of the Council’s long-standing left-of-center Progressive Caucus. These include Councilmembers Harvey Epstein, Gale Brewer, Althea Stevens, Amanda Farias, Crystal Hudson, Christopher Marte, Elsie Encarnacion, Farah Louis, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Kayla Santosuosso, Pierina Sanchez, Sandy Nurse, Rita Joseph, Shanel Thomas-Henry, Shekar Krishnan, Shirley Aldebol, Julie Won — also a candidate for Velazquez’s soon-to-be-vacant seat — and Deputy Council Speaker Nantasha Williams.
Other prominent Democrats who have joined the Singham campaign include congressional hopefuls Jake Levine and Byron Sigcho-Lopez, seeking the seats of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL), respectively. Levine did not respond to a request for comment. Sigcho-Lopez, a Chicago city alderman, told Jewish Insider that he had signed on at the request of DSA, of which he is a member.
He said he was aware of CODEPINK’s participation in the campaign, but not of the larger Singham network’s involvement, though he expressed no regrets joining.
“Outside of the geopolitical struggle, it is important that we protect the well-being and lives of anyone,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “I think they’re fighting for the same things we’re fighting for in Chicago: we want to protect people’s humanity.”
None of the elected officials responded to JI questions, although two New York City Council sources — who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardizing their positions — said that the Progressive Caucus had urged members to sign on.
Several of the other names attached to “Let Cuba Live” are leading members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a small but prominent fringe party that has spearheaded anti-Israel protests, promotes the interests of Tehran, Moscow and Beijing, and provides staff and support to Singham’s network. The Justice Department has identified the PSL as a key force in organizing the wave of protests that have targeted synagogues in recent months.
As of Wednesday evening, the campaign was about $60,000 away from hitting its $200,000 fundraising goal, funds it has vowed to expend. “We are rushing solar generators and panels to our neighbors 90 miles away so that hospitals can keep their doors open and their lights on.”
Councilmembers on the left and right decried the use of public resources for activist purposes
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Council member Julie Menin speaks during rally of 240 Holocaust survivors for 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas during terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
News that employees in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had launched an anti-Israel “working group” inside the agency’s headquarters provoked outrage among both progressive and conservative leaders in the New York City Council.
The New York Post first reported on Wednesday that employees of the mayorally controlled agency — which oversees restaurant inspections, disease control, vital statistics and addiction services — held the inaugural meeting of its “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” inside its main office in Queens during the workday on Tuesday. A presenter acknowledged that the working group “really developed in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” according to materials the Post obtained.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the first Jewish person to lead the body, told the Post that an investigation into the matter was “necessary to protect the public trust and address the unacceptable rise in antisemitism across New York City.”
City Councilmember Lynn Schulman, a Democrat who co-chairs the body’s health committee and serves as vice chair of its Jewish Caucus, described herself as “deeply troubled” at the news. However, she said that the agency had assured her it was probing the situation.
The department did not respond immediately to a request for comment from Jewish Insider.
“DOHMH should be singularly focused on protecting and improving the health of New Yorkers — not advancing political narratives unrelated to its mission,” Schulman, a longtime progressive activist, wrote in a statement. “Politicizing a public health agency undermines trust, morale, and the core mission of the department.”
“This incident is especially troubling given the alarming rise of antisemitism we are seeing in New York City — including multiple antisemitic [acts] reported in recent weeks. Hosting a meeting that promotes inflammatory accusations while ignoring antisemitism entirely only deepens and alienates Jewish employees and residents,” she added.
The report also drew condemnation from City Councilmember Joann Ariola, a Republican who represents parts of Queens.
“What this is, to be clear, is thinly veiled activism that is attempting to normalize itself within a city agency,” she said in a statement. “Jewish New Yorkers already feel under attack just walking the streets of this city. They should not have to be in fear about the radical ideology of their healthcare providers.”
Her legislative proposals could be opposed by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani
Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council and Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, arrive for an announcement in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 (Photographer: John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Julie Menin, the recently elected speaker of the New York City Council, announced a comprehensive plan to confront rising antisemitism on Friday, unveiling several initiatives that notably include an emerging legislative proposal to establish buffer zones around houses of worship to keep protesters from harassing congregants.
The measure, which echoes legislation introduced last month by state legislators, comes in response to a recent series of anti-Israel demonstrations outside synagogues in New York City, including a protest in Queens last week where participants voiced support for Hamas — raising fears in the Jewish community amid a broader rise in antisemitic activity across the five boroughs.
But it could place Menin, the Council’s first Jewish speaker and a vocal defender of Israel, at odds with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, underscoring a tension in their new relationship on areas in which anti-Israel activism crosses a line into antisemitic behavior. In his statement addressing the Queens protesters, for example, Mamdani, a fierce critic of Israel who has long identified as an outspoken anti-Zionist, chose not to accuse them of antisemitism as several of his top allies on the far left had done, even as he made sure to call Hamas a terrorist group and denounce the slogans chanted by demonstrators as “wrong.”
While Menin has yet to confirm the exact distance of the barrier she hopes to impose around houses of worship, she has floated a possible perimeter of 100 feet, far surpassing a 25-foot zone proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in her State of the State address this week. Mamdani, who was in attendance during the governor’s speech in Albany, did not applaud when she mentioned buffer, stirring speculation over his support for implementing such restrictions.
Some critics have raised concerns that the efforts could run afoul of free speech protections, though one state legislator who introduced a bill to create buffer zones last month told Jewish Insider that the legislation had balanced those considerations with a need to safeguard congregants from intimidation in seeking to freely practice their religion.
“We’re not trying to stifle peaceful protests,” Menin said on Friday during a press conference held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan. “What we are trying to do is protect congregants for any house of worship, of freely being able to enter and exit without fear of intimidation or harassment.”
Jack Lobel, a spokesperson for Menin, told JI that the legislation “establishing a safe perimeter around schools and houses of worship is being drafted, and we will have more to share in the future.”
Mamdani, meanwhile, has voiced interest in exploring the establishment of buffer zones that some Jewish leaders have urged him to consider. The mayor signed an executive order on his first day in office to instruct the police commissioner and the Law Department to assess “proposals for regulation of protest activity” outside houses of worship, citing a possible buffer “of at least 15 feet and up to 60 feet from the entrance.”
In a statement shared with JI, Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani, said the mayor “is committed to fighting antisemitism, and ensuring that New Yorkers continue to be able to worship freely as well as exercise their First Amendment rights.”
“On the first day of his administration, the mayor directed the NYPD and Law Department to review the legality of a range of proposals, including those like Speaker Menin’s buffer zones proposal, and he will wait for the outcome of that review,” she added.
Jewish leaders who spoke with JI provided mixed predictions about how Mamdani would respond to the legislation, which came in addition to a range of proposals Menin announced on Friday — including $1.25 million in funding for the Museum of Jewish Heritage and a new hotline to help report incidents of antisemitism that would be overseen by the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
With the exception of Menin’s safety zones bill, one Jewish leader argued that there was “not much for” the mayor “to push back on,” calling the other new proposals “mostly monetary.”
The establishment of legally proscribed perimeters around houses of worship is “the only” issue where there is ongoing uncertainty, the Jewish leader told JI on condition of anonymity to address a sensitive topic. “But we don’t have her proposal yet,” he said of Menin’s effort, which marked the first legislative push of her new tenure.
Still, Josh Mehlman, the chairman of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, an Orthodox group in Brooklyn, said he was optimistic that the legislation would pass, noting his conversations with Menin as well as other supportive Council members indicated Mamdani would ultimately be amenable to the final version of the bill.
“It’s not something they feel that the mayor would not be happy with,” he told JI.
Julie Menin was elected the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council on Wednesday
Julie Menin/X
New York City Councilmember Julie Menin is unanimously elected Council speaker on January 7, 2026.
Julie Menin’s election on Wednesday as speaker of the New York City Council was a reassuring sign to Jewish leaders who have long seen the 58-year-old centrist Democrat as a key ally and believe that she will act as a check on Mayor Zohran Mamdani with regard to issues involving Israel and antisemitism.
In a unanimous vote, Menin, a pro-Israel lawmaker and veteran city official who lives on the Upper East Side, became the council’s first Jewish speaker, pledging in her victory speech to focus on “dissolving division” and to “calm tensions” as she prepares to work with a mayor whose hostile views on Israel have long been a defining characteristic of his political ascendance.
“We live in a day with the first Muslim mayor of New York City and now the first Jewish speaker of the council serving at the same time,” Menin said on Wednesday.
Despite the positive tone, Menin, who as speaker now holds the second-most powerful elected role in city government, is still facing the looming prospect of conflict with Mamdani over their differing stances on Israel, which has already animated their nascent relationship.
In her speech, Menin alluded to some tensions that could stoke divisions, insisting that “we must never jeopardize a New Yorker’s right to worship.”
“Because we cannot let what happened outside Park East Synagogue ever happen again, at any house of worship,” Menin said, referring to a protest outside a Manhattan synagogue in November that targeted an event about immigration to Israel and featured chants including “death to the IDF” and “globalize the intifada,” a slogan that Mamdani has refused to condemn.
Mamdani had faced intense criticism after he had admonished the synagogue for promoting what he called “activities in violation of international law,” a statement he later revised.
More recently, after Mamdani had repealed a pair of executive orders tied to Israel and antisemitism on his first day in office last week, Menin said in an interview with The New York Post that she called the mayor to voice her concerns, noting there will “obviously be continued conversation around this.”
Menin added in a separate interview with The New York Times published on Wednesday that she had a “productive conversation” with Mamdani regarding his decision to rescind an executive order issued by former Mayor Eric Adams that adopted a working definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which labels some criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
While Mamdani indicated during the election that he would seek to invalidate the order, the move triggered widespread backlash from Jewish leaders who said it raised questions over his commitment to effectively fighting antisemitism.
Menin, for her part, telegraphed a more diplomatic position to the Times, even as she had said she was “extremely concerned” by the repeals. “It’s one tool that can be utilized,” she said of the definition. “It’s obviously not the only tool.”
Her assessment underscores what Jewish leaders close to Menin characterized as an even-keeled and largely unflappable approach to governance, which could now be tested on issues she has described as intensely personal.
Menin, a daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, has long warned of rising antisemitism in New York and has advocated for increased funding to help promote Holocaust education. Menin visited Israel during a solidarity trip after the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 — after which she introduced a program to send eighth graders to the Museum of Jewish Heritage to raise awareness about the global history of antisemitism.
Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist who has served as an informal advisor to Menin, said she is “results-oriented and not focused on labels,” while predicting “she will work with the mayor when she can.”
“There may be times when they don’t agree and they will work through it,” he told Jewish Insider earlier this week, saying Menin is “more interested in results than drama.”
Yeruchim Silber, director of New York government relations at Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox advocacy group, said that Menin “has a long history of working with the Jewish community,” calling her “an important part of the [former New York Mayor Bill] de Blasio administration,” when she led efforts to promote participation in the 2020 census.
He told JI he was “confident she will be able to work collaboratively with” Mamdani’s administration “on all issues important to the community.”
Still, other related issues could emerge as a more challenging test, as Jewish leaders speculate about what actions Mamdani will take next. One point of major tension stems from the partnership between Cornell University and Israel’s Technion, which the mayor’s team had indicated during the election that he would reassess.
Menin, a staunch opponent of Israel boycotts, has praised the joint Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, which sits in her district, as a crucial hub for local tech and business innovation. “That is an area, of course, of disagreement,” Menin said last month regarding Mamdani’s skepticism of the partnership.
A spokesperson for Menin did not respond to a request for comment from JI on her differences with the mayor.
Menin and Mamdani have in recent weeks largely struck a collaborative tone, appearing at their first joint press conference on Monday to sign executive orders to counter deceptive business practices such as junk fees. Menin has emphasized a shared focus on affordability goals including universal daycare, a key priority of Mamdani’s fledgling administration.
But their courteous public relationship belies other underlying tensions. For his part, Mamdani — who never formally voiced a preference in the contest for council speaker — had privately sought to thwart Menin’s effort as she consolidated backing from a range of members and locked up a supermajority several weeks before the Jan. 1 inauguration. Last month, in a notable snub, Mamdani also did not include Menin in a group of more than 100 elected officials he picked to advise his transition.
Menin, meanwhile, declined to endorse Mamdani, and during the primary chose not to join a summer meeting he had arranged with local Jewish elected officials to address their concerns about his critical views on Israel.
Now that they are working together, some Jewish allies of Menin said they expect that she will put her differences with Mamdani aside, unless provoked to take action with regard to key issues on which she is not aligned with the mayor.
One Jewish leader close to Menin, who asked to remain anonymous to speak candidly, said the new speaker “will be willing to partner with” Mamdani’s administration “to improve the city,” but suggested that it is in the mayor’s “hands to stop doing actions that isolate and antagonize the Jewish community.”
“She is definitely of a mindset of wanting to work together but doing what he did on inauguration day was definitely viewed as a first punch,” the Jewish leader told JI, referring to the executive orders that Mamdani revoked.
Jake Dilemani, a Democratic consultant who served as an informal advisor to Menin in her 2021 Council bid, said that the speaker “is focused on governance and delivering results, and has a strong track record on affordability and consumer protection issues.”
“So, the expectation is this will be a cornerstone of her speakership and that she will work with Mayor Mamdani to put points on the board,” he told JI. “She equally has a strong record on Jewish issues and fighting antisemitism, and it is something that is very personal for her. I fully expect that she will work productively with the mayor on many issues, but will stand up to the administration should she deem it necessary.”
If elected in January, Menin would be the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Council member Julie Menin speaks during rally of 240 Holocaust survivors for 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas during terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
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.
Please log in if you already have a subscription, or subscribe to access the latest updates.
Continue with Google
Continue with Apple