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🚨 Hochul responds as antisemitic incidents top hate crimes in 2025
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Jewish New Yorkers were targeted in 330 reported hate crimes last year, more than all other groups combined, the NYPD said on Tuesday.
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The number of antisemitic incidents fell slightly from 2024, which saw a record high, but still made up 57% of all hate crimes reported to police.
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“These numbers remain far too high and antisemitism continues to be the most persistent hate threat that we face,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, at a joint press conference with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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Hochul said she will announce a policy to establish “safety zones” around houses of worship, where people can “go to a safe place without threats of violence or protest,” during her State of the State on Jan. 13.
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Jewish leaders and lawmakers have proposed similar measures since a November demonstration outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, which was hosting an event that promoted migration to Israel. Mamdani suggested that the event misused a “sacred space.”
🪧 Group behind synagogue protest plans new rallies
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Mamdani will likely face another opportunity to weigh in on such protests as the anti-Zionist group that organized the controversial rally at Park East Synagogue is holding two more this week.
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PAL-Awda says it will protest a Nefesh B’Nefesh event in Manhattan on Wednesday and an Israeli real estate event in Queens on Thursday.
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The exact locations of the events have not yet been disclosed, as pro-Israel event organizers have sought to shield their locations for security reasons.
🚓 Queens man charged for antisemitic threats online
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A Queens man faces felony hate crime charges for violent threats to Jews and Israelis on social media, reported Gothamist.
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In one post from November, 54-year-old Nathan White threatened to kill Israelis in New York, according to prosecutors.
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In another high-profile incident last month, a Brooklyn man was charged with stabbing a Jewish man after allegedly making antisemitic statements.
⚔ Rifts over the Goldman vs. Lander showdown
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Hochul and Mamdani have split over one of this year’s most-watched Democratic primaries between two Jews with different views on Israel.
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On Tuesday, Hochul endorsed Rep. Dan Goldman’s reelection bid and Mamdani backed the challenge from his progressive ally Brad Lander.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who waited for the end of the mayoral election to give Mamdani a tepid endorsement, quickly joined Goldman’s camp.
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Lander attacked Goldman over his wealth and Israel positions on Tuesday. “Heir to the Levis Strauss fortune, Dan Goldman literally chummed it up with Don Jr. on vacation in the Bahamas, praising Trump’s Israel policy,” his spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement.
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(Of note: A different Jewish Levi Strauss heir has been mayor of San Francisco since last year.)
✍ Advocate against antisemitism backs Mamdani
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Mamdani’s decision to revoke a slate of his predecessor’s executive orders, including one that formally adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, incensed some Jewish organizations. But now he has the support of a group dedicated to fighting antisemitism.
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Kevin Rachlin, a vice president at the Nexus Project, said Mamdani’s action had “sound rationale” in the Times of Israel on Monday. He said the IHRA definition has always been controversial because seven of its 11 “contemporary examples” involve Israel.
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The Nexus Project has long contended that the IHRA definition should not be treated as legally binding or used to limit speech.
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“Codifying a contested definition into law was always a bad idea — not because antisemitism isn’t real, but because there isn’t a consensus on a single definition, and the definition some groups keep trying to enshrine has serious problems,” said Rachlin.
📣 Rapaport says he’s running for mayor
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Actor Michael Rapaport, a vocal supporter of Israel and critic of Mamdani, announced he will run for mayor in 2029 — days after the current mayor was sworn in.
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“You got ‘Zohran the moron’ now. But have no fear, Mayor Rapaport will be here,” Rapaport said on Instagram.
