A version of this piece first ran as part of the New York Jewish Week’s daily newsletter, rounding up the latest on politics, culture, food and what’s new with Jews in the city. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
📃 Mamdani’s community safety office, part of plan to fight antisemitism, remains in limbo
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed Department of Community Safety, discussed as a key part of his plan to counter antisemitism during his campaign, was absent from the preliminary city budget he unveiled on Tuesday.
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“I’ve proposed a public safety plan that keeps Jewish New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani told JTA in October. “Our Department of Community Safety (DCS) will increase funding to combat and prevent hate crimes by 800% with an emphasis on preventing antisemitic hate crimes.”
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Funding for the department is expected to be included as the budget process continues through negotiations with the City Council up to July 1, the start of the fiscal year.
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Jewish City Council Speaker Julie Menin has objected to the preliminary budget, in which Mamdani proposed raising property taxes by 9.5% if the state government does not approve raising taxes on high-income New Yorkers and corporations.
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Mamdani is seeking to hire a new deputy mayor to run the community safety agency by this spring, reported The New York Times.
🎙 Menin’s interview with Sid Rosenberg sparks friction
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Menin debuted Wednesday on the radio show of right-wing host Sid Rosenberg, who is Jewish, to air her grievances with Mamdani’s tax proposal.
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Rosenberg — who was a top Jewish Trump surrogate in the city — took a friendly tone with Menin, calling her “sweetheart” and “the last one who can save us” from Mamdani. Last year, he called Mamdani a “terrorist” who would “be cheering” another 9/11-style attack on New York.
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After Menin faced online criticism for the interview, her spokesperson Jack Lobel told Politico that she “vehemently disagrees with Sid Rosenberg on a whole range of topics” and “strongly condemns his Islamophobic rhetoric.”
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Mamdani’s Jewish police commissioner Jessica Tisch was also recently scrutinized for having dinner with Rosenberg, who called her a “great friend.”
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When a Politico reporter asked Mamdani on Thursday whether he found Menin’s appearance on Rosenberg’s show offensive, he responded, “I will let the speaker answer about the radio show.”
🗣 DSA member grills progressive councilmember over her condemnation of Hamas
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City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, a staunch Israel critic, was questioned about having condemned Hamas during a recent Democratic Socialists of America meeting, reported Jewish Insider.
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Hanif, who has accused Israel of genocide and previously faced backlash from Jewish constituents for not denouncing Hamas until months after the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, appeared before the NYC-DSA Socialists in Office committee to seek the party’s formal endorsement.
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One participant said to Hanif, “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.” They went on to ask, “Will you fight back against that effort to repress us, or will you take part in it yourself?”
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The speaker did not cite a source. But a Harvard-Harris poll from August 2025 found that 60% of respondents ages 18-24 said they supported Hamas more than Israel, while majorities in every other age group said they supported Israel more than Hamas.
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Hanif did not directly comment on Hamas, but said, “The propaganda on antisemitism and what is antisemitism has certainly hurt our city in many, many ways.”
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Last month, she condemned the chants of protesters who said “We support Hamas” outside a Queens synagogue as “antisemitic and deeply harmful.”
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NYC-DSA told Jewish Insider that all dues-paying members had access to the forum and it did not vet questions in advance. “Individual participants and members do not reflect the positions of the organization,” said Vice Chair Grace Mausser. “We have long been on the record in condemning all war crimes and massacres.”
⚖ Jewish teacher sues U.N. school
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Nadine Sébag, a Jewish former French teacher, sued the United Nations International School in Manhattan last week for antisemitic harassment and a hostile work environment, reported The Jerusalem Post.
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The National Jewish Advocacy Center is supporting Sébag’s lawsuit, which alleges that the school ignored eight formal complaints about discriminatory treatment between 2022 and 2024, and retaliated against her for reporting it.
🏒 Israel hockey comes to NYC
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The Israel Elite Hockey League, Israel’s premier professional hockey league, is coming to the UBS Arena on Sunday. The IEHL’s USA Challenge Cup will feature HC Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Capitals, drawing local Israeli and Jewish fans.
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Long Island-born HC Tel Aviv player Jonny Lazarus told AmNY, “I think the more Jewish hockey players younger kids see, the more they feel that they belong, and they can achieve great things within the game.”
