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.
☘️ Gaza looms over St. Patrick’s Day
-
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first St. Patrick’s Day in office has already included a heavy dose of the Middle East.
-
Mamdani hosted Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first female president, for breakfast at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday. He dedicated a significant portion of his remarks to Robinson’s advocacy for Palestinians and Ireland’s history of solidarity with Palestinians.
-
“As we’ve witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many,” said Mamdani, adding that Robinson “has never been silent” in standing “steadfast alongside the people of Palestine.” He further praised Robinson’s decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland and her advocacy for climate action, workers and reproductive rights.
-
Mamdani linked Robinson’s pro-Palestinian activism to her country’s experience of British imperial rule. “The story of the Irish, both in Ireland and in New York City, is at one time a story of oppression, of subjugation and of discrimination — as we know it was on Irish soil [that] the British Empire developed their colonial project,” Mamdani said.
-
In her own comments, Robinson also noted “echoes of Ireland’s past in the suffering of others today.” She said the Irish gathered to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day while “we know others are living under the shadow of war and suffering, in Iran, in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and too many other places.”
-
Marc Treyger, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, rejected Mamdani’s characterization of history on social media. “The same British colonialism that impacted Ireland also extended into the Middle East where, after WWI, both Jews and Arabs lived under British rule through the League of Nations mandate system,” he tweeted. “If we’re invoking the Middle East and British colonialism at a St. Patrick’s Day gathering in NYC, then we owe people the full historical context.”
-
Mamdani is attending the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. It’s his second march as mayor following the Lunar New Year parade, though he said during the election that he would likely “miss a lot” of parades. Mamdani has said he does not intend to join the Israel Day parade, managed by the JCRC, in May.
🤝 Mamdani meets with Orthodox leaders
-
Mamdani hosted his first roundtable of Orthodox Jewish leaders on Monday. The 45-minute conversation focused on affordable housing, childcare and efforts to combat antisemitism, according to his antisemitism czar Phylisa Wisdom.
-
Rabbi Moshe Indig, a Satmar sect leader who endorsed Mamdani, said he told the mayor that “we appreciate your partnership & friendship.”
🪧 ICE releases Columbia protester
-
Leqaa Kordia, the last person still detained in the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests, was released by ICE on Monday.
-
Kordia, who is Palestinian, has been held in an immigration detention center in Texas since she was arrested for her involvement in a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University in March 2024.
-
Kordia’s release came weeks after Mamdani petitioned President Donald Trump on her behalf. Mamdani celebrated on X, saying, “I am grateful that Leqaa has been released this evening from ICE custody after more than a year in detention for speaking up for Palestinian rights.”
-
Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji, an artist who has been scrutinized for her pro-Palestinian platform on social media, also praised the development on Instagram. She posted a photo of Kordia, thanked God in Arabic and wrote, “1 year later Leqaa Kordia is free!!”
🏳️🌈 New LGBTQ office leader attended Yeshiva University’s law school
-
Taylor Brown, the former New York state attorney general for civil rights and a graduate of Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, has been appointed to lead Mamdani’s newly established Mayor’s Office for LGBTQIA+ affairs. She is the highest-ranking trans person in the NYC government.
-
In March 2025, Brown posted support for the pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on her LinkedIn account shortly after he was detained and targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.
📚 Jewish teachers criticize school training by Muslim rights group
-
Jewish teachers are criticizing the NYC public schools system for allowing the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group that is harshly critical of Israel, to lead a session at a Queens high school.
-
CAIR’s New York chapter conducted a “Hate Crime and Bystander Intervention Training” at Townsend Harris High School in February.
-
“CAIR-NY is a political entity that doesn’t hide their hatred of Israel and promotes antisemitism,” United Jewish Teachers president Moshe Spern said to 5 Towns Central, adding that it “comes as no surprise that their first school appearance comes six weeks after Mamdani takes office.” Spern said his Jewish teachers’ group called for public schools to cut all formal ties with CAIR-NY.
Jewish stories matter, and so does your support. The New York Jewish Week brings you the stories behind the headlines, keeping you connected to Jewish life in New York. Help sustain the reporting you trust by donating today.
