Cornell president rejects students’ anti-Israel resolutions

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.

🚨 Orthodox Jews on board plane that crashed at LaGuardia

• The Air Canada airplane that collided with a Port Authority fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night was carrying a group of Orthodox Jews from the New York area, The New York Post reported.

• Two pilots were killed in the crash and 41 passengers and crew members were hospitalized, from 72 passengers and four crew members on board. All flights at the airport were canceled until Monday afternoon.

✍ Cornell president rejects students’ anti-Israel resolutions

• Cornell University’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, “fully and forcefully” rejected a student resolution calling to cut ties with Israel’s Technion University. Cornell and the Technion run a joint technology-focused campus on Roosevelt Island.

• Kotlikoff said in a letter last week that the resolution “fundamentally conflicts with Cornell’s principles of academic collaboration and our core commitment to academic freedom.” He added that the Technion was unduly singled out, since Cornell partners with other institutions in countries whose governments have been accused of human rights violations, “as our own has been.”

• Kotlikoff also rejected another student resolution condemning the university for hosting Israeli politician Tzipi Livni, saying it “unacceptably seeks to curtail freedom of speech on Cornell’s campus.” He accused the students of “political bias” in both resolutions.

• Kotlikoff, who is Jewish, told us last year that he was “very comfortable” with where his school stood on balancing free expression and protecting students from antisemitism, amid pressure from the Trump administration on colleges facing antisemitism allegations.

• Student groups at a wide range of universities have advanced resolutions that call for cutting ties with Israeli institutions or companies, but in almost all cases the schools have declined to act on the students’ requests.

📚 Jewish and Muslim history gets fresh treatment in NYC schools

• A new program of lessons about Jewish and Muslim American history has launched in 33 schools across NYC, with a broader rollout expected next fall, reported The New York Times.

• This effort was developed as antisemitic incidents surged nationwide and as Mamdani’s rise to power drew attention to growing Islamophobia.

• Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, who led the development of Jewish American history materials, said that too often, “the only place kids in secular schools will encounter Jews is either in education about the Holocaust or training after an antisemitic incident.”

👀 Democrats question Schumer’s Israel views

• Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are discussing how to push aside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has represented New York in Congress since 1981, reported The Wall Street Journal.

• A largely progressive group of senators and advisers have grown increasingly dissatisfied with Schumer’s leadership, saying that he favors centrist candidates over outsiders who are stoking enthusiasm in the midterm races. Some have also grumbled about the Jewish senator’s staunch support for Israel.

• Top aides complained about a remark by Schumer at a recent event held by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. In a clip that went viral, he promised to secure “all the aid that Israel needs.” The aides said this comment demonstrated how Schumer was a liability, with recent polling showing that 65% of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with Palestinians than with Israelis.

🔎 Duwaji created artwork for pro-Palestinian DSA campaign

• Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji created artwork for a pro-Palestinian campaign by the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, The New York Post reported.

• Duwaji, an artist and pro-Palestinian advocate, provided animation for the DSA’s “PalestineOnTheBallot.com” effort in 2024, which urged New Yorkers to vote for pro-Palestinian socialists.

• A slew of reporting in recent weeks has targeted Duwaji’s pro-Palestinian social media activity and her work providing an illustration for a Palestinian-American author who made antisemitic comments online, prompting an Israeli ministry to suggest banning Duwaji. Mamdani has said his wife is a “private person” with no role in his administration.

🫓 Mamdani distributes Passover food

Zohran Mamdani joined in Chasdei Lev’s Passover food distribution effort. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

• Mamdani helped load cars with Passover food for Jewish families at the annual Chasdei Lev distribution event in Brooklyn on Sunday. Julie Menin, the first Jewish leader of the NYC Council, also joined in food distribution.

🤝 Rabbi and imam host multicultural iftar

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman and Imam Rasheed Jaaber recently hosted their fifth annual multicultural iftar. (Joseph Strauss)

• Our Joseph Strauss recently went to a multicultural event hosted by Rabbi Yaacov Behrman and Imam Rasheed Jaaber. The fully kosher menu featured matzah ball soup, braised beef and dates, a traditional food for breaking the Ramadan fast.

• This was their fifth annual iftar together alongside Assemblymember Brian Cunningham, who has since been endorsed for reelection by Behrman and several other Crown Heights Jewish leaders.

• Behrman said he has received criticism for the event from members of both the Jewish and Muslim communities — but that it doesn’t bother him. “We all want the same thing: we want to live in peace, we want to bring up our families in peace, and to get along,” he said.