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🎙 Mamdani backs AOC’s pledge against military aid for Israel
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s promise to vote against any military aid to Israel, including defensive aid, during a press conference last week. Ocasio-Cortez received an endorsement from the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s party, after making the commitment.
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“I support what the congresswoman said,” said Mamdani, adding that he had encouraged the endorsement and considered her an “inspiration.” Mamdani is a longtime and vociferous critic of Israel.
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Ocasio-Cortez also doubled down on her position on X, saying, “The Israeli government is well able to fund the Iron Dome system, which has proven critical to keep innocent civilians safe from rocket attacks and bombardment.”
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Mamdani’s comment came as Israelis began celebrating Passover under heavy fire from both Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli officials say the Iron Dome and other air defense systems have intercepted 92% of missiles aimed at the country since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28.
🚨 Suspect indicted for beating a Jewish man on the subway
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The Brooklyn district attorney’s office indicted a man on Wednesday for “brutally assaulting” a Jewish man on a Brooklyn train in “an unprovoked and senseless act of anti-Semitic hate,” reported The Times of Israel.
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Neil Hurlock is accused of following the victim onto a train, punching him in the face several times and throwing him onto subway seats. He also allegedly called the man, who was wearing a kippah and reading a religious text, a “f—ing Jew.” He was charged with assault, menacing, robbery and aggravated harassment as hate crimes.
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on Thursday that 55% of confirmed hate crimes in New York City this year so far have been antisemitic. She announced the NYPD will now publish two sets of hate crime figures, separating reported and confirmed crimes, after a shift away from reported crimes angered some Jewish New Yorkers.
🚗 Jewish security group launches street patrols
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The Community Security Service, a Jewish nonprofit that trains volunteers to protect synagogues and Jewish events, has launched a new street patrol program in NYC.
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These patrols, known as Mobile Protection Units, are monitoring parts of Manhattan and the Bronx with high Jewish populations, reported The Times of Israel. CSS plans to expand the program to other cities.
⚖ Man convicted in 1979 slaying of Brooklyn rabbi is ‘actually innocent,’ judge rules
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A judge has vacated the conviction of Carl Miller, who served 30 years in prison after being convicted of murdering Rabbi David Okunov in Brooklyn. The judge said Miller is “actually innocent” of the crime.
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This ruling means that Okunov’s murder is unlikely ever to be solved. The rabbi, who had moved to the United States from the Soviet Union three years earlier, was killed while walking to morning prayer services in Crown Heights. He was robbed of his prayer shawl and tefillin.
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Miller, a Black man who was 19 at the time, always maintained his innocence. Okunov was murdered during a time of rising tensions between the Black and Jewish communities in Crown Heights, which hosts the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s headquarters.
✍ Mamdani wishes Rikers Island inmates ‘Chag Pesach Sameach’
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When 150 inmates of Rikers Island attended Passover seders on Wednesday night, they found copies of a printed letter from Mayor Zohran Mamdani on their seats.
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The letter wished them a “Chag Pesach Sameach” and likened their plights to those of Jews in the Passover exodus story. “Like the Jewish people in Egypt, you too hold fast to your faith in the face of the unknown,” Mamdani’s letter read. “And like the Jewish people in Egypt, you do so while often wrestling with bitter feelings of loneliness and despair.”
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The letter came as the mayor faces scrutiny from segments of the city’s Jewish community over his views on Israel and continued alignment with pro-Palestinian protesters. Days earlier, Mamdani’s attendance at a Manhattan seder sparked some tense moments and led the Israeli-American comedian Modi Rosenfeld to cancel his appearance.
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Rabbi Abby Stein, a progressive activist and Mamdani supporter, led a women’s seder at Rikers Island on Wednesday and called it “one of the most meaningful seders” she had experienced. “True liberation will only come with this place closed down,” she wrote. “Until then, we will keep showing up.”
🚇 ‘Subway seder’ takes MTA
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Some subway-goers last week shared their commute with a seder, complete with tables of matzah and passengers singing Passover songs. The third annual “subway seder” was organized Israeli-American rapper Kosha Dillz, dressed as Moses.
🗣 Mahmoud Khalil seeks recusal of judge who enforced crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists
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Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and leading pro-Palestinian activist who is fighting a deportation case, has asked federal judge Emil Bove to recuse himself from the case. Bove was a top official in the Justice Department during President Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
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Bove ordered an investigation of Columbia student protesters, according to The New York Times. He reportedly pushed prosecutors to obtain a membership list of Columbia University Apartheid Divestment, a coalition of student groups, to be shared with immigration agents.
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