Mayor Zohran Mamdani vetoed a “buffer zone” bill insulating “educational facilities” from protests on Friday morning, drawing the ire of a number of Jewish organizations that supported it.
The bill, introduced by Jewish City Council member Eric Dinowitz, was part of a legislative package proposed in response to a pair of pro-Palestinian protests outside synagogues in the fall.
In a statement — and an accompanying video — Mamdani said Dinowitz’s bill, Intro 175-B, posed concerns about limiting people’s right to protest, including “college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights.”
The national student pro-Palestinian movement in 2024 had as its epicenter Columbia University in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood, where protesters gathered even after the school closed the campus to outsiders.
Mamdani’s veto appeared certain to deepen tensions between segments of the Jewish community and the mayor, whom they have heavily scrutinized over his vocal and longstanding opposition to Israel, as well as his responses to the synagogue protests.
A coalition of major Jewish organizations blasted Mamdani’s decision, calling it “deeply disappointing” and a “profound failure of City Hall to demonstrate to all New Yorkers that our safety is a priority.”
“At a time when Jewish and other communities are facing heightened threats, this legislation represented a crucial step toward ensuring every school and community institution can be better protected,” the groups wrote in a statement. Organizations that signed on included the UJA-Federation of New York, Jewish Community Relations Council, the local Anti-Defamation League branch, New York Board of Rabbis, StandWithUs, Orthodox Union, Rabbinical Assembly, Union for Reform Judaism, Teach NYS and Conference of Presidents.
Dinowitz defended his bill, saying that criticisms about it infringing on free speech or being constitutionally unsound are untrue and “not supported by the text.”
“The Mayor promised to keep New Yorkers safe and increase transparency,” Dinowitz wrote. “By vetoing this bill, he is breaking yet another campaign promise.”
Meanwhile, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, a progressive group closely allied with Mamdani, had opposed the bill and celebrated the mayor’s decision, calling it “a victory for free speech and civil liberties in New York City.”
“We are grateful to the mayor for listening to the thousands of workers, students, parents, legal experts, advocates, and communities like ours that overwhelmingly opposed this legislation due to concerns about discriminatory NYPD violence and the federal government’s crackdown on our right to protest,” said Audrey Sasson, JFREJ’s executive director.
Bend the Arc, a national progressive Jewish organization, wrote that it supports Mamdani’s veto and urges “other elected officials to follow his lead in favoring real solutions to safety and reject attacks on our civil liberties.” Similar efforts to enact buffer zone legislation are underway at the state level in New York, as well as in other parts of the country such as California.
Another bill in the legislative package, introduced by Jewish Council Speaker Julie Menin, addresses protests outside houses of worship and passed in City Council with a veto-proof supermajority.
Mamdani said in his statement that the bill’s updated language, which narrowed its “scope and effect” from the initial proposal, quelled his constitutional concerns. He wrote, however, that he disagreed with Intro 1-B’s “framing of all protest as a security concern.”
“By declining to endorse Intro 1B, the mayor further demonstrated his commitment to protecting New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights, and his refusal to endorse what is quite simply bad policy,” Sasson wrote.
Menin’s bill passed 44-5 in Council. Mamdani technically could have vetoed it, but likely to no avail, as only 34 Council members would have needed to override that veto.
Progressive advocacy group New York Jewish Agenda, whose former leader Phylisa Wisdom now heads Mamdani’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, wrote that it applauded Mamdani’s decision not to attempt a veto on Intro 1-B — but said it was “disappointed” by the veto on Dinowitz’s legislation.
“This bill represented a good faith effort to provide solutions during a tense moment in our city,” the group wrote. “We had hoped Mayor Mamdani would recognize that protecting these spaces and preserving civil liberties are not opposing values.”
Anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace wrote that it “welcomes” Mamdani’s veto, and remains “outraged with the City Council members” who voted for Menin’s bill.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter said it “commends” the mayor’s decision, and called Intro 175-B “a clear attempt to silence the Palestinian solidarity movement.”
Mamdani’s decision came a couple of days after Menin, during an appearance at 92NY, said a veto would “lead to more divisiveness when we need less divisiveness.” During the same event, Jewish Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal — who supports the legislation, but was also booed for defending Mamdani more broadly — said the veto decision would be “a big test” of the administration.
Menin defended the bill that Mamdani struck down in a statement.
“Ensuring students can exit and enter their schools without fear of harassment should not be controversial,” she wrote.
In a Pix11 interview on Friday, Menin said she will “have conversations with colleagues” about tweaking the bill in order to get Mamdani on board. City and State also reported that Menin is contemplating whipping up the necessary Council votes to override the veto, according to people familiar with her thinking.
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