Potentially carving out left lane, Bores nabs backing of Bernie Sanders-affiliated group in NY-12

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💰 Mamdani donor invested in technology allegedly used to surveil pro-Palestinian protesters

• Rami Sarafa, a wealth management CEO who donated to Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaign and served on his inaugural committee, has ties to other investments that could be “awkward” for Mamdani, Politico reports.

• Sarafa’s company, Cordoba Advisory Partners, has invested in AI technology allegedly used by police departments to surveil pro-Palestinian and Black Lives Matter protesters. Mamdani is a longtime pro-Palestinian advocate who also recently criticized the implications of AI for “human jobs” at a labor rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders.

• Sarafa gave a combined $5,800 to Mamdani’s campaign and transition committee and another $10,000 to a super PAC that backed him. He has donated to a host of other progressive, pro-Palestinian politicians, including Brad Lander and Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

🗣️ Congressional candidates talk antisemitism and anti-Zionism at synagogue event

• Democratic candidates for Congress in NY-12, the coveted Manhattan district soon to be vacated by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, grappled with the relationship between antisemitism and anti-Zionism during a forum at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on Wednesday. Our Joseph Strauss was on the scene.

• “I think there is a very real connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. They are not precisely the same thing but often when you see one you see the other,” said Micah Lasher, Nadler’s Jewish protegee.

• Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion who has led in recent polls, took a different tack. “I don’t want antisemitism and anti-Zionism to be so linked. I don’t want people assuming that, because I am Jewish, that I hold a whole host of values and set principles that I don’t,” he said.

• George Conway and Nina Schwalbe, a Jewish candidate who has trailed in the polls, also participated.

• The conversation was moderated by Rabbi Ammiel Hirsh, a leading advocate for Zionism in the city and rabbinate. Candidates also answered questions about Sanders’ recent resolution to block certain weapons sales to Israel: Schlossberg and Schwalbe were in favor, while Conway and Lasher were against it.

🏆 Alex Bores endorsed by Sanders’ group

• Alex Bores, another NY-12 candidate who missed yesterday’s forum, was endorsed by One Revolution, a political organization founded by Sanders, according to Politico.

• The alliance suggests that Bores could try to court left-leaning primary voters, a lane that widened after the Jewish pro-Palestinian advocate Cameron Kasky dropped out of the race in January.

✍️ Brooklyn teen asks neighbors what they mean by ‘Free Palestine’

• Read a high school student’s quest for conversations with pro-Palestinian activists, the latest piece from our Teen Journalism Fellowship. Asher Gershenoff spoke to his neighbors in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.