NYC community garden that barred Zionist members will now allow them, following legal settlement

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🌱 NYC garden that barred Zionist members will now allow them

• A community garden in Ridgewood, Queens, that faced penalties from the city for demanding that members sign a “statement of values” that included opposition to Zionism, antisemitism and “nationalist and/or racist beliefs” is dropping the requirement.

• After the requirement, adopted in 2024, was revealed, the city parks department told the Sunset Community Garden last year that it violated city rules. The garden then sued the city.

• Following a settlement in that lawsuit last week, “garden members will not be required to be anti-Zionist,” a parks department spokesperson told The Times of Israel.

🎙️ Jews rally against antisemitism after vandalism spree in Queens

• Jewish residents and elected officials rallied in Queens on Sunday to denounce a wave of antisemitic graffiti, including swastikas and messages praising Hitler, across synagogues and homes in Forest Hills and Rego Park last week.

• Attendees waved Israeli flags and some speakers criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani for what they viewed as an inadequate response to antisemitism, according to AmNY.

• “He’s playing both sides of the coin, trying to make everyone happy, condemning what happened, but then basically promoting the protest outside of our own synagogues here in this city this week,” said pro-Israel influencer Zach Sage Fox, referencing a pro-Palestinian protest outside Park East Synagogue during an event on real estate sales in Israel and the West Bank. Mamdani criticized the event and supported the right to protest, while also saying that visitors should be able to freely enter the synagogue.

• Bruce Blakeman, the Republican Nassau County executive who is running for governor, also vowed to fight antisemitism in his remarks. He called Mamdani “un-American” and “antisemitic” to the New York Post.

• Police are still searching for the four people who were caught on camera leaving antisemitic graffiti in the area.

🪧 Anti-Zionist group that protested outside Park East plans rally in Brooklyn

• PAL-Awda, the anti-Zionist group that has organized two rallies outside Park East, announced another protest against an Israeli real estate event in Brooklyn today. The exact time and location were not specified online.

• The group said on Instagram that the event advertised the sale of property in the West Bank.

🏆 Comic legend Jack Kirby honored with street naming

• The Jewish comic book legend Jack Kirby, who co-created the Marvel Universe and its pantheon of superheroes, will be honored with a block of Essex Street on the Lower East Side called “Jack Kirby Way” in a street naming ceremony today.

• Kirby was born Jack Kurtzberg to Jewish immigrant parents on the Lower East Side and served in Europe during World War II. Coinciding with the street naming, an exhibition on his art, Jewish roots and cultural legacy will be on display at the Center for Jewish History in Union Square from May 11 to Nov. 30.

📚 School social worker criticized for bug comments on posts about Jews

• Jewish public education advocates have called attention to the social media posts of a social worker at Chelsea’s Landmark High School, which they say are antisemitic.

• The social worker posted emojis of bugs on videos of Orthodox Jews and made posts of her own criticizing Israel and Jews, according to the New York Post. United Jewish Teachers President Moshe Spern likened the posts to Nazi rhetoric casting Jews as vermin.

• The staffer told the Post that she was Jewish and harbored no hate. A spokesperson for the education department said hate is not tolerated among its employees.

🕯️ Remembering Abraham Foxman

• We are remembering Abraham Foxman, the longtime leader of the Anti-Defamation League and a New Yorker who defined post-Holocaust Jewish fury and forgiveness.