Goldman and Lander clash over Israel in first joint campaign appearance

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🗣️ Goldman and Lander clash over Israel

• Rep. Dan Goldman and his Democratic primary challenger Brad Lander on Wednesday spent much of their first joint appearance this campaign season sparring about Israel. The two Jewish Democrats were speaking during a WNYC forum hosted by Jewish radio host Brian Lehrer.

• Both Goldman and Lander said they would have voted against a boycott of Israeli products that was passed by the Park Slope Food Coop on Tuesday. But they cited different reasons for opposing a boycott, with Goldman describing antisemitism among advocates for the boycott and Lander rejecting that characterization.

• Goldman referenced a coop member who lamented “Jewish supremacy” during a recent coop meeting. “ When you start hearing in the debate about this kind of thing, the concept of ‘Jewish supremacism,’ which is an old, antisemitic trope used by David Duke and the Klan, then we are getting away from whatever the objective is to oppose the Israeli government,” he said.

• Lander said the vote for a boycott was not antisemitic, even though he did not support it. “ Most members abhor what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank, and as U.S. taxpayers, they feel complicit in genocide because Dan Goldman keeps voting to send billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Israel,” he said. Lander, who led by 34 points in a recent poll, has positioned himself as a stronger critic of Israel than his opponent.

• Meanwhile, Goldman said during the forum that they were not all that different. “We are both progressive Zionists who believe in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and we both support a two-state solution to bring peace to the region,” he said. “It’s disappointing to me that he’s using this dog whistle attack, when in reality we really do share the same core principles.”

✍️ Jewish Majority demands Mamdani act on antisemitism

• The Jewish Majority, a coalition of pro-Israel rabbis and cantors that formed last year and opposed Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his campaign, released an open letter on Wednesday demanding that Mamdani take actions against antisemitism.

• The letter called on Mamdani “to support legislation designed to better protect vulnerable Jewish institutions, to denounce rhetoric that demonizes Zionists, and to unequivocally condemn, not merely discourage, calls to globalize the intifada.” It was signed by 1,300 Jewish New Yorkers.

🔎 Muslim NYC Council member condemns anti-Mamdani Muslim activists

• Shahana Hanif, a member of the New York City Council, is under fire for saying that two Muslim women who attended a Jewish-led protest against Mamdani should go to “Jahannam,” the concept of hell in Islam.

• Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the Council, was responding on X to Anila Ali, the president of a group called the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council. Ali said that she and a board member were joining a protest outside Gracie Mansion organized by EndJewHatred, a pro-Israel group, to “protest @NYCMayor’s refusal to stop religious freedom violations against the Jewish people, their intimidation and harassment under his leadership.”

• “May Allah condemn you to Jahannam,” Hanif posted. She was criticized online by commentators including Rabbi Elchanan Poupko, who said that Hanif “crossed a red line” and was “using religion for targeted harassment against a Muslim woman.”

💼 Museum of Jewish Heritage taps new leader

• The Museum of Jewish Heritage announced today that it was appointing Tali Farhadian, an Iranian-Jewish former federal prosecutor, as its next CEO. Farhadian will take the helm on Sept. 8, succeeding Jack Kliger.

• Farhadian told us in 2020 that she has spent significant time in Israel, where many Iranian Jews in her family ended up. She wrote her thesis at Oxford University about the literature of Jews from the Arab world.

• The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack on Tuesday. “Houses of worship, businesses, and community institutions should never be targeted because of their faith, ethnicity, or perceived national origin,” the group said in a statement.

🥯 Jews rally for vandalized bagel shop

• Jewish community members and allies rallied today in support of Bagels & Co., a kosher restaurant that was vandalized last Friday. The event was organized by IMPACT, a nonprofit focused on combating antisemitism.

• “This is not just about one business — it’s about showing the Jewish community, our allies, and all New Yorkers that intimidation and antisemitism will not divide us,” IMPACT CEO Aaron Herman told JTA in a statement.

🪧 Eric Adams says he will go to Israel Day Parade

• Mamdani repeated during a press conference on Thursday that he will not be at the Israel Day Parade in Manhattan — but his predecessor will be.

• “I’ll be right there, marching with tens of thousands of New Yorkers,” former Mayor Eric Adams said in a video. He added that the parade “means even more at a time when antisemitism is rising across our country and Jewish New Yorkers are facing hatred, intimidation and attacks at unprecedented levels.”