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What you need to know today
- Mamdani’s chat with Theo Von: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani sat down for an interview with “manosphere” podcaster Theo Von released yesterday. Von, who was at Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration and has interviewed JD Vance and Tucker Carlson in the last year, differs from Mamdani politically in a number of areas. But the pair were unified in accusing Israel of genocide and in their sharp criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- NYT turns 175: As The New York Times turns 175 years old, JTA’s Andrew Silow-Carroll writes about renewed debates over the newspaper’s coverage of Israel — and American Jews’ love/hate relationship with “the Gray Lady.”
- New York magazine editor responds to Jewish leaders: In other NYC publication news: Weeks after fielding concerns from Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish leaders about New York magazine’s “Habibi City” package, editor-in-chief David Haskell vowed “to publish journalism that’s both accurate and empathic about the Jewish experience,” while declining to add a correction, Jewish Insider reports. The package celebrated New Yorkers with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, and critics said it was dismissive of the culinary offerings of Jews from those parts of the world.
- ‘NAZA’ protests to resume in the Hamptons: One week after “NAZA” made its U.S. premiere at Lincoln Center — drawing a sold out crowd and protests — the documentary about Israel’s actions in Gaza is playing at the Hamptons International Film Festival on Long Island. The Israeli-American Council and EndJewHatred are organizing protests outside screenings tomorrow and next Friday.
- Protesters disrupt Mahmoud Khalil book event: A small group of protesters disrupted an event with Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian Columbia University protest leader who was detained by ICE last year. Khalil was reading from his new memoir “No Land to Stand On.” Ross Glick, who was executive director of the group Betar US before it officially disbanded following a civil rights settlement, was among the demonstrators. Protesters wielded an Israeli-American flag inside Book Culture, the Morningside Heights bookstore that hosted the event, and called for Khalil to be deported.
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