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Groups that support and oppose a bill establishing buffer zones around houses of worship showed up for the proposal’s first contentious hearing in the New York City Council this morning.
About 100 protesters, including members of anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Shoresh, and left-wing group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, rallied outside City Hall over free speech concerns. The bill was introduced by Julie Menin after two pro-Palestinian protests targeted synagogues hosting Israel-related events in the city.
Menin initially proposed a buffer zone of up to 100 feet around houses of worship, but stripped out any reference to distance after NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch expressed “concerns.”
Menin told reporters on Tuesday that Tisch has now “indicated that she does support the bill” after the council “incorporated the changes that she had, specifically changes related to giving the NYPD the discretion that they need to be able to address protests.” NYPD officials are testifying in favor of the bill.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani remains undecided after saying that his law department is reviewing the bill. “This version of the legislation is significantly different than the Speaker’s original proposal,” Mamdani spokesperson Sam Raskin said to Politico, adding that Mamdani looks forward to “seeing the final version of the legislation.”
A statewide proposal of buffer zones from Gov. Kathy Hochul has also ignited a free speech debate. In Canada, a similar bill has faced resistance from both pro-Palestinian groups and pro-Israel Jewish conservatives.
Republican councilmember Vickie Paladino is again under fire for “Islamophobic” remarks after a social media post about Mamdani’s chief immigration officer, Faiza Ali.
“New York is under foreign occupation. There’s really no other way to put it,” Paladino said on X about Ali, who was appointed last week. “Does this administration have one single actual American in it?”
Ali, who was born in Brooklyn, is a longtime progressive ally of Mamdani and worked with him on the board of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York. She is a pro-Palestinian advocate who also spent time working for the progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc.
Paladino is already being investigated by the council’s ethics committee for Islamophobic posts in December. After Sydney’s mass shooting at a Hanukkah event, she called for the “expulsion of Muslims from western nations.” She has also called for Mamdani’s deportation.
Menin told Gothamist on Monday that she has directed the committee to expedite the Paladino probe. She decried the post about Ali on her own X account, saying, “This Islamophobic rhetoric is deeply offensive, especially on the eve of Ramadan. I condemn it in the strongest terms.”