{"id":128022,"date":"2026-02-09T21:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T21:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128022\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T21:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T21:30:18","slug":"state-and-local-leaders-gather-for-qjccs-annual-legislative-breakfast-in-jamaica-estates-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128022\/","title":{"rendered":"State and local leaders gather for QJCC\u2019s annual legislative breakfast in Jamaica Estates \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"qjcc\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Several elected officials from New York State and New York City were on hand for the Queens Jewish Community Council\u2019s annual legislative breakfast on Feb. 8 at Young Israel of Jamaica Estates.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

Numerous elected officials for New York State and New York City, including many from Queens, were present for the Queens Jewish Community Council\u2019s (QJCC<\/a>) annual legislative breakfast on Sunday, Feb. 8, at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates<\/a>, located at 83-10 188th St. in Jamaica Estates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Plenty of community members were on hand for the QJCC\u2019s annual legislative breakfast. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

The event provided a great opportunity for Jewish leadership in Queens to network and discuss important issues with the elected officials in attendance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The QJCC\u2019s annual legislative breakfast brought together elected state and city officials, community leaders and community members. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

Among those on hand for the legislative breakfast were New York State Attorney General Letitia James, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, New York State Reps. Grace Meng and Tom Suozzi, former New York State Rep. and current QJCC President Barry Grodenchik, QJCC Executive Director Mayer Waxman and many others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz (left) and New York State Attorney General Letitia James (right). Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
\n\"\"<\/a>(Left to right) New York City Council Member James Gennaro, Council Speaker Julie Menin, Council Member Linda Lee and Council Member Sandra Ung. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
\n\"\"<\/a>New York City Comptroller Mark Levine (left) and New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (right). Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

Many of the elected officials addressed the attendees of QJCC\u2019s legislative breakfast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin was among those to speak at the legislative breakfast. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
\n\"\"<\/a>Rep. Tom Suozzi speaks to the crowd. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
\n\"\"<\/a>QJCC Executive Director Mayer Waxman. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will work with each and every one of you,\u201d James said. \u201cWe will make sure that people are fed. We will protect homes, protect the Jewish community and stand with the Jewish community now and forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Letitia James addresses the attendees of the QJCC\u2019s legislative breakfast. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing at how many elected officials, community leaders, people come here in order to celebrate the Queens Jewish Community Council, but also to stand in support of us,\u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Melinda Katz speaking at the legislative breakfast. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take a look at the lines that go to the QJCC food pantries, they\u2019re taking care of so many people across Queens and across the city, and that is one of the best ways to build bridges in this diverse community,\u201d Meng said. \u201cWe want our Jewish community and every faith community to celebrate their faith proudly and openly. In America, no one should live in fear of practicing their religion. That\u2019s why public safety is a top priority of mine in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rep. Grace Meng speaks at the legislative breakfast. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish community is in a place in this city that those of us in this room have never known. We need armed guards in our synagogues, in our schools. Regrettably, it is necessary to have police patrols as well. Incidents of antisemitism have soared in our borough, in our city, despite the efforts of our NYPD and our outstanding District Attorney, Melinda Katz. If you are counting antisemitic hate crimes in January, they were nearly triple what they were in January of 2025. This is not the New York City I grew up in,\u201d Grodenchik said. \u201cOur message to our elected officials, who are outstanding friends, to the Jewish community and to the media that is here today and not here, is that we are not going anywhere.\u00a0 We will not yield one inch to hate, and we are certainly not going to abandon communities that we have all worked to build up, in some cases for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>QJCC President Barry Grodenchik speaks at the organization\u2019s legislative breakfast. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several elected officials from New York State and New York City were on hand for the Queens Jewish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[55270,9,24,63,55271,122,124,28973,123,55272],"class_list":["post-128022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-legislative-breakfast","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-qjcc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-jewish-community-council","tag-queens-news","tag-young-israel-of-jamaica-estates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}