As Mayor Zohran Mamdani lets loose the dogs of antisemitism, will anyone stop him? Last week brought two reasons for hope, and two fronts to watch.<\/p>\n
The City Council passed Speaker Julie Menin\u2019s bill<\/a> creating \u201cbuffer zones\u201d to rein in protests outside houses of worship \u2014 over the opposition of Mamdani\u2019s closest allies, and by a veto-proof majority.<\/p>\n The bill protects the rights of all faiths, but was plainly inspired by last November\u2019s mob siege of<\/a> Manhattan\u2019s Park East Synagogue, when 200 goons harassed people trying to attend an event by Nefesh B\u2019nefesh, a Zionist group that helps Jews immigrate to Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani, still only mayor-elect, justified the harassment, having a flack explain that \u201cHe believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That \u201cactivity\u201d was supposedly helping Jews buy Muslim-owned land in the West Bank \u2014 which the event didn\u2019t do and wouldn\u2019t violate international law anyway.<\/p>\n The ban on selling to Jews anywhere in the Holy Land was an early-20th-century creation of Adolf Hitler\u2019s ally<\/a> Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, back in the 1930s; the only \u201clegal\u201d authority it\u2019s ever had is in the imagination of those who deny Israel\u2019s right to exist.<\/p>\n Of course, that includes Mamdani, though he officially \u201conly\u201d denies its right to exist as a Jewish state.<\/p>\n This is part and parcel with the thin cover the mayor layers over his antisemitism to enable the eyes-wide-shut denial of lefty Jews like ex-Comptroller Brad Lander.<\/p>\n And so they ignore his proud support for the terror-funding Holy Land Foundation<\/a>, the way he spread antisemitic conspiracy theories <\/a>\u00a0while serving in the Assembly and so on.<\/p>\n The \u201cdeniability\u201d schtick also cover his\u00a0pick of Phylisa Wisdom<\/a> \u00a0to head the Office To Combat Antisemism, she being the sort of \u201cgood Jew\u201d whose at odds with the Hasidic and Orthodox communities \u2014 i.e. those especially victimized by antisemitic attacks.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Anyway, last week\u2019s other positive sign was another harsh warning<\/a> from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Senate Health committee, this time over the \u201cGlobal Oppression and Public Health Working Group\u201d set up within the Health Department.<\/p>\n Cassidy flagged how\u00a0Health Commissioner Alister Martin had defended the \u201cworking group<\/a>\u201d \u2014 which wallows in the false claims of genocide in Gaza and minimizes Hamas\u2019 atrocities, including those of Oct. 7, 2023 \u2014 as really just an exercise in \u201cequity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The senator previously inquired about the mayor\u2019s nixing of \u00a0two Adams-era executive orders<\/a>, one blocking\u00a0city agencies from divesting from Israel and the other adopting a definition of antisemitism that rightly classifies some criticism of Israel as antisemitic. (Menin also called out<\/a>\u00a0the move.)<\/p>\n