NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — Mayor Mamdani is facing criticism from the Jewish Community, this time over his appointment of an 18-person committee that will advise him on his judicial nominations.<\/p>\n
Not one person out of the 18 people he picked is Jewish.<\/p>\n
Now Jewish groups are blasting the Mayor.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani has insisted that he will be a mayor for all New Yorkers.<\/p>\n
But the mayor appointed a City Hall advisory committee to recommend judicial appointments, an 18-member panel that reflects the broad diversity of New York-except that it doesn’t have a single Jewish member.<\/p>\n
The city’s Jewish bar associations sent the mayor a letter in protest.<\/p>\n
“Excluding Jewish representation from this committee is neither reflective nor inclusive. It follows a troubling pattern that has left many Jewish New Yorkers feeling increasingly marginalized,” it said in part.<\/p>\n
Chairing the committee is Ali Najmi, the mayor’s election lawyer, who appeared with Mamdani in this lighthearted video during the campaign.<\/p>\n
The Mamdani team considered one retired Jewish judge, John Leventhal, but rejected him.<\/p>\n
“When informed that Mr. Leventhal served on Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team,” said the mayor’s spokesman, “the Mamdani administration chose not to move forward with his appointment. Any suggestion that the decision was motivated by religion is false.”<\/p>\n
It all comes amid concerns within the city’s Jewish community over Mamdani’s threats to arrest the Israeli prime minister, the stabbing of a Jewish man on the Upper West Side and a rising tide of antisemitism, which the mayor has condemned.<\/p>\n
“He needs to to take a hard look at the actions that he’s taking and engage in something tangible to show that he is he is addressing the concerns of the Jewish community, that he is responsive to the concerns of the Jewish community, and this feels like a step backwards,” ADL NY\/NJ Regional Director Scott Richman said.<\/p>\n
Both the ADL and the Jewish bar associations are urging the mayor to reconsider.<\/p>\n
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News<\/p>\n