Jewish New Yorkers, who make up about 10% of the city’s population, were the victims of nearly 70% of all confirmed hate crimes in July, according to newly released NYPD data.

Police recorded 23 anti-Jewish hate crimes last month—a 53% increase from July 2025—accounting for the overwhelming majority of the city’s 33 confirmed bias offenses. Year-to-date, anti-Jewish incidents make up 57% of all confirmed hate crimes in New York City.

“I remain deeply concerned by the unacceptable spike in hate crimes, particularly those targeting Jewish New Yorkers,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin said, pledging to continue fighting antisemitism.

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President Isaac Herzog launched a blistering attack on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of fueling antisemitic hate and endangering one of the world’s largest Jewish communities.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Herzog said Mamdani “does not respect my nation’s right to self-determination… the Jewish people’s inherent right to have a nation of their own,” accusing him of spreading “blasphemy, hate, and antisemitic rhetoric.”

“He should understand that he’s risking the safety, well-being, and lives of his own citizens,” Herzog warned, adding that such rhetoric “cannot be accepted in New York.”

Herzog also praised President Donald Trump’s support for Israel, described Iran as the driving force behind global terrorism, and reiterated that Hamas must be fully disarmed before any lasting peace in Gaza can be achieved.

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As anti-Israel rhetoric grows louder in American politics, one commentator argues that history offers a sobering warning—and asks whether New York is witnessing the early stages of a dangerous trend that extends far beyond Israel.

By Dr. Bruce Portnoy

All the while, and try as I might, I cannot locate any independent corroboration—outside of Hamas, Qatar, or Iran/IRGC-approved sources—for many of the allegations advanced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, particularly regarding the Palestinian death toll and the dire conditions he attributes to Israel’s actions.

Although Mayor Mamdani may appear persuasive and confident, I fear he may be in the early stages of a calculated effort to test the waters—determining the most effective way to foment further hatred and instability directed at Israel and its leaders, while also exploring what it may take to ultimately destabilize America from the inside out.

I find it difficult to believe that Mayor Mamdani is unaware that his rhetoric can trickle down to embolden attacks against Jews in New York City, spread outward across the country, and ultimately influence the fate of Jewish communities around the world.

To me, this bears a troubling resemblance to the organized tactics employed by the Nazis, who gradually seduced the “useful idiots” of their day.

Beginning in Germany and Austria during the 1920s and 1930s, they spread relentless propaganda that manipulated frustrated, angry, and gullible populations into embracing hatred of the Jews.

Those efforts ultimately culminated in the near annihilation of European Jewry—six million murdered, including 1.5 million helpless children—and left much of Europe morally and economically devastated.

Could it be that the evil once fostered under Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime is reemerging in a different form under New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, gaining momentum in other “sanctuary cities” under the banner of “Democratic Socialism”?

Could promises of lower rents and reduced living costs serve as a modern-day Pied Piper, enticing people to surrender not only their votes but, ultimately, their moral judgment?

Are segments of America being subtly groomed for sedition without even realizing it, under the umbrella of Democratic Socialism?

What will it take for America to wake up?

Perhaps the realization that, in the not-too-distant future, the nation may be forced to choose between assimilation and annihilation.

Canada, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Norway, the rest of Europe, Asia, and other susceptible nations should also take heed.

The same techniques of cultivating hatred toward the Jewish people could ultimately lead to profound moral, social, and financial consequences for their own societies as well.

Dr. Bruce Portnoy, O.D. (Ret.), USA, is an opinion journalist, independent analyst, and author.

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Man convicted after repeatedly ramming his car into hasidic movement’s headquarters sentenced to time served, enabling him to be released from jail next week.

By World Israel News Staff

A federal judge has sentenced a New Jersey man who repeatedly drove his car into the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn to six months and one week in prison, rejecting prosecutors’ request to keep him incarcerated for eight additional months.

Dan Sohail, 36, had already spent approximately six months in custody by Wednesday’s sentencing and is expected to be released within about a week. US District Judge Eric Vitaliano also ordered him to pay approximately $19,000 in restitution for damage to the landmark Jewish institution at 770 Eastern Parkway.

Sohail pleaded guilty in May to intentionally damaging religious property. Federal sentencing guidelines reportedly called for a sentence of around six months, although the offense carried a statutory maximum of three years in prison.

Vitaliano rejected the Justice Department’s argument that a longer sentence was necessary to deter attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions amid rising antisemitic incidents in New York.

The judge said he was “somewhat saddened” that prosecutors appeared to be relying on the public’s initial perception that the incident was an antisemitic attack. He said the ramming had first been portrayed as an “I-hate-the-Jews crime, or, worse, an act-of-terrorism crime,” despite evidence that Sohail had been attempting to join or form a connection with the Jewish community.

Prosecutors had pointed to New York Police Department statistics showing that 80 of the city’s 146 reported hate-crime incidents since the beginning of the year had targeted Jews or Jewish institutions.

Vitaliano, however, cited a psychiatric evaluation and said Sohail’s mental-health problems “played an important role” in his actions.

“This is a sad tale,” the judge said.

Sohail’s defense attorney, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, said in court papers that her client suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder connected to a traumatic childhood. She said he had sought a sense of belonging through Judaism and had previously received a warm reception from rabbinical students at Chabad headquarters.

According to the defense, Sohail danced with members of the community and traveled to Israel after being encouraged to do so. His behavior reportedly became increasingly erratic and anxious following his return to the US, and the defense characterized the eventual ramming as an irrational attempt to obtain help rather than an expression of hostility toward Jews.

Sohail did not address the court during the sentencing hearing but thanked the judge after the sentence was announced. The judge said Sohail required continued psychological treatment and did not appear to harbor hatred toward Jews.

The attack occurred on the evening of January 28, when dozens of people were gathered at Chabad headquarters for events connected to the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson assuming leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

According to federal prosecutors, Sohail arrived at a side entrance, got out of his vehicle and moved protective barriers that had been placed outside the building. He then motioned for nearby congregants to move away before returning to the car.

Sohail accelerated into the entrance, reversed and struck the building four more times. The impacts knocked a door from its hinges and badly damaged the front of his Honda Accord. No one was injured.

The incident initially sparked fears of an antisemitic terrorist attack. The New York Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force opened an investigation, and police increased security around synagogues and other houses of worship.

Investigators subsequently learned that Sohail had previously visited Chabad institutions and was seeking information about Judaism. Police said video showed him enthusiastically dancing with Orthodox Jewish men at the Brooklyn headquarters during an earlier visit.

Sohail reportedly told investigators that he had recently learned he might have Jewish ancestry and wanted to explore Jewish traditions. His father also told reporters that Sohail had considered converting to Judaism and had a history of psychological problems.

Nevertheless, Sohail’s actions on January 28 were clearly deliberate. Authorities said he removed barriers, warned people to get out of the way and repeatedly accelerated into the doorway. He initially claimed that he had lost control of the vehicle because he was wearing “clunky boots,” according to police.

When Sohail pleaded guilty, the Justice Department described the incident as an attack on religious freedom and emphasized that the building was not merely a local synagogue but the international center of the Chabad movement.

“By pleading guilty today, the defendant admitted that he intentionally damaged the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, a globally significant Jewish religious institution,” US Attorney Joseph Nocella said at the time.

Vitaliano’s sentence effectively accepted the defense’s position that Sohail should be punished for the serious property damage he caused but should not receive a sentence intended for an antisemitic attacker when the evidence did not establish an anti-Jewish motive.

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Additionally, the survey points to significant dissatisfaction with the state’s direction, with just 39 percent of respondents approving of Hochul’s job performance, while 56 percent disapprove.

By Corey Walker, The Algemeiner

A newly released survey suggests New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s re-election campaign may be facing stronger headwinds than previously believed, with Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman trailing by just four percentage points in a contest that could hold significant implications for a local Jewish community polarized by the Mamdani administration in New York City (NYC).

The poll, conducted by Red Oak Strategic for the pro-Blakeman Strong and Safe super PAC, found Hochul receiving 47 percent support among registered voters, compared with 43 percent for Blakeman, while 10 percent remain undecided.

The findings stand in contrast to several earlier public polls that showed the Democratic incumbent holding a considerably wider advantage.

Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, has emerged as one of New York’s most outspoken supporters of Israel.

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, he has repeatedly defended Israel’s right to self-defense, strengthened security cooperation with Jewish communities on Long Island, and positioned himself as a vocal opponent of rising antisemitism.

His campaign has also emphasized public safety, combating violent crime, and resisting what he describes as increasingly radical policies coming from Albany.

Blakeman has condemned Brad Lander, the Democratic Congressional nominee for the 10th district of New York City, for his repeated condemnations of Israel’s defensive military operations in Gaza.

“I mean, this is a guy who embraces people who will not admit the atrocities that occurred on October 7th. He stands with people who say, “River to the sea,” basically to eradicate the Jewish state of Israel. He is someone who denigrates people who feel the same way that I do, that Israel should have a right to exist as a Jewish state,” Blakeman said in a June discussion with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“The State of Israel is a democracy. They have human rights. They have an independent judiciary. They have religious freedom,” Blakeman said, denying that the Jewish state has engaged in “genocide” against the people of Gaza.

Blakeman has also criticized Mamdani for overturning orders signed by his predecessor, Eric Adams, which banned city agencies from participating in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS). He called Mamdani’s actions an “injustice” to the Jewish community.

Additionally, the survey points to significant dissatisfaction with the state’s direction. Just 39 percent of respondents approve of Hochul’s job performance, while 56 percent disapprove.

Additionally, 61 percent said it is time for new leadership rather than another term for the incumbent governor.

A majority also believe New York is on the wrong track, with inflation, the cost of living, the economy, and public safety ranking among voters’ top concerns.

Blakeman appears to be performing particularly well among independent voters, leading Hochul by a substantial margin in that group, according to the poll.

Republicans also reportedly show significantly greater enthusiasm about the election than Democrats, though the Democratic Party continues to hold a sizable voter registration advantage statewide.

A potential Blakeman administration could use state powers to shape policy on issues tied to antisemitism and Israel.

Blakeman has pledged to push for statewide adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, increase funding for security at synagogues, Jewish schools, and community centers, and direct state agencies to more aggressively investigate and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.

His administration could also strengthen enforcement of New York’s anti-discrimination laws on college campuses and in state-funded institutions, review state contracts and investments to ensure compliance with laws discouraging boycotts of Israel, and use the governor’s public platform to challenge policies advanced by New York City leaders that he argues contribute to hostility toward Jewish communities.

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A federal jury finds Salman Rushdie’s attacker guilty of terrorism charges that could keep him imprisoned for life.

By World Israel News Staff

A dual Lebanese American citizen who stabbed author Salman Rushdie in an attempt to carry out a decades-old Islamic fatwa calling for the writer’s death was convicted Wednesday on federal terrorism charges, a verdict that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Hadi Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year sentence in New York state prison after being convicted last year of attempted murder for the 2022 knife attack on Rushdie during a literary event in western New York.

On Wednesday, however, Matar was also found guilty in federal court of providing material support to a terrorist organization and committing an act of terrorism that transcended national boundaries, according to a report by The New York Times. The convictions carry the possibility of decades of additional prison time, potentially ensuring that Matar never regains his freedom.

His sentencing on the federal charges is scheduled for November 2026.

Federal prosecutors argued that Matar’s attack was not simply an isolated act of violence, but one inspired by Hezbollah and rooted in the long-running campaign to enforce the fatwa issued against Rushdie following the publication of The Satanic Verses.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch, Matar was motivated by a 2006 speech delivered by the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who urged Muslims around the world to carry out the fatwa by killing Rushdie.

“The defendant decided no one was going to do it, so he had to do it,” Lynch said during his closing argument, according to Buffalo News.

“The defendant is the one who answered that call.”

Throughout the trial, Matar’s attorneys did not dispute that he had stabbed Rushdie. Instead, they argued that prosecutors failed to prove the attack was carried out on behalf of a terrorist organization or was motivated by terrorism under federal law.

The defense also contended that heightened tensions surrounding the ongoing conflict involving Iran had made it difficult for Matar to receive a fair trial before an impartial jury. Following the guilty verdict, his attorney said the conviction would be appealed.

Rushdie survived the attack but suffered life-altering injuries, including the loss of sight in one eye and lasting damage to his hand.

The post Salman Rushdie’s fatwa stabber convicted on federal terror charges appeared first on World Israel News.

The administration has defended the appointments by saying the committee was assembled to represent a broad range of legal backgrounds and perspectives while making the judicial-selection process more transparent.

By Corey Walker, The Algemeiner

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism from prominent Jewish legal organizations after appointing an 18-member judicial advisory committee without a single Jewish member, an omission critics say reflects a broader pattern of marginalizing the city’s Jewish community.

The Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary screens and recommends candidates for appointment to New York City courts.

Jewish attorneys served on the panel under previous administrations, but none were included in Mamdani’s newly constituted committee.

A coalition of Jewish legal organizations condemned the appointments, arguing that the omission excludes one of New York’s largest religious and ethnic communities from an influential body responsible for shaping the city’s judiciary.

“Your recent announcement of appointees to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary has left us deeply disappointed,” the groups wrote.

“Not a single Jewish attorney, former judge, or legal professional was appointed to a committee your administration described as one that would be ‘truly reflective of New York City.’”

The coalition said the appointments were part of “a troubling pattern” that has left many Jewish New Yorkers feeling increasingly marginalized, citing Mamdani’s rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and the omission of Jewish neighborhoods from an administration map highlighting immigrant enclaves.

The groups argued that Jewish representation on the committee is particularly important amid elevated levels of antisemitic violence in the city.

They pointed to a recent attack on the Upper West Side in which two people, one visibly Jewish, were stabbed without apparent provocation.

Police are investigating claims that the assailant shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.

Anti-Jewish offenses continued to dominate New York City’s hate-crime statistics during the first half of 2026.

The NYPD recorded 178 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes, accounting for 55.3 percent of all confirmed hate crimes citywide, even though Jews comprise roughly 10 percent of the city’s population.

By comparison, police recorded 21 anti-Muslim hate crimes and 33 targeting people on the basis of sexual orientation. Anti-Jewish incidents therefore outnumbered anti-Muslim incidents by more than eight to one.

City Hall has not suggested that Jewish candidates were excluded because of their religion.

The administration has defended the appointments by saying the committee was assembled to represent a broad range of legal backgrounds and perspectives while making the judicial-selection process more transparent.

The dispute is likely to intensify scrutiny of Mamdani’s relationship with New York’s Jewish community.

Throughout his political career, he has drawn criticism from pro-Israel organizations over his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and his repeated accusations that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.

Mamdani has also declined to affirm that Israel should continue to exist as a Jewish state.

During his mayoral campaign, he initially resisted condemning the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” which many Jews regard as an incitement to violence, before later saying he would discourage activists from using it.

The absence of Jewish legal professionals from the committee could further complicate Mamdani’s efforts to improve his standing among Jewish voters.

Seventy-two percent of Jewish New Yorkers disapproved of his performance in a Honan Strategy Group poll conducted in June.

For the legal organizations challenging the appointments, the issue extends beyond politics.

They argue that meaningful diversity must include religious diversity and that excluding Jewish attorneys from a committee evaluating judicial candidates undermines confidence that the city’s institutions reflect the communities they serve.

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Relatives of 9/11 victims are demanding that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani be barred from attending this year’s 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero, arguing that his record and rhetoric make his presence an insult to those killed in the attacks.

The petition, signed by more than 1,100 people, cites Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” along with his ties to controversial figures and past statements and endorsements that families say show sympathy toward extremists and disrespect for victims of terrorism.

“Our objection is based on his public record… and his support for or association with individuals who have minimized 9/11, defended terrorists, or even suggested America ‘deserved’ the attacks,” said organizer Giovanni Galante, whose wife was killed on September 11. “This day is sacred to us… His presence would be deeply hurtful and inappropriate—like an unwelcome guest at a deeply personal ceremony.”

Mamdani’s office said he will attend the memorial despite the backlash, while the 9/11 Memorial & Museum said the annual ceremony is intended to remain nonpartisan and focused solely on honoring those lost in the attacks.

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Some critics of Mamdani have tied the attack to the New York City mayor’s sharp criticism of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

By Joseph Strauss, JTA

An assailant on Thursday stabbed two victims, one of whom was visibly Jewish, in an area of Manhattan’s Upper West Side known for its Jewish institutions.

Police said two male victims, aged 57 and 50, were in stable condition and being treated for stab wounds to the torso. One was Jewish and one was Asian, police said.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Thursday evening that the force had arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales in connection with both assaults and that he had yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks, according to multiple witnesses and a victim.

“The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime,” Tisch said, noting, “Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine motive.” No other assailants are being sought.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz of the neighborhood’s Congregation Ohab Zedek told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that one of the victims was a congregant who is visibly Jewish and wears a kippah.

Schwartz, who is in Israel, said he spoke to the congregant on the phone and that he is “alert.”

“He may go home before Shabbos,” Schwartz said. He said the victim, who was traumatized, did not remember the assailant yelling “Allahu Akbar.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the stabbings “horrifying” in a statement on Thursday evening, noting that the perpetrator allegedly yelled “Allahu akbar” during both attacks.

Nava Silton told JTA she was with the victim Schwartz had spoken to at the Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue on 86th street, for afternoon prayers.

Minutes after the victim left the synagogue, Silton said she heard there was an attack, but by the time she got to the scene, the victims had been taken to hospital.

She said the victim did not want his name published.

Silton visited the victim in the hospital. He told her that a screwdriver had been plunged into the right side of his chest and he pulled it out himself, afraid that he’d keel over and fall onto it.

“He’s just praying that his medical condition does not get worse,” Silton said.

Though police have not determined a motive, Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote that the stabbing “appears to be another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they’re Jewish.”

City Council Speaker Julie Menin wrote that she is “absolutely sickened and furious by what appears to be an antisemitic stabbing” on Thursday.

In her statement, Tisch wrote that “the initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor,” though the alleged perpetrator “has no known mental health history with the NYPD.”

Meanwhile, some critics of Mamdani have tied the attack to the New York City mayor’s sharp criticism of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“This comes a day after Mamdani incited more violence against NYC’s Jews,” wrote Republican City Council member Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish.

“@NYCMayor you got blood on your hands!” Vernikov initially wrote to the mayor, “F– YOU!” She deleted the expletive in a since-edited version of the post.

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, wrote that the attacks “did not happen in a vacuum.”

“Months of incitement against the Jewish state from Mamdani have helped create a climate in which Jews are targeted,” Sa’ar said.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, charged Mamdani with “putting Jewish lives in danger in New York.”

Meanwhile, UJA-Federation of New York also explicitly called out Mamdani, whom it said “used his official platform to viciously attack Israel, the only Jewish state.” (UJA is a funder of 70 Faces Media, the parent company of New York Jewish Week.)

“We cannot ignore the dangerous climate created when elected leaders relentlessly portray Israel — and, by extension, the many Jewish New Yorkers who feel a deep connection to it — as uniquely evil and illegitimate,” the group wrote.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged that he has no legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reversing course just days after saying his administration was exploring whether it could enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant during Netanyahu’s expected visit to the UN General Assembly.

Despite the legal conclusion, Mamdani repeated his accusations against Netanyahu, calling him a “war criminal” and accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza—claims Israel has repeatedly rejected. He also repeated allegations that Israel has deliberately targeted civilians and blocked humanitarian aid.

Responding to Mamdani, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, wrote on X: “Zohran Mamdani, ENOUGH. Enough with the blood libels. Enough with the attacks on Jewish organizations. Enough with the outreach to the Iranian regime. You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas’ propaganda. Do your job!”

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Police arrested a suspect after an incendiary device exploded outside 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, home to the FBI office and immigration court, injuring two people and prompting an investigation into a possible anti-government attack.

NOW: The explosion at the NYC federal building home to ICE offices is now being investigated as an “ANTI-GOVERNMENT ATTACK” by the Joint Terrorism Task Force

Leftists need to STOP LAUNCHING ATTACKS!

“This is where ICE offices and immigration courts are located, as well as… pic.twitter.com/BA6fgayeer

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 20, 2026

BREAKING: New video shows the scene in Lower Manhattan where the FBI says a suspect deployed an incendiary device outside a federal building.

The FBI announced that a suspect was taken into custody. It is not clear whether there were any injuries. pic.twitter.com/qgYz1uxFpK

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 20, 2026

NBC called this “fireworks go off in NY” pic.twitter.com/mDds1zosHv

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 20, 2026

NOW: Moment of EXPLOSION that went off outside of the 26 Federal Plaza in NYC around 8:30am this morning, with Immigration agents and FBI Rushing out guns drawn and FPS apprehending the suspect. Sidewalk has been shut down and building evacuated.

NYPD on scene confirmed it was… pic.twitter.com/HcGg0Unj2a

— Oliya Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) July 20, 2026

The post WATCH: Incendiary device detonates outside FBI HQ in New York, suspect in custody appeared first on World Israel News.

The NYPD said that there were no injuries reported at either location. There have been no arrests, and investigations are ongoing.

By JNS

The New York City Police Department’s hate crimes task force is probing two incidents, each of which involved a “bag of oil” thrown at a synagogue in Queens, the NYPD told JNS.

The department has reports on file for criminal mischief for the attack on “a synagogue located at 83-10 188 Street” at around 11:45 p.m. and on “a synagogue located at 86-25 Francis Lewis Boulevard” at around 11 p.m.

Young Israel of Jamaica Estates is located at the former address and Young Israel of Holliswood at the latter. Both are Orthodox congregations.

Rabbi Moshe Taub, of Young Israel of Holliswood, told JNS that former President Thomas Jefferson put it best in an 1818 letter to Mordecai Manuel Noah.

“Your sect, by its sufferings, has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal spirit of religious intolerance inherent in every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble, and practiced by all when in power,” the former president wrote.

“Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religious, as they do our civil rights by putting all on an equal footing, but more remains to be done.”

“We will continue to daven,” or pray, “and to be proud Americans,” Taub told JNS.

“We are also aware that until our city’s mayor shows the same passion in visiting the victims of crimes as he does its perpetrators, at Rikers, his words seem hollow to us and uninspiring to his denizens.”

Taub told JNS that his synagogue was vandalized with feces, and the other was attacked with oil. JNS sought comment from Young Israel of Jamaica Estates as well.

The NYPD told JNS that there were no injuries reported at either location and that there haven’t been arrests and investigations are ongoing.

JNS asked the NYPD about reports that fecal matter was also used to vandalize the synagogues. There was no mention of that in the incident report that the department shared with JNS.

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Antisemitic incidents in New York have risen year over year since the war in Gaza began with the invasion of southern Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) confirmed on Thursday that Jews were targeted by more hate crimes than any other racial, ethnic, or religious group during the first six months of 2026, deepening concerns among Jewish leaders that antisemitism has intensified during the opening months of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration.

The department recorded 178 anti-Jewish hate crimes from January to June, even as hate crimes against Asian, Black, and white New Yorkers—groups whose populations together outnumber the city’s Jews by nearly six to one—registered double-digit decreases and offenses related to ethnicity fell 50 percent.

Anti-Muslim offenses also rose, from 14 during the same period in 2025 to 21 this year.

The figures appeared in the NYPD’s biannual crime report. A statement from NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch accompanying the data did not address the rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes, focusing instead on the city’s broader public safety gains.

“New York City’s public safety progress is the result of precision policing and the extraordinary work of the men and women of the NYPD,” Tisch said, citing “the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims, and murders for the first half of any year in recorded history, along with major crime reductions across the city.”

Overall crime has fallen to historic lows, with the Bronx — once notorious for its high crime rate — leading all five boroughs. Crime there dropped 12 percent.

The picture for the city’s Jewish community, however, is starkly different.

Antisemitic incidents in New York have risen year over year since the war in Gaza began with the invasion of southern Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, with some attacks targeting Jewish children and others singling out Orthodox Jews for violence because of their traditional dress.

Recent cases illustrate the pattern. In the span of eight days between late October and early November 2024, three Hasidim, including children, were assaulted in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood — among them a 13-year-old boy struck while riding his bike to school.

In March, a Jewish subway rider, Jeremy Garrett, was attacked by an assailant who knocked off his kippah.

“I thought the window of the subway fell on me,” Garrett told a local ABC affiliate, adding that the assault was especially painful because it occurred just before the Purim holiday.

Last month, a Jewish woman who had parked her car in Manhattan returned to find its tires slashed and a note on the windshield equating Jews with rodents, reading: “Zionist rats aren’t welcome anywhere but Antarctica or Hell.”

Her brother later said that earlier the same day, someone had shouted “Free Palestine” at the pair. In May, meanwhile, a well-known food co-op in Brooklyn’s Park Slope section voted to boycott Israeli products.

Some in the Jewish community allege that Mamdani has fostered the most anti-Zionist climate in the city’s history.

On his first day in office, the mayor rescinded the city’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, lifted the ban on city contracts with companies boycotting Israel, and narrowed an executive order directing police to monitor anti-Israel protests near synagogues.

Jewish groups have also warned of the financial consequences should the city divest its assets from Israel.

A new report by the JLens investment network estimated that divestment would erase $37.55 billion from the city’s public pension funds over the next decade — losses that would be borne by government employees, including police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

“While the debate around BDS often centers on moral and political arguments, this analysis highlights that there may also be material financial considerations,” the group said, referring to the so-called “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination.

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The Knicks accused Aber Kawas’s campaign of unlawfully using the team’s branding in campaign materials.

By World Israel News Staff

The New York Knicks have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign of Aber Kawas, a far-left democratic socialist candidate for local office, citing her unlawful use of the team’s trademarks and branding in campaign materials.

Kawas, who is endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, distributed campaign stickers modeled after the Knicks’ iconic logo and color scheme. The stickers read, “I voted for Aber Kawas,” with the candidate’s name replacing “Knicks” in a design closely resembling the NBA franchise’s branding.

According to a cease-and-desist letter obtained by the New York Post, attorneys representing Madison Square Garden Sports demanded that the campaign immediately stop using the team’s intellectual property.

“Neither the Knicks nor NBA [Properties] have authorized the Campaign to use Knicks Intellectual Property in any way, including the Unauthorized Advertisements, which are likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks,” Brian N. Warner, senior vice president and head of legal for Madison Square Garden Sports, wrote in the letter.

The letter continued: “The Campaign’s activities in this regard constitute, among other things, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition.”

Kawas, who describes herself as a Palestinian American, has made anti-Israel advocacy a focal point of her campaign.

According to a Fox News report, Kawas’ parents entered the United States illegally, and her father was later convicted of real estate fraud before serving a prison sentence and ultimately being deported to Jordan. During her run for office, Kawas has implied that her father is the victim of anti-Muslim bigotry.

In deleted social media posts, Kawas referred to a man convicted in 2012 of plotting to bomb a New York synagogue as a “brother.” In another post, she described a man imprisoned for attempting to funnel money to al-Qaeda as a “living martyr” and praised him as an example of “patience, sacrifice and integrity.”

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Lander ran for New York City mayor last fall and cross-endorsed with Mamdani in an effort to thwart former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

By Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA

Brad Lander has ousted incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York City’s 10th Congressional District in a Democratic primary Tuesday night where the candidates’ views on Israel were a key issue, according an NBC News projection.

Lander, a former city comptroller backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, had 55,060 votes, or 65.8 percent, and Goldman had 28,445 votes, or 34 percent, with 92 percent of the ballots counted.

NBC News projected Lander the winner four minutes after the polls closed at 9 p.m.

Lander, 56, perched his campaign on a refusal to take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group.

Goldman, an attorney who led the first impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, was hailed for his efforts on that front, but his more supportive views on Israel have proven increasingly unpopular in his lower Manhattan and Brooklyn district in recent years.

“Democrats are painfully divided by our differences over the U.S. relationship to Israel and Palestine, and we have to face up to it squarely,” Lander said in his victory speech.

“Our party needs to admit that Joe Biden’s ‘hug Bibi strategy’ was a catastrophic failure.”

He invoked the famous words of Rabbi Hillel in Pirkei Avot: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am for myself only, what am I? And if not now, when?”

“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up loud for Palestinian human rights,” Lander added.

“I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews as well. That’s not two different jobs — that’s the same job. That’s the same job Rabbi Hillel gave us 2000 years ago.”

Lander continued, “We cannot keep paying for Netanyahu’s wars with our tax dollars. Democratic voters across the country are saying this loud and clear. What we need instead is a politics of shared safety: one that sees Palestinian kids in Gaza and the West Bank as created Betzelem Elohim — in the image of God just as much as Rosa and Marek,” he said, referring to his two children.

Mamdani introduced Lander at the victory party and called him a friend and a coworker. “Brad brings a kindness to this world,” the mayor said.

The primary result was not a surprise: polling by Emerson College last month indicated a lead of more than 30 points for Lander.

In his speech, Lander thanked Goldman for a “hard-fought campaign” and “and for his service to this community and to our country.”

“I want to specifically praise him for how he responded to some of the toxic rhetoric that he and his staff faced over the past couple of days with grace and with gratitude, that is something we need,” Lander added, referring to a an incident this week at a Brooklyn cafe  in which Goldman was refunded his payment a cup of coffee due to his views on Israel, and an online harassment from right-wing commentator Cam Higby targeting his chief of staff.

“And I want to say to those who cast their votes for Dan, though we have some differences, I do feel strongly that we actually have so much more in common.”

Lander’s win in Tuesday’s primary in the heavily Democratic district, which runs from roughly below 14th Street in Manhattan to Brownstone Brooklyn and parts of Borough Park and Bay Ridge, is tantamount to winning the general election in November.

Both candidates identify as Zionists — Goldman said he is “unabashedly pro-Israel” — but Lander qualified his views as that of a “liberal Zionist.”

He is also a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But he left the group following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, disappointed by the DSA’s participation in a pro-Palestinian rally on Oct. 8.

He says he had been a member since his freshman year of college.

“On October 8th, they advertised a rally that I thought was heinous, that spoke about Hamas in ways that I just thought were vile and I could not continue to be a member,” Lander said during a June 1 debate with Spectrum NY1.

Lander ran for New York City mayor last fall and cross-endorsed with Mamdani in an effort to thwart former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Mamdani then encouraged Lander to run for Congress and endorsed him in February in a video calling out AIPAC.

He was also endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, former Manhattan Borough President and activist Ruth Messinger, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, IfNotNow, the Sunrise Movement, United Auto Workers and other progressive groups.

Lander has used the word “genocide” to refer to Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza.

He has also long criticized AIPAC and what he says are the group’s contributions to Goldman’s campaign. But Goldman’s team said AIPAC was uninvolved in his campaign.

“Israel is not the most important issue in this district,” Goldman said during the June 1 debate.

Goldman had outspent Lander more than 7-to-1 on the airwaves, according to data from political advertising tracker AdImpact.

A multimillionaire and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, Goldman had also pledged to personally match each dollar donated to his campaign.

Lander was also backed by a new super PAC called American Priorities, which has put forward $2 million into the primaries to fight AIPAC.

American Priorities is also backing New York State Assembly member and congressional candidate Claire Valdez, a Democrat in New York’s 7th Congressional District, and Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier in the 13th District. Both women are members of the DSA.

Lander appeared with Mamdani, Valdez and Chevalier in a post-Knicks game ad, where he passes a basketball to Chevalier, who also was at the Oct. 8 rally that he and Mamdani condemned. Mamdani, Valdez and Chevalier have been outspoken Israel critics.

In a 2025 interview with Zeteo, Lander said he would vote to recognize a Palestinian state and oppose the sale of weapons to Israel.

As comptroller, Lander maintained the city’s pension investments in Israeli military technology company Elbit Systems, which earned criticism from left-wing activists, but he defended the decision.

Goldman did not endorse Mamdani because he felt he “never fully got there,” he told The New York Editorial Board in late February.

Goldman has been endorsed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, and various public housing advocates and local unions.

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The district’s heavy Democratic lean makes Darializa Avila Chevalier the overwhelming favorite in November’s general election.

By World Israel News Staff

A far-left democratic socialist candidate backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated a five-term incumbent in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, clearing a path that is likely to send her to Congress via one of the safest Democratic seats in the country.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, unseated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th Congressional District, a heavily Democratic district spanning parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

Because the district has never elected a Republican and is overwhelmingly blue, Avila Chevalier is now widely expected to win the general election in November and head to Washington as a first-term lawmaker.

Avila Chevalier has a long history of of inflammatory social media posts and reposts that resurfaced during the campaign. On her now-deleted X account, Avila Chevalier made comments expressing hostility toward the United States, Israel and white Americans.

Referring to the U.S. in one post, she wrote that “this country is an f—ing disgrace,” and added in another: “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”

Avila Chevalier, a convert to Islam and a vocal critic of Israel, reposted messages stating that Israel has no right to exist and embraced broader far-left positions including abolishing the U.S.’s borders, prisons and police.

On October 8, 2023 — one day after the massacre in southern Israel — Avila Chevalier attended a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City that celebrated the slaughter. She has also used social media to mock Arab and black men who date white women, writing that they were “fetishizing ugly colonizer women.”

The candidate also aimed vitriol at prominent Democrats. She labeled former President Joe Biden a “rapist” and a “war criminal,” and attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of the country’s best-known left-wing politicians, as a “liberal Zionist,” despite Sanders’ frequent criticism of Israel.

Mamdani, who endorsed Avila Chevalier despite the controversy surrounding her online history, declined to condemn the posts when asked about them by reporters.
“In Congress, she’ll take on corporate greed, bad landlords, and D.C.’s broken political system,” Mamdani told CNN in a recent interview.

“At a time when power is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, Darializa will fight in Congress for New York City’s working families. She’s the champion we need for a city New Yorkers can actually afford.”

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