Anti Zionist and Anti Israel activities thread

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Italian police clashed with some 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters Friday night outside a EuroLeague basketball game between Virtus Bologna and Maccabi Tel Aviv, which the visiting Israeli team lost 89 to 99.

Ahead of the game, the anti-Israel protesters gathered at Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore — dubbed Piazza Gaza by organizers — and marched in the direction of the PalaDozza arena, chanting “Zionists out of Bologna,” local media reported.

As the game began in the arena, which was secured by some 400 officers, the protesters outside tossed stones, set fire to trash cans and ignited firecrackers, while police in riot gear responded with smoke bombs and water cannon blasts, according to local media. Calm was restored within minutes, the reports said.

Footage from the scene showed protesters waving Palestinian flags and banners with anti-Israel slogans, including “show Israel the red card,” a phrase borrowed from soccer that is used worldwide to call for the suspension of Israel from sporting events due to the war against Hamas in Gaza.

On the ground were basketballs and soccer balls painted red with mock blood.

The game went ahead at the PalaDozza arena after days of domestic controversy, with Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore calling for it to be held at a different time in a less central location due to the threat of protests, while Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi ruled out a schedule change.

Germany’s antisemitism czar has urged a law to ban pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel slogans such as “From the river to the sea,” renewing a fraught debate over the country’s historic allegiance to Israel and freedom of speech.

Felix Klein’s initiative would ban chants that could be interpreted as calling for Israel’s destruction. His proposal has the support of German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and is now being reviewed by the Justice Ministry, he told Haaretz on Wednesday.

“Before October 7, you could have said that ‘From the river to the sea’ doesn’t necessarily mean kicking Israelis off the land, and I could accept that,” said Klein. “But since then, Israel has really been facing existential threats, and unfortunately, it has become necessary here to limit freedom of speech in this regard.”

Klein, the first holder of an office titled “Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism” since 2018, added that he believed the law must be passed even if it is challenged in court for violating free speech.

The Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, and ensuing war in Gaza have torn at the seams of Germany’s national doctrines. Amid the war, the country has seen a sharp rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents. It also exposed charged questions about when Germany prioritizes its responsibility toward the Jewish state, which became central to German national identity after the Holocaust, and when it upholds democratic principles.

The legal boundaries of pro-Palestinian speech are already far from clear-cut. Currently, courts decide whether a person chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in support of peacefully liberating Palestinians or in endorsement of terrorism. In August 2024, the German-Iranian activist Ava Moayeri was convicted of condoning a crime for leading the chant at a Berlin rally on October 11, 2023.

Shortly after the October 7 onslaught, local authorities across Germany imposed sweeping bans on pro-Palestinian protests. Berlin officials authorized schools to ban the keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, along with slogans such as “Free Palestine.”

Jewish and Israeli activists were caught up in the crackdown. In October 2023, a woman was arrested after holding a poster that said, “As a Jew and Israeli: Stop the genocide in Gaza.” And police prohibited a demonstration by a group calling themselves “Jewish Berliners against Violence in the Middle East,” citing the risk of unrest and “inflammatory, antisemitic exclamations.”

Earlier this year, German immigration authorities ordered the deportation of three European nationals and one US citizen over their alleged activity at pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Three of the orders cited Germany’s “Staatsräson,” or “reason of state,” a doctrine enshrining Germany’s defense of Israel as justification for its own existence after the Holocaust.

But that tenet is not used in legal settings, according to Alexander Gorski, who represents the demonstrators threatened with deportation. “Staatsräson is not a legal concept,” Gorski told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in April. “It’s completely irrelevant. It’s not in the German Basic Law, it’s not in the constitution.”

Jewish leaders such as Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, have argued that anger toward Israel created a “pretext” for antisemitism. “It is sufficient cause in itself to fuel the hatred,” Knobloch said to Deutsche Welle in September.

In recent months, two German establishments made the news for refusing entry to Jews and Israelis. A shop in Flensburg, which posted a sign saying “Jews are banned here,” is vulnerable to German anti-discrimination law.

Not so for the restaurant in Fürth whose sign read, “We no longer accept Israelis in our establishment,” according to anti-discrimination commissioner Ferda Ataman, who said the law does not apply to discrimination on the basis of nationality.

Klein said he has also initiated legislation to expand that law to protect Israelis and other nationalities.

He has a longstanding relationship with Jewish communities in Germany, starting with his Foreign Office appointment as the special liaison to global Jewish organizations. In that role, he helped create a “working definition” of antisemitism for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2016. That definition has sparked contentious debate, as critics argue it conflates some criticisms of Israel with antisemitism.

Klein believes that anti-Zionism largely falls in the same bucket as antisemitism. “I think in most cases it is — it’s just a disguised form of antisemitism,” he told Haaretz. “When people say they’re anti-Israel, what they really mean is Jews.”

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch issued a heartfelt apology to the congregation of an historic Manhattan synagogue Saturday — conceding cops should have done a better job of keeping away hateful anti-Israel protesters.

Tisch told a crowd of 150 congregants attending service at Park East Synagogue that this week’s protests are legally allowed outside houses of worship — no matter how vile the topic — but said the NYPD failed to keep the front entrance clear and ensure “people could easily enter and leave shul.

“That is where we fell short, and for that, I apologize to this congregation,” the 44-year-old top cop said during a 10-minute speech which drew a standing ovation.

“Our plan didn’t include a frozen zone at the entrance. As a result, the space right outside your steps was chaotic.”

You deserved an NYPD posture that recognized the sensitivity of this location, the climate we’re living in, and the heightened fear within our community,” she added.

“Instead, you had turmoil. I say all of this as someone who understands what this moment feels like.”

Elliot Felig, who attended the service, said he was impressed by Tisch’s remarks.

“She was extremely well received and spoke from the heart, and I think everyone was appreciative of her acknowledging that the effort by the NYPD — while sincere — fell a little short,” he said.

Other congregants who attended included Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who called Tisch a “woman of valor,” a source said.

Synagogue Rabbi Arthur Schneier had previously said he was “very, very touched” by Tisch’s support following the Wednesday night incident.

Pro-Palestinian activists are copying the slogans, ribbons, and ubiquitous hostage posters from the Israeli hostage advocacy campaign to demand the release of Palestinian security prisoners.

Swedish activists outside the Israeli embassy on Sunday night, with a banner with a variation of the slogan of the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum, “Bring them home.”

“Release all Palestinian Hostages,” read the banner, complete with a red ribbon similar to the yellow one used by the Hostages Forum.

Red Ribbon campaign similar to hostage campaigns
One activist shouted using a megaphone that “there are 9500 Palestinian hostages in Israeli concentration camps,” said an activist in a video posted by climate activist Greta Thunberg and Europe Palestine Network, referring to a figure that includes terrorists, unlawful combatants, and rioters.

The activists displayed hostage posters similar to those used by Israeli activists to demand the release of those abducted by Gazan terrorists during the October 7 Massacre.

The red ribbon campaign has appeared the most in the United Kingdom. Activists associated with the Bristol Palestine Alliance on November 15 tied ribbons and placed Palestinian “hostage” posters onto the St. Agnes bridge.

Palestinian Information Center wrote that the color red was chosen to represent the blood of martyrs and prisoners.

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team announced on Monday includes a prominent activist with a history of alleged antisemitism.

Tamika Mallory, a leader of the Women’s March movement, stepped down from the board of the feminist group in 2019 amid allegations of antisemitism among the organization’s leadership.

Mallory had lionized the antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and refused to condemn his discrimination against Jews. Mallory also reportedly said that Jews were responsible for the oppression of people of color, a charge she denied.

Mallory was appointed to Mamdani’s Committee on Community Safety.

Mamdani rolled out the list of 400 advisers on 17 transition committees as he prepared to take office at the start of 2026.

The list includes five local rabbis, mostly from the progressive left, including the prominent anti-Zionist activist Abby Stein.

Other members of Mamdani’s transition committees have been involved in Israel issues in New York.

Ramzi Kassem, on the Committee on Legal Affairs, is a longtime anti-Israel activist who was on the legal team for the Columbia University protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, after Khalil was detained by US authorities.

Kassem heads Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR), a resident nonprofit and legal clinic at the CUNY Law School. CLEAR has advised some of the most hardline anti-Zionist activist groups in the city.

Hassan Naveed, on Mamdani’s Committee on Community Safety, was appointed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams to head the city’s office to prevent hate crimes in October 2022.

Naveed sued Adams last month, claiming Islamophobia in the administration following the October 2023 attack on Israel contributed to his removal from his position in 2024.

Naveed alleged that Adams compared anti-Zionist rallies after the Hamas slaughter to Ku Klux Klan rallies and criticized the Muslim community for not adequately condemning Hamas, and organizing anti-Israel protests instead, stoking tensions with Muslim staffers.

There are a number of other committee members who have participated in anti-Israel activism, or are affiliated with the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s base, which has made anti-Israel advocacy one of its party planks.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis and the chief chaplain for the fire department, is on the Committee on Emergency Response.

I suggest going to anyone living in the UK or US and asking them the following: "Your country is about to undergo a nuclear attack. But good news! You will win $1,000,000 if you guess which of these two countries is attacking: Israel or Iran".

Perhaps the Oxford Union should go lie down with their contemporaries the dinosaurs.

I question whether the duties of the mayor of NYC, or mayor-elect, include concerning himself with what congregants of a synagogue in a wealthy neighborhood choose to do with their building. I can't imagine the mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott, making public pronouncements about something like this. Of course if citizens' safety is threatened, the police would get involved. But a mayor should have more pressing concerns. Maybe NYC is such a wealthy city that maintaining quality of life isn't a big challenge for the mayor.

Doesn't Israel have nukes pointed at the US? I mean, they already orchestrated a global child sex trafficking ring to blackmail American politicians, so it seems nothing is beneath them.

Hey, remember that time a bunch of white people threw a humongous fit because some Muslims were going to build a mosque near the 9/11 site? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Activists commemorated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Saturday, at times disrupting a busy holiday weekend in the US due to Black Friday, with rallies and marches demanding an arms embargo on Israel and rejecting the US-led phased peace plan.

Over 85 protests were held across Europe, according to the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP), and another 13 were organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) across North America.

Protesters rallied at Colombus Circle, with NYC PYM calling US President Donald Trump’s “board of peace” plan an attempt to colonize Gaza and strengthen US-Israeli imperialism. People’s Forum co-director Manolo De Los Santos decried rising tensions between the US and Venezuela, charging that Trump was backed by an “army of criminals” in Washington.

“If you stand with Gaza, you have to stand with Venezuela,” Los Santos said, according to a video published by his organization.

In Dallas, activists disrupted Black Friday shopping at the North Park Mall, accusing the brand stores housed there of being complicit in “the genocide and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan and Gaza.”

“Hands off Gaza! No to US occupation,” read signs supplied by the Party for Socialism and Liberation at a protest in Los Angeles.
Over 40 organizations rallied at the Los Angeles city hall, according to PYM LAOCIE (Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire). At the Harry Bridges Plaza in San Francisco, activists criticized the November 18 United Nations Security Council vote in support of the Trump plan and a mandate to establish the International Stabilization Force (ISF).

Over 20 organizations rallied in Washington at a Lockheed Martin facility, demanding that the Virginian Retirement System divest from the company due to the jet fighters used during the Israel-Hamas War.

Calls for embargoes were also heard at protests in Toronto, where PYM Toronto cast Canada as complicit by “performatively” recognizing a Palestinian state but not enacting a two-way arms embargo on Israel. The Canada Palestine Association organized a weekend protest against Scotiabank, alleging that it continued to invest in Elbit Systems.

In Mexico City, activists marched to the US Embassy, with trade-union associated groups calling for an end to relations between Mexico and Israel.

The London Metropolitan Police established conditions over a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) march on Saturday due to the busy weekend for shoppers.

“We expect this weekend to be very busy with people shopping during the Black Friday sales and visiting the capital, including Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dr. Alison Heydari said in a Friday statement. “ We have worked with organizers to seek to minimize disruption and balance the right to protest.”

UN had given governance of Gaza to the US: Ben Jamal
PSC said that over 100,000 people gathered for the London protest, which group director Ben Jamal said was in honor of a day established to recognize the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people. He said in a video that Israel had been granted impunity for the “crimes of occupation and genocide” and that the UN had given governance of Gaza to the US.

In Cape Town, activists carried signs emblazoned with the face of convicted arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, with the Global Movement to Gaza comparing him to Nelson Mandela.

“The struggle to free Marwan is inseparable from the struggle to free all Palestinian political prisoners. We will not rest until all are freed,” the group wrote on Instagram. At least one participant carried a Hezbollah flag.

The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People commemorated the International Day of Solidarity on Tuesday with a special meeting. Similar events were held at UN offices around the world. The day of solidarity commemorates the 1947 UNGA resolution to partition the British Mandate.


“We are here calling for the end to the complicity, including the complicity of our government that is giving lapdog support to that resolution, continues to arm Israel, and continues to give it diplomatic and political support,” said Jamal.

Several dozen protests were held throughout Spain, with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Madrid thanking those who spoke up against “impunity, genocide, apartheid, and colonialism.”

Masar Badil called on the Spanish government to enact an arms embargo, break all ties with Israel, and close all Israeli defense companies in Spain.

Activists with Palestinian flags marched through Berlin, according to Global Movement to Gaza Germany, with one banner declaring that “one genocide does not justify another.”

Twelve protests took place in Brazilian cities, according to the Sao Paulo Palestinian Front.

I question whether the duties of the mayor of NYC, or mayor-elect, include concerning himself with what congregants of a synagogue in a wealthy neighborhood choose to do with their building. I can't imagine the mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott, making public pronouncements about something like this.

Hey, remember that time a bunch of white people threw a humongous fit because some Muslims were going to build a mosque near the 9/11 site?

Not all islamophobes are white by the way.

This deserves some thought. We say "organization X is so controversial that their presence will inflame demonstrators whose actions will be such that a response from the city police will be needed".

There have probably been situations in which the organization in question was."pro-abortion" or a gay pride group and the potentially unruly demonstrators were devout Christians, although probably less likely in NYC than some other places.

The correct way for a mayor to deal with this seems far from obvious to me, but genuine peaceful protest should not require a massive police response.

Israel will be allowed to compete in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after no vote was called on its participation at the European Broadcasting Union, two European Broadcasting Union members told Reuters.

Members overwhelmingly voted to back new rules intended to discourage governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to sway voters after allegations that Israel unfairly boosted its entrant this year, the two said.

Shortly after the announcement, the Netherlands' public broadcaster AVROTROS announced it would withdraw from the competition.

"After weighing all perspectives, AVROTROS concludes that, under the current circumstances, participation cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organization," the statement said, adding that Israel's actions in Gaza "crossed a boundary" for the organization.

Spain also announced that it would withdraw from the competition. José Pablo López, the president of Spain's national broadcaster, RTVE, said that the decision "never should have gotten to this point."

"Sanctions against Israel for its repeated violations in Eurovision should have been adopted at the executive level rather than shifting the conflict to the assembly. Today, the EBU will be a union more shaped by political and commercial interests, of a festival that they have not been able to, or have not wanted to, manage.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez backed the decision as well.

"If no one was up in arms when Russia began its invasion, and it was exiled from global competitions and Eurovision, then the same should happen with Israel."

Ireland's public broadcasting union RTÉ said in a statement that not only will Ireland not compete, but that it will not air the song contest.

"RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk. RTÉ remains deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denial of access to international journalists to the territory," the Irish broadcaster's statement read.

"Our message is: we will not participate in the ESC if Israel is there. On behalf of the 20,000 children who died in Gaza," said RTV Slovenia Board Chairwoman Natalija Gorščak. "Do not forget that we banned a similar performance by a Russian singer in Ukraine. In 2017, in Stockholm, we opened Pandora’s box when a political song won, and since then, we have been fighting against politics in Eurovision.”

“We are all trapped. We are hostages to the political interests of the Israeli government."

EBU holds a vote on Israeli participation in Eurovision
Members of the body that organizes the Eurovision Song Contest met on Thursday to vote on whether Israel can compete next year, as some countries threaten to withdraw if it is not excluded over the Gaza war.
The meeting at the EBU headquarters in Geneva will address new rules intended to discourage governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to sway voters, following allegations that Israel unfairly boosted its entrant to the contest this year.

In a statement, the EBU stated that all "Members show clear support for reforms to reinforce trust and protect neutrality of Eurovision Song Contest, allowing all Members to participate."

The EBU statement added that before the vote, members discussed "a variety of views on participation" in Eurovision.

"Many Members also took the opportunity to stress the importance of protecting the independence of public service media and the freedom of the press to report, not least in conflict zones such as Gaza," the statement added.

Israel, which came second in the contest, has not responded to these accusations, but frequently argues it has faced a global smear campaign.

The contest faces a "watershed moment", said Eurovision expert Paul Jordan.

Critics of Israel's participation cite concerns over the Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which has surpassed 70,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The war was sparked by the October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage and taken to Gaza.

If members are not convinced that the new rules, which aim to protect the contest's neutrality and impartiality, are adequate, there will be a vote on participation, the EBU said.

Germany: No Eurovision if Israel is excluded
State for Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told Reuters that Germany should not participate in Eurovision if Israel is excluded.
"Israel belongs in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC)," he said. "There must be no ESC without Israel."

German broadcaster ARD did not comment. Austrian host broadcaster ORF wants Israel to compete.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said it is preparing for next year's contest and will soon release changes to its selection process for choosing Israel's entry. KAN said it will present its position on possible disqualification at the meeting.

Hundreds of New York City Jews and their allies braved the cold Thursday evening for a rally outside Park East Synagogue, where pro-Palestinian protesters had demonstrated two weeks prior, shouting chants like “Globalize the Intifada” and “Death to the IDF.”

Thursday’s demonstrators carried signs distributed by organizers that read “Proud New Yorkers, Jews, Zionists.” Others brought signs from home with messages including “Proudly Park East” and “Anti-Zionism is Jew hate is not OK.” Messages from speakers focused mostly on the protesters’ rhetoric and embracing Israel as an important part of Jewish life.

“This evening we come together representing the scale, strength, and diversity of our incredible New York Jewish community,” said Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, which spearheaded the rally. “And we gather outside the sacred space that was so violently targeted a few weeks ago.”

In referring to “sacred space,” Goldstein was using the language that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani used when he responded to the protest in a way that many of his Jewish critics found disappointing. But if it was meant to be an allusion, Goldstein didn’t say. In fact, no one mentioned Mamdani directly from the speaker podium as a number of Jewish elected officials and community leaders addressed the crowd and denounced the rhetoric used by the protesters.

Joanna Samuels, CEO of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, came the closest with comments that appeared to allude to criticisms of the incoming mayor, a longtime and staunch devotee to the pro-Palestinian cause.

The great leaders of our city have sought to unite people of all backgrounds around broad common goals,” she said, adding that New York’s greatest leaders “have not been ideologues.”
“Our great leaders have had the maturity and discipline to get rid of divisive language and rhetoric in service of their love of our city and their love of New Yorkers,” Samuels said. “I invite all of our leaders and our future leaders to uphold these values, and to demand them from those who speak in your name and on your behalf.”

Both critics and allies of Mamdani were present

The rally, which also featured a performance by the musician Mastisyahu, drew both critics and allies of Mamdani in politics. It represents a show of force as Jewish leaders in the city ready themselves for Mamdani’s inauguration on January 1, 2026, when the city will go from having a mayor who prides himself on being pro-Israel to having one who has called for its boycott.
Mamdani was asked about the pro-Israel solidarity rally at an unrelated event earlier on Thursday.

“On those who are rallying today, and on Jewish New Yorkers across the five boroughs, I look forward to being a mayor for each and every one of them, and each and every person who calls the city home,” Mamdani said. “And being that mayor means protecting those New Yorkers, it also means celebrating and cherishing those New Yorkers.”

A spokesperson for Mamdani said two weeks ago that he would continue to “discourage” the language used at the Park East protest. But speakers on Thursday called out the protesters in far more explicit terms, saying they used antisemitic rhetoric.

Those speakers included Mark Levine, the comptroller-elect who traded endorsements with the mayor-elect, and who will be one of the most powerful officials in the city government alongside Mamdani.

“We are out here in the cold to denounce the hatred that was directed at our fellow Jewish New Yorkers outside of this synagogue,” Levine asserted. “It is never OK to call for the death of anyone, as these protesters did. It is not OK to obstruct and threaten people entering a house of worship, as these protesters did.”

Levine himself has been the subject of protests by left-wing groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, which endorsed Mamdani and, like the mayor-elect, opposes Levine’s intention to invest city funds in Israel bonds.

Levine also defended attendees of the event inside Park East, which was organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit that facilitates North Americans’ immigration to Israel, saying, “You can be interested in immigrating to a country even if you don’t agree with every policy of the government of that country.”

He added, “And in the case of Israel, one of the most common reasons people are interested in immigrating is to flee antisemitism, which is on the rise in New York and America, a fact perhaps lost on the protesters, who were busy trying to make the attendees feel unsafe.”

Jewish State Assembly member Micah Lasher, who is running for Congress in the 12th district, which includes Park East, commended Levine on social media for his “powerful words.”
Lasher arrived at the event alongside Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Jewish state senator and incoming Manhattan borough president who endorsed Lasher in October.

Both politicians had endorsed Mamdani in the general election, as did Assemblymember Alex Bores, one of Lasher’s opponents in the 12th district; Sen. Liz Krueger, who is Jewish; and City Council Member Gale Brewer, who were all present. Meanwhile, another notable attendee, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, has had an antagonistic relationship with the mayor-elect, who is the subject of the ADL’s “Mamdani Monitor.”

While Mamdani was alluded to in Samuels’ remarks, some attendees said they felt that he should have been discussed explicitly.

'Mamdani, we are Israel'
Aaron Herman, a former New York City resident who commuted in from White Plains, in Westchester County north of the city, said he and his rabbi were discussing the subject.
“He brought up to me, like, ‘There’s one thing that was missing during this incredible rally: No one actually mentioned our mayor-elect, Mamdani,’” Herman said. “The mayor-elect said something wrong. It needs to be addressed.”

Herman shared a video he took at the rally of Rabbi Avi Weiss, the founder of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, in which Weiss noted that Mamdani had not been mentioned. “We’re 15 minutes into this rally, and I’ve not heard the word Mamdani,” Weiss said. “He’s the problem. … I’m so proud of this rally and the people who planned it, but don’t be afraid to stand up to the challenge that we face in the future- and that is the mayor elect, Mamdani.” He then sought to lead others in the crowd in chanting, “Mamdani, we are Israel.”

Still, Herman and other attendees said they appreciated the event altogether, which brought Jews from around the city to the Upper East Side. Buses were chartered from areas like Riverdale, a Bronx neighborhood with many Israeli and Orthodox Jewish residents.

Schneier’s son Marc, also a rabbi, has urged Mamdani to support such legislation, to which Mamdani’s team has expressed openness. Lasher co-introduced a bill banning protests within 25 feet of houses of worship on Wednesday.

Other speakers included Rabbis Joseph Potasnik and Sara Hurwitz of the New York Board of Rabbis, and 92NY’s David Ingber. Potasnik is one of five rabbis sitting on Mamdani’s transition committees.

Police blocked off the entire block of 68th Street between Lexington and Third avenues, accompanied by security from Hatzalah and the Community Security Service, Jewish security groups. Multiple speakers commended the NYPD, which had previously drawn criticism for not properly responding to the initial protest, leading commissioner Jessica Tisch to apologize at a Park East Shabbat service.