Leo Terrell, chair of the U.S. Justice Department’s task force on Jew-hatred, called on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to take action following a protest outside the Young Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn on Monday night that led to four arrests.
Terrell criticized city leadership over what he described as insufficient enforcement following incidents targeting Jewish New Yorkers.
“Let me be clear, I am sick and tired of Jews being harassed in New York City,” Terrell said. “Did you see what happened in Brooklyn? Where is the mayor? Where is the district attorney? Where are the hate crime charges?”
“Jewish Americans are allowed the religious freedoms given by this country,” he said. “Jewish Americans are not being protected in New York City.”
“What happened last night in Brooklyn was outrageous, insulting,” Terrell said. “Mayor, district attorney, do your job. Protect Jewish Americans now.” (JNS sought comment from Mamdani and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.)
The New York Police Department said officers responded to a “scheduled demonstration” outside 1694 Ocean Avenue in the 70th Precinct, where four individuals were taken into custody.
“Jew-haters marched towards a Jewish house of worship, through a heavily Jewish neighborhood, past Jewish homes, Jewish families, Jewish businesses and Jewish communal spaces, chanting for ‘intifada,’ waving a Hezbollah flag and screaming abuse at Jews in the street,” Brooke Goldstein, founder of EndJewHatred, said.
“New York’s leaders, especially Zohran Mamdani, must stop pretending this is normal protest activity,” she said. “Mr. Mayor, you are on notice. The inevitable violence this will lead to falls squarely on your shoulders. You must act to stop this now.”
The protest was organized by PAL-AWDA, the group behind several anti-Israel protests in the city, including one outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan on May 5. It is set to protest again in Brooklyn on Saturday, on the corner of 72nd Street and 5th Ave in Bay Ridge, “to dismantle the genocidal Zionist entity.”
