New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former city comptroller and congressional candidate Brad Lander and several people running for state and city office in New York attended a “seder in the streets” event, ostensibly about Passover, hosted by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice on Monday. Some attendees subsequently went to the Chelsea offices of Palantir, a technology company that anti-Israel protesters have targeted often for its work with the Israeli military.
The New York City Police Department told JNS that officers responded to a demonstration in 45 W 18th Street at about 5:50 on Monday.
“A group of demonstrators inside the location refused multiple lawful orders to disperse and were taken into custody,” the NYPD said. “A total of 15 individuals were taken into custody, and all were released on criminal court summonses.”
Images posted to the mayor’s social media accounts show Mamdani standing among people holding wine cup-shaped placards and signs stating “Jews against deportation.” Other images on social media appeared to show Hebrew inscriptions on signs that appeared to quote, in part, from a statement of Yossy son of Yochanan in the Mishnah, “Let your house be wide open, and let the poor be members of your household.”
Eli Northrup, a public defender who is running for the New York state Assembly, posted a photo of the event. “The story of Jewish New Yorkers is a story of immigration. A story of New York welcoming and protecting people. Our faith instructs us to welcome the stranger and to respect their rights, for we were once strangers in Egypt,” he wrote. “It’s a reminder we sorely need. Today we took seder to the streets.”
Brian Romero, who is also running for the state Assembly, wrote that he has marched with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice “for years.”
“Today’s seder was full of that same beautiful spirit,” he stated. “We’re marching towards a world where we can all be free.”
Former Kansas state representative Raj Goyle, who is running to be New York state comptroller, wrote that he rallied with the group for its seder in the streets “demanding an end to the deportation and detention of our immigrant neighbors.”
“Then we marched to Palantir, where Jewish activists bravely risked arrest to occupy their office lobby. I stand with these activists, as Palantir powers both ICE’s deportation operation and the genocide in Gaza,” he said. “As state comptroller, I will swiftly divest from both Palantir and foreign bonds like Israel that fund war crimes abroad.”
Goyle shared footage of Mamdani hugging him and of Lander addressing attendees. “We recently saw our country, Donald Trump, launch a Tomahawk missile that killed hundreds of Iranian children at a girls’ school in Tehran,” Lander said in the video.
Lydia Green, who is running for New York state Assembly, stated that she joined the seder in the streets “to call for an end to ICE and the oppression of immigrant communities.” She added that she couldn’t imagine fighting “fascism” anywhere but with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, which she called her “Jewish home.”
