Dora Pekec, press secretary for Zohran Mamdani, told Jewish Insider on Thursday that the New York City mayor-elect “has discouraged” the language that protesters used outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan the night beforehand “and will continue to do so.”
She added that her boss “believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
The 200 protesters who reportedly shouted calls for violence against Jews, including a slogan that evoked Nazi beliefs, picketed an event organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh, encouraging Jews to move to Israel.
“Do they think this is clever? Telling Jews not to use synagogues to inform fellow Jews about how to move to Israel, which many Jews consider a commandment, because Jews living in Israel violates international law,” stated Tal Fortgang, a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute. “No wonder so many Jewish New Yorkers are interested in such events.”
Mark Goldfeder, CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, responded to Mamdani, writing that “you are already failing on your commitment to protect all New Yorkers.”
“An event to celebrate aliyah is not a violation of international law,” he said. “It is a protected First Amendment right, and what happened last night was a disgraceful violation of the FACE Act.” (The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 bars injuring, intimidating or interfering with people’s exercise of their right to religious worship.)
After Matthew Kassel, a Jewish Insider reporter, pressed Mamdani’s team about what he meant, the latter said that it “was specifically in reference to the organization’s promotion of settlement activity beyond the Green Line,” which “violates international law,” Kassel wrote.
Mamdani’s statement contrasted sharply with those of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who referred to a “blatant attack on the Jewish community,” and Mayor Eric Adams, who said the protest was “totally unacceptable.”
The mayor, who visited Israel earlier in the week, decried the “vile language” and said that he would visit the synagogue to “stand with our Jewish community.”
The demonstration was advertised with a flier stating “no settlers on stolen land,” with a photo of a chartered Nefesh flight on El Al having landed in Israel. Scrawled on the plane were phrases like “genocide settler airlines” and “established in Europe.”
The New York City Police Department used barricades to keep the protesters apart from a group of counterprotesters, as the synagogue event continued inside.
A spokesman for the NYPD told JNS that at about 7 p.m. on Nov. 19, “police responded to a demonstration in the vicinity of East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, within the confines of the 19 Precinct. The demonstration concluded and no arrests were made.”
“The safety and well-being of all the participants at our various events has always been important to us,” Yael Katsman, vice president of public relations and communications at Nefesh B’Nefesh, told JNS.
“We work with law enforcement agencies and professionals in order to achieve that goal, while providing a professional and meaningful experience for the participants,” she said.
The World Jewish Congress compared the scene to Kristallnacht, noting that “Park East’s senior rabbi, Arthur Schneier, a witness to Kristallnacht and longtime WJC leader, knows better than anyone where this kind of hatred can lead.”
