There was a saying that when Ed Koch was mayor, he would joke that “All New Yorkers are Jews.” Whether that is just folklore or not doesn’t matter. Jewish culture is in the city’s DNA – from its food, entertainment, intellectualism, and even the turns of phrases all New Yorkers use.
Koch left office just as “Seinfeld” was taking off, reinforcing their culture’s influence on the Big Apple for the rest of the country to see.
Well, we can all be glad that Koch didn’t live long enough to see what is happening in New York now.
New York has erupted in public displays of support for Hamas’s recent atrocities against Israelis, what many have called the worst violence against Jewish people since the Holocaust. New Yorkers supporting the terrorist group have rallied by the thousands, scaled the Brooklyn Bridge, had to be arrested, and committed crimes we have all seen on social media.
For those of us who have seen Hamas’s well-documented atrocities, rallying in favor of Palestinian “liberation” seems a lot like rallying for Al Qaeda on 9/12.
While these are the acts of individuals, everyone watching has been concerned about which side elected officials in the city and elsewhere will take. For the first time ever, more Democrats support Hamas rather than Israel and elected Democrats in the so-called “squad” voice support for Hamas’s propaganda rather than our own intelligence apparatus.
In New York, Mayor Eric Adams has voiced support for Jewish people, but his support is not unanimous down the chain.
New York City’s Democratic comptroller, Brad Lander, and his key adviser, Naomi Dann, have a history of antisemitism. Dann has a long history of promoting anti-Israel sentiments, having worked for the ironically named Jewish Voice for Peace group, which actively supports BDS. Indeed, Dann was arrested and jailed in the past for her protests against U.S. companies for doing business in the West Bank.
Following Hamas’s recent terrorist violence, Dann accused Israel of war crimes and insisted “there is no path to peace without an end to the siege and occupation.” She compared Israel’s response to the Hamas attack to the war in Iraq and demanded Israel de-escalate its military response.
As the American Jewish Committee reminded us in a recent tweet, “The people targeting Jews are the bad guys.”
But last year, Lander publicly supported Dann amid questions about her controversial record, expressing “full confidence” in her leadership – which raised concerns about Lander’s own stance on Israel.
Notably, Lander has himself also supported the economic terrorism of BDS, including pushing for companies like Ben and Jerry’s to withdraw from the country. Under a veneer of false courtesy, Lander tweeted, “Companies that decide not to operate in settlements do not pose a risk to New York’s pension funds. If anything, continuation of the occupation poses grave ongoing risks to Israelis, to Palestinians, & to those who care about them.”
As the state’s comptroller overseeing $242 billion in pension funds, Lander has an enormous influence on the finances of every New York City resident, and these views are out of step with many – we hope most – of the city’s residents.
Lander is a member and former co-chair of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), an organization whose stance on Israel-Palestine issues runs against the majority opinion within the Jewish community. Indeed, the Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt criticized JFREJ for its support of BDS in 2022 and described the organization as “out of touch.”
A so-called progressive Jew, Lander has also pushed Orthodox schools to abandon their 5,000-year-old traditions in favor of secularism. These actions indicate a strong bias against Israelis and a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
We live in volatile times when mass globalization has made the whole planet a melting pot, whether we want it or not. New York itself has always been a melting pot, and Jews have always been the spoon that stirred it. All New Yorkers might not actually be Jews, but none of them should support killing them.
