Ex-Assemblyman Dov Hikind urges boycott of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's (above) Jewish heritage event. Michael Brochstein/ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews.com With an antisemitic flag hoist above an NYU celebration and pro-Hamas mobs besieging synagogues and marching through Jewish neighborhoods screaming “Zionism will fail!” and beating up Jews who cross their paths, what are New Yorkers of good will to do?
Not just Jews: They’re the target now, but the whole city needs to counter this venom.
Well, the whole city except for our mayor, since Zohran Mamdani keeps justifying the haters as “enforcing international law” or “protesting genocide” or whatever.
That’s why it’s hard to disagree with ex-Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s call to boycott the Jewish heritage event Mamdani’s hosting Monday at Gracie Mansion, urging Jewish leaders “to take a stand. Show pride. Have self respect.”
Meanwhile, the City Council and Legislature must step up to maximize protections against the haters who’ve weaponized the First Amendment.
The council needs to override Mamdani’s veto of Intro 175-B, a bill to allow — not require — the NYPD to establish protest buffer zones outside schools simply to ensure free entry and exit.
The mayor and his allies claim this would stifle civil liberties, but whose? Goons eager to surround schools and harass students and teachers?
State lawmakers, meanwhile, should back Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for a law protecting all houses of worship with buffer zones that keep demonstrations back, reinforcing a city law (one Mamdani didn’t veto only because he knew he’d be overridden).
Genuine liberals need to start drawing a line against the “progressives” who justify violence — including attacks on law enforcement — in the name of protest.
Instead, we have profiles in cowardice like Rep. Dan Goldman, primaried by the vile Brad Lander as he runs for re-election in Manhattan, who threw his own wife under the bus for daring to support Israel on social media.
Standing up to this madness shouldn’t be left to marginal figures like Hikind: Sooner or later, Democratic big dogs like Rep. Hakeem Jefferies and (especially) Sen. Chuck Schumer need to speak out, loud and proud.
Don’t sit silent as the antisemites take over your party and your city.
