BY ELIANA JONSHON SEP 30 2026 ----------------------- Zohran Mamdani speaking at a May 11, 2021 rally to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel. New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a strategy to combat antisemitism that was immediately denounced by major Jewish organizations, who said Mamdani’s own anti-Israel rhetoric is part of the problem his plan fails to confront, the Free Beacon’s Ira Stoll reports. The UJA-Federation of New York, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the New York Board of Rabbis issued a joint statement blasting the plan. “It fails to address a central issue that the mayor himself has perpetuated: rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers,” the groups said. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt was similarly critical. “Security grants do not substitute for moral clarity,” he said, arguing that Mamdani’s “actions or inactions only serve to help fuel antisemitism in NYC.” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, was more direct: “Mamdani, you fan the flames and then shout ‘fire.’ You are the one who kindled the hatred in New York City against Jews!” Mamdani rolled out the strategy with a nearly 5,000-word press release featuring supportive quotes from 38 politicians and community activists, many of them anti-Israel activists. Absent from the list was NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, whom Stoll calls “the sole member of the Mamdani administration with a scintilla of credibility in the mainstream Jewish community.” Stoll writes: Mayors under whom the Jewish community in New York City flourished—Ed Koch, Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg—didn’t need some elaborate office for combating antisemitism. There’s a case for simply scrapping the entire operation. The best thing for the Jews is pretty much the best thing for other New Yorkers—a pro-growth, tough-on-crime approach combined with aggressive surveillance of institutions that might pose terrorist threats. When I was a partner in a New York-based newspaper that faced a threat, Bloomberg’s police commissioner, Ray Kelly, had so many heavily armed personnel on our doorstep to protect us that my biggest worry was whether there was any ammunition remaining for the troops deployed at the time in Afghanistan and Iraq. And those were just the visible measures. Mamdani’s strategy promises “listening sessions” and “listening to constituents.” Maybe if Mamdani listens enough he will discover that, aside from a smattering of fringe figures, the Jewish community in his own city detests him. And for good reason. He, his father, and his wife have aligned themselves with those who would wipe the Jewish state of Israel off the map, while also aiming to eradicate the free market economy and associated system of strong property rights and rule of law in which American Jews have prospered. READ MORE: Mamdani Strategy on Protecting Jews Is Denounced by Jews ------------ https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mfP8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F16c0b7e5-227e-4aaf-bd79-0913f4a9fe93_1203x828.jpeg Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images) Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez says expanding health care access and lowering costs is a “top priority.” But the Washington Democrat does not provide health coverage to her campaign staffers, and a former mechanic at the auto shop she co-owns with her husband says the business didn’t offer health coverage either, the Free Beacon’s Ethan Barton reports. “When I was there we did not have health care,” said Colton Stender, who worked full-time at Dean’s Car Care from 2016 to 2019. “I’m pretty damn sure that no one else was.” A 2021 job listing for the shop did not list health insurance as a benefit. Campaign finance filings show spending on other forms of insurance, including liability and workers’ compensation, but no direct payments for a group health plan. Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign also pays Gusto, which can administer employee benefits, though the filings do not specify what services it provides. Her 2022 and 2024 campaigns show a similar pattern. That stands in stark contrast to Gluesenkamp Perez’s rhetoric on the campaign trail. “No one should have to choose between groceries and medicine, or delay care because they’re worried about the next bill,” a February fundraising email said. The following month, Gluesenkamp Perez pledged to keep “fighting to expand access and lower costs” because “all of us deserve access to affordable, quality health care.” “The disconnect between her stated concerns about health care and her refusal to provide coverage for her campaign staff comes as she faces what’s expected to be a difficult bid to hold her swing seat in Washington’s Third Congressional District,” Barton writes. “It’s also the latest example of Gluesenkamp Perez—whose political brand revolves around relating to the financial burdens her working-class and small business-owner constituents face—making statements that are at odds with her record.” Gluesenkamp Perez has routinely used her auto shop to portray herself as a hands-on, blue-collar worker, running campaign ads and posting footage depicting her inspecting auto parts and sliding out from underneath cars. But a since-deleted portion of the shop’s website said she worked “mostly behind the scenes managing the business side of Dean’s” and “enjoys making spreadsheets and burning the cookies for our holiday gift boxes.” READ MORE: Rep Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Says Expanding Health Care Access Is ‘Top Priority’ But Doesn’t Provide Coverage For Campaign Staff /// 1 ramon santos peñalva