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Leading Jewish groups castigate New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for inflammatory claims he made yesterday in a video announcing that he could not arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Before stating that the city could not make the arrest, Mamdani said Israel was targeting “neonatal care centers,” starving “countless people,” “gunning down hundreds of aid workers and journalists,” and that Americans were paying “for the bombs that do the killing.”
The claims are largely exaggerated or based on scanty or questionable evidence.
The UJA-Federation of New York, the leading Jewish group in the city, says, “New Yorkers elected a mayor to lead this city — not to make Israel the centerpiece of your political grandstanding.”
“Your video is rife with distortions and disinformation. At a time of rising antisemitism, repeatedly singling out and vilifying the world’s only Jewish state for perceived political benefit is repugnant, puts Jews at greater risk — and leaves many Jewish New Yorkers feeling targeted and unwelcome in the city we call home,” the federation says in a statement. “Shame on you.”
Mamdani has often sparred with leading Jewish groups, but the UJA statement marked an unusually harsh criticism of the mayor.
The head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Mark Treyger, says, “The Mayor already knew he lacked the legal authority to carry out this irresponsible campaign promise.”
Mamdani’s video, including his call for federal authorities to arrest Netanyahu, “places the NYPD in an untenable position, further inflames tensions in the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel, and distracts from urgent local responsibilities… including responding to a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak,” Treyger says.
The Orthodox Union, a leading national Jewish group that is headquartered in New York, says, “Mayor Mamdani’s video endangers Jewish New Yorkers.”
“He peddles lies and misinformation that risk inciting further violence against Jews. It is a betrayal of his oath of office and his own commitment to protect all New Yorkers,” the Orthodox Union says.
“The Mayor’s singular focus on Prime Minister Netanyahu is a telling reminder of his obsession with the actions of only one country, the Jewish state,” the statement says. “It is time for the Mayor to focus on the considerable needs of New York instead of playing prosecutor for the cameras.”
The Anti-Defamation League says, “Hate crimes. Rising cost of living. Legionnaires’ outbreak. Parasitic infections. Flash floods. But sure, let’s focus on trying to arrest Israel’s prime minister.”
“Glad to see the NYC mayor has his priorities straight,” the ADL says.
The post ‘Shame on you’: Leading Jewish groups slam Mamdani for claims in Netanyahu arrest video appeared first on The Times of Israel.
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