Terrible statement for three reasons:
1) Antisemites are protesting a synagogue event, and he condemns the people inside the synagogue — not the mob outside.
2) Protecting citizens is not a favor from the mayor. It is the job.
3) And, as usual, he is wrong on the law. Let me explain:
1) Antisemites are protesting a synagogue event, and he condemns the people inside the synagogue — not the mob outside.
2) Protecting citizens is not a favor from the mayor. It is the job.
3) And, as usual, he is wrong on the law. Let me explain:
https://x.com/MarkGoldfeder/status/2051735557969977781
Let’s start with the most basic point. There is no “international law” that binds New York City. In fact, what most activists call “international law” is a loose assortment of nonbinding resolutions, aspirational norms, and political declarations.
None of these override the constitutional framework under which American cities operate. NYC is governed by the Constitution, federal statutes, state law, and municipal code. Federal law preempts state/local law and nothing is displaced by any external international regime.
A mayor may condemn unlawful conduct. He can also express political views. He should not use his office to condemn a lawful synagogue event simply because he dislikes its viewpoint or subject matter.
Unless the event is unlawful, his job is to protect people entering the synagogue, not to decide which Jewish events are morally acceptable.
Mamdani is free to oppose Israeli policy. He is not free, as mayor, to suggest that a synagogue deserves scrutiny or condemnation for hosting an aliyah event.
When a mob targets a house of worship, the mayor’s job is to protect the worshippers, not launder the mob’s theory of why they had it coming.
He is also wrong about the law. Even on Mamdani’s imagined “international law” terms, nothing at this event would be illegal.
Mamdani is attempting to parrot longstanding Palestinian talking points about supposed violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Conventions but misstates even those.
Those provisions, even on their most aggressive reading, regulate state action: forcible transfer, deportation, or state-directed population movement.
They do not make it illegal for private individuals to move voluntarily, and they certainly do not make it illegal for a New York City synagogue to host an organization that discusses or promotes voluntary relocation.
Yet, Mamdani vaguely invoked “international law” as a cudgel against American Jews engaged in a perfectly lawful, constitutionally protected gathering.
In so doing, he implied that the synagogue itself had invited scrutiny that somehow rendered the surrounding intimidation understandable or even justified.
The First Amendment not only protects gatherings like the one at Park East, but it also prohibits government officials from defining theology, disfavoring a religious group, or engaging in viewpoint discrimination.
However difficult it may be for Mamdani given his long record of anti-Zionist activism as mayor he is constitutionally obligated to show equal respect to the vast majority of New York Jews who see Zionism, including celebrating aliyah, as integral to their Jewish identity.
Mamdani can keep his foreign-policy lectures. New York Jews need a mayor who will protect synagogues without first opining on whether he approves of the Jews inside.
Do better.
Do better.
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