Mamdani Telling Synagogue Targeted by Mob That Pro-Israel Event is a Violation of International Law is a Violation of the Separation of Church & State

This past Wednesday evening, an anti-Semitic mob gathered in front of the Park East Synagogue on New York's Upper East Side.

This mob objected to the Park East Synagogue hosting Nefesh B'nefesh, an organization which assists Jews in moving to Israel. They expressed their objections with some of the following slogans:

From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada!!!

Resistance you make us proud, take another settler out!!!

Kill the Jews!!!

Any decent human being would have condemned such actions with hesitation or equivocation.

But New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is not a decent human being.

Mamdani, through his press secretary Dora Pekec, issued the following statement the next day:

The Mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so. He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.

Where shall I begin?

First, while Mamdani may "discourage" what occurred at Park East synagogue, he did not condemn the acts of the mob.

Second, not only did Mamdani not condemn threats of violence, but he also then took it upon himself to cast blame upon the synagogue for hosting the event in the first place claiming it violated international law.

Third, this is utter nonsense. Whether Mamdani likes it or not, Israel is the ancestral homeland of the Jews. The Park East synagogue is fully within its rights to host an organization which assists Jews in moving to Israel.

Fourth, while Mamdani condemned Park East synagogue for violating international law, he did not condemn the mob for violating any local laws much less threaten any sanctions if they repeated their behavior.

Mamdani's statement is discouraging in view of both the friendly reception he received from President Trump at the White House yesterday while Kamala Harris, in an interview with The Bulwark's Tim Miller prior to the incident, claimed Democrats had nothing to fear from Mamdani while praising him for energizing voters. Well, he certainly energized the mob in front of the Park East synagogue.

Last I checked, this country has a separation of church and state. That goes for synagogue and city. Mamdani has no business telling the Park East synagogue or any house of worship how to use their sacred space. For Mamdani to do so is profane.