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What you need to know today
- A Capital One branch is graffitied with “PAL ACTION.” The bank’s branch on the Upper East Side also had its windows smashed, along with more graffiti that read “DROP ELBIT” on Monday, according to the NYPD. “PAL ACTION” appeared to reference Palestine Action, a U.K.-based group that targets defense suppliers tied to Israel. Capital One previously faced protests for a $90 million loan to Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturers. Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the vandalism in a statement to Gothamist, saying, “Today our Actionists showed Capital One the price of their complicity in genocide.” City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who is Jewish, said she urged police to investigate “whether this is a potential antisemitic hate crime.”
- Hochul tours Hasidic New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday addressed thousands of Hasidic girls at schools in Kiryas Joel, an Orange County village mostly populated by Hasidic Jews in the Satmar sect. She was greeted with chants of “with gratitude we salute to Governor Hochul” and “we feel proud and confident with Governor Hochul.”
- Lander is in the West Bank. New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander said he is visiting the West Bank this week as part of the “Protect the Harvest” coalition, which seeks to protect Palestinian farmers harvesting olives “in the face of state-sanctioned settler colonialism.” He is working with the groups Israelis for Peace and Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine.
- Three Jewish NY Democrats launched a PAC to counter anti-Zionism. Albany lobbyist and consultant Libby Post, Albany Common Councilmember Deborah Zamer and Schenectady County Legislator Michelle Ostrelich founded Aleinu-NY PAC, Jewish Insider reported. The state-level committee aims to support candidates with liberal views who also commit to fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Post told JI that it has gathered $5,000 in one week and will start interviewing candidates and making endorsements next year.
- Sen. Chuck Schumer pledged to fund Jewish security at a street naming for the JCRC-NY. The Senate minority leader spoke to a crowd on Monday in Midtown, where the corner of East 47th Street and Second Avenue was officially co-named as Jewish Community Relations Council of New York Way. “When I become — God-willing — majority leader, we will get even more money for the JCRC, and more money for our nonprofit security grant so desperately needed by the Jewish community and other communities facing this scourge of bigotry in America,” said Schumer.
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The post Capital One branch has windows smashed, ‘PAL ACTION’ graffitied appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.