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What you need to know today
- Blakeman to Hasidic Jews: Mamdani won’t stop arsonists and rapists from targeting you. At a private meeting with Hasidic leaders in Williamsburg on Sunday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said that Mayor Zohran Mamdani would not stop antisemitic riots, according to The New York Times. Blakeman said at the meeting, “If there is rioting here, if they’re burning down the yeshivas and your shuls, and burning down your house and raping your women, you think Zohran Mamdani is going to stop them?” Blakeman, the Jewish executive of Nassau County, has repeatedly directed vitriolic rhetoric at Mamdani. Mark Levine, the city comptroller who backs Gov. Kathy Hochul and has criticized Mamdani’s Israel views, said of Blakeman, “It’s wildly irresponsible rhetoric for an elected official to spread this kind of fear.” Blakeman will face off tonight with Hochul, a Democrat, for the only televised debate of the race, which polls show Hochul leading by between nine and 19 points.
- Lawler defended Trump’s crackdown on universities for alleged antisemitism. Incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is being challenged by Democratic nominee Cait Conley for his vulnerable seat in the Hudson Valley, defended the Trump administration’s enforcement actions against elite universities in an interview with The New York Editorial Board. Lawler was asked about Trump’s crackdown by Alyssa Katz, the former editor-in-chief of the Forward, who noted that she is Jewish and had “serious concerns” about “academic freedom.” Lawler responded that “academia allowed antisemitism to fester on these campuses under the guise of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
- A FedEx driver went viral for his renditions of Hasidic music. The driver in Lakewood won over Hasidic hearts across New York for playing and singing along to Hasidic music on his delivery route, saying the prominent Orthodox singer Hershy Weinberger was one of his favorites. “I work in the Jewish community, so I might as well know something about the culture,” he told 5 Towns Central in an Instagram video. “The main thing is kids. So when I’m driving by a school… when I play this, they jumping around.”
- “The Righteous Road Trip” documentary is making its NYC debut. The 40-minute documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth follows a Jew’s 31,000-kilometer journey across Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to distribute Christmas trees and gifts to Righteous Among the Nations, or people who saved Jews during the Holocaust. It’s screening at the Museum of Modern Art tonight and the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Wednesday.
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The post Blakeman targets Mamdani in meeting with Hasidic leaders appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.