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What you need to know today
- Mamdani appointed a Jewish scholar to lead the city’s judicial panel. Douglas Keith was named the executive director of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, City Hall announced Tuesday. Douglas was a longtime employee at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The mayor was previously criticized after announcing the judiciary panel, whose 18 members did not include any Jews, the Jerusalem News Syndicate reported.
- Lander was detained in the West Bank while helping Palestinian farmers. New York Democratic House candidate Brad Lander was detained by the Israeli military in the West Bank on Wednesday. Lander, who joined an international group of volunteers and rabbis to protect Palestinian farmers harvesting olives from the threat of violence by Israeli settlers, said on X that he was released hours later but dozens of other participants remained in custody. “The occupation is a crime under international law,” he said. “Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.” The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that “harvesting in that area requires prior coordination with the relevant authorities.”
- Bloomberg is sending $80 million to Democrats — but not DSA candidates. Billionaire and Jewish former Mayor Mike Bloomberg is funneling the funds in September and October to help Democrats in the midterm elections, The New York Times reported. None of the cash is going to candidates who align with the Democratic Socialists of America, said his adviser Howard Wolfson, adding that Bloomberg is concerned about what he views as leftward movement in the Democratic Party, especially regarding Israel.
- Century-old photos survived the Holocaust — and years later, a library book mix-up. The New York Times chronicles the journey of photos of New Yorker Moses Frier’s family, which were taken in Poland before the Holocaust and almost got lost in a library book.
- Celebrate 90 years of Steve Reich. The influential Jewish composer will be the star of an event marking his 90th birthday on Thursday at Carnegie Hall. The evening will feature many of his top collaborators in works that span five decades.
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