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New York Times
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Shapiro Says Mamdani Fails to Condemn ‘Blatantly Antisemitic' Rhetoric
Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania has accused Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, of failing to condemn 'blatantly antisemitic' rhetoric by 'extremists,' wading into a party-wide debate over the Democratic nominee and his views on Israel. During the primary, Mr. Mamdani refused to condemn the phrase 'globalize the intifada,' though he has more recently appeared to soften his defense of the phrase. Palestinians and their supporters have called the phrase a rallying cry for liberation, but many Jews consider it a call to violence, a direct reference to deadly attacks on civilians in Israel by Palestinians in uprisings in the 1980s and 2000s. The critique from Mr. Shapiro, one of the country's most prominent Jewish elected officials, underscored how deeply Mr. Mamdani's victory has shaken Democratic leaders, who have yet to unite behind Mr. Mamdani's campaign. 'He seemed to run a campaign that excited New Yorkers. He also seemed to run a campaign where he left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things,' Mr. Shapiro told Jewish Insider in an interview the news outlet published on Wednesday. Mr. Mamdani's vocal support for Palestinian rights, a cause he has described as foundational to his political activism, has forced Democrats into a high-profile debate over whether outspoken opposition to Israel and its government — and even questioning its existence as a Jewish state — is a position that should be embraced by the party. He has described Israel's actions in Gaza as a 'genocide,' and, when pressed, has not said if Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, instead endorsing equal rights for all religious and ethnic groups there. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Key takeaways from trial over Trump administration's ‘ideological deportation' policy
A trial over the extraordinary measures taken by the Trump administration to detain foreign scholars over their pro-Palestinian speech revealed previously unknown details about the extent to which immigration officials broke with precedent in their campaign against university activists. The case, which was brought by the national American Association of University Professors (AAUP); its Harvard, Rutgers and New York University chapters; and the Middle East Studies Association (Mesa) after the arrest of several noncitizen students and scholars who had been outspoken about Palestinian rights, marked the first time the administration was asked to defend its position that it has the authority to deport noncitizens over constitutionally protected speech. The plaintiffs argued the government's actions amounted to an illegal 'ideological deportation' policy. 'The Trump administration is imprisoning and expelling people because of their political viewpoints,' said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, which represented the plaintiffs along with the law firm Sher Tremonte. 'It would be difficult to conceive of a policy more offensive to the first amendment, or to the values the first amendment was meant to serve.' While the four arrested scholars – including the Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk – have all been released from detention while their legal cases proceed, others have left the country to avoid arrest and one is in hiding. The trial ended in Boston on Monday. The judge in the case, Reagan appointee William G Young, is not expected to rule on the case for at least a few weeks. Any decision he makes will almost certainly be appealed, possibly up to the US supreme court. These are some of the revelations that came out of the trial. Among the trial's most explosive revelations was the fact that the government relied on dossiers compiled by the rightwing Canary Mission, a secretive, pro-Israel group dedicated to doxing thousands of pro-Palestinian students, scholars and activists, as well as information by the far-right Zionist group Betar USA, which even the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League lists as an extremist organisation. Both Canary Mission and Betar had been involved in compiling 'deportation lists', sending 'thousands of names' to government officials. While that had been previously reported, the testimony of senior US immigration officials revealed for the first time the extent to which the government relied on such lists. Peter Hatch, a senior official within Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division, testified that the agency assembled a group of officials – known internally as the 'Tiger Team' – dedicated to investigating student protesters. The team rapidly compiled more than 100 reports based on a list of 5,000 individuals identified on the Canary Mission website. The dossiers the agency compiled on Öztürk, Khalil and others highlighted their pro-Palestinian speech, Hatch testified, included their Canary Mission pages, as well as, in Öztürk's case, an op-ed she wrote in a student paper. 'The direction was to look at the website,' Hatch said in court. 'That we should look at the individuals named in the Canary Mission website.' Four of the officers involved in Öztürk and Khalil's arrests, as well as in the arrests of Columbia graduate Mohsen Mahdawi and Georgetown postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri, said that orders to prioritize the scholars had come from high up within the Trump administration. They also admitted they had never taken part in such arrests before. A New England Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agent involved in Mahdawi's arrest, William Crogan, said that he had never seen a noncitizen removed from the US based on similar factual allegations and that his superiors had ordered him to prioritize the case. Patrick Cunningham, an Ice agent in Boston, said the same of Öztürk's case, while Darren McCormack, an agent in New York, said that the request to arrest Khalil was unusual and that he was told the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the White House were specifically interested in Khalil's case. Andre Watson, a senior HSI official, testified that early in the Trump administration, Ice and the state department coordinated on a new process to implement the president's executive orders targeting student protesters. During the trial, the government's attorneys sought to block the release of documents detailing its processes and reasons for revoking student visas and issuing determinations of removability for green card holders such as Khalil and Mahdawi. The records for only five of the targeted students were released in the end; many others were not. The government also succeeded in blocking the release of a state department report detailing the administration's policies on the matter. The government has claimed the authority to deport noncitizens who have committed no crimes but whose presence it deems poses a threat to US foreign policy and national security, and it has said that the students' presence in the US interfered with its stated efforts to combat antisemitism. The US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment but in court filings it called claims of an ideological deportation policy the product of plaintiffs' 'imagination'. But John Armstrong, the most senior official at the state department's bureau of consular affairs, admitted under questioning that statements critical of Israel or US foreign policy could qualify noncitizens for deportation. He also admitted that officials who were instructed to compile allegations about the individuals targeted received no guidance about what constitutes antisemitism even as they sometimes invoked 'antisemitic conduct' in their memos. The administration's lawyers have also equivocated on whether noncitizens have the same constitutional rights as US citizens, at one point saying they do, but later adding that there are 'nuances' related to national security, immigration and foreign policy matters. Both citizen and noncitizen scholars testified about the climate of fear created by the arrests. Megan Hyska, a Canadian philosophy professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, said in court that she decided not to publish an op-ed she had written about organising resistance to the Trump administration's policies out of fear of being targeted for arrest. Nadje Al-Ali, a German anthropologist and former director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University, said she canceled plans to travel abroad and stopped pursuing research related to Palestine because of similar concerns. Veena Dubal, the AAUP's general counsel, testified that the government's fearmongering campaign has fundamentally altered the group's activities. She said that members who had previously been very active within the group stopped attending meetings. Aslı Bâli, Mesa's president, warned in a statement to the Guardian that the impact of the government's policies risked only growing worse. 'The government is abducting individuals, and thereby separating families and squandering public resources, purely on the basis of protected political speech that they disagree with,' she said. 'They need to be held to account, and our rights need to be defended, because otherwise we will find these protections gone – and the chilling effect will be pervasive.'
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Dozens arrested around the UK at protests to support proscribed group Palestine Action
LONDON — British police arrested dozens of people for supporting a banned Palestinian rights organization on Saturday as protests over the government's decision to outlaw the group continued for a third weekend. Waving placards reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,' demonstrators gathered in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Londonderry and Truro.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In a shift, Mamdani tells business leaders he will discourage use of the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,' sources tell CNN
(CNN) — Zohran Mamdani told a group of top business leaders in New York City on Tuesday that he would discourage the use of the phrase 'globalize the intifada,' according to two people who were in the room during the meeting, marking a notable shift in rhetoric for the Democratic nominee for mayor as the campaign enters the general election. Gathered alongside approximately 150 prominent business leaders at the offices of Tishman Speyer on Tuesday, Dr. Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer — who is the son of Holocaust survivors — asked Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor to explain his previous defense of the phrase 'globalize the intifada.' Mamdani, who has not used the phrase himself, has said he believes the phrase to be a rallying cry for Palestinian human rights, and refused to condemn its use when asked during his primary campaign. But during Tuesday's meeting, Mamdani also told the packed room he understood why the phrase is also seen as a call to violence against Jews, why it is painful and triggering for them, and that he would discourage its use in the future, the two attendees told CNN. Bourla, who has publicly spoken about his mother's Holocaust survival story, read off a set of facts and historical data points describing what Jews suffered during the Holocaust and defended Israel's military action in Gaza, the attendees added. The meeting was convened by Partnership for New York, a nonprofit organization that represents some of the city's largest corporations, law firms and banks. '(Bourla) challenged him on characterizing Israel activities in Gaza as a genocide,' Kathryn Wylde, CEO of Partnership for New York, told CNN in an interview. 'It was tense. I don't think everyone in the room was satisfied with his answer but he did show that he was empathetic to the concerns of Jewish people.' CNN has reached out to Bourla and Pfizer. The topic dominated headlines in the weeks leading up to the primary election last month. Now, as Mamdani campaigns toward the general election, where he will face both incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his adjustment in tone reflects his campaign's effort to appeal to a broader swath of voters, including Jewish New Yorkers who might be hesitant to support Mamdani in part because of his criticism of Israel. 'Zohran appreciated the meeting yesterday, and felt it was a constructive, honest discussion,' Jeffrey Lerner, a spokesperson for Mamdani, told CNN in a statement. 'We look forward to the opportunity to build on this conversation, even in navigating disagreement on fiscal policy. Zohran continues to believe that working in partnership is the best way to deliver an affordable city for all New Yorkers.' The 90-minute meeting was cordial despite some pointed questions, the two people who were present said. In attendance were leaders from a range of different companies, including the Bank of New York, Macy's, and Tapestry, a luxury brand company; leaders of private equity firms; and several leaders in real estate, including Rob Speyer of Tishman Speyer and Jeff Blau of Related Companies. Mamdani is expected to hold a second meeting with the Partnership for New York on Wednesday, this time in front of tech leaders. The conversation will be moderated by AlleyCorp's founder and CEO Kevin Ryan. 'There are those who have an ideological or religious problem with his stance on capitalism and the larger Jewish question — they walked away more afraid than ever because of how smart he is,' Wylde said. 'But there were others that feel there is an air of inevitability, that he is a one-in-a-generation candidate and came across as someone who is open to listening and learning.' Mamdani's meeting with business leaders is a standard move for a Democratic nominee. His proposal to raise taxes on the city's wealthiest inhabitants and freeze the rent for residents living in approximately 1 million rent-stabilized apartments is concerning to many business leaders who believe the city's tax base will be harmed. Wylde said it's not just the threat of big corporations leaving the city, but rather the fear that if the city's services, quality of life and public safety begin to decline, combined with an increase in taxes, it will become much harder to attract and keep new talent in the city. 'He underestimates the vulnerability of the city,' Wylde said. For Mamdani, it was an opportunity to introduce himself to an audience unfamiliar with him and overly skeptical of many of his proposals. Wylde said that over all she thought Mamdani struck the right tone by listening and trying to assuage fears in the room. 'The way he responded is by saying that he is listening and will learn and that he is open. If that is true, that is very comforting,' Wylde said. Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
16-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
In a shift, Mamdani tells business leaders he will discourage use of the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,' sources tell CNN
(CNN) — Zohran Mamdani told a group of top business leaders in New York City on Tuesday that he would discourage the use of the phrase 'globalize the intifada,' according to two people who were in the room during the meeting, marking a notable shift in rhetoric for the Democratic nominee for mayor as the campaign enters the general election. Gathered alongside approximately 150 prominent business leaders at the offices of Tishman Speyer on Tuesday, Dr. Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer — who is the son of Holocaust survivors — asked Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor to explain his previous defense of the phrase 'globalize the intifada.' Mamdani, who has not used the phrase himself, has said he believes the phrase to be a rallying cry for Palestinian human rights, and refused to condemn its use when asked during his primary campaign. But during Tuesday's meeting, Mamdani also told the packed room he understood why the phrase is also seen as a call to violence against Jews, why it is painful and triggering for them, and that he would discourage its use in the future, the two attendees told CNN. Bourla, who has publicly spoken about his mother's Holocaust survival story, read off a set of facts and historical data points describing what Jews suffered during the Holocaust and defended Israel's military action in Gaza, the attendees added. The meeting was convened by Partnership for New York, a nonprofit organization that represents some of the city's largest corporations, law firms and banks. '(Bourla) challenged him on characterizing Israel activities in Gaza as a genocide,' Kathryn Wylde, CEO of Partnership for New York, told CNN in an interview. 'It was tense. I don't think everyone in the room was satisfied with his answer but he did show that he was empathetic to the concerns of Jewish people.' CNN has reached out to Bourla and Pfizer. The topic dominated headlines in the weeks leading up to the primary election last month. Now, as Mamdani campaigns toward the general election, where he will face both incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his adjustment in tone reflects his campaign's effort to appeal to a broader swath of voters, including Jewish New Yorkers who might be hesitant to support Mamdani in part because of his criticism of Israel. 'Zohran appreciated the meeting yesterday, and felt it was a constructive, honest discussion,' Jeffrey Lerner, a spokesperson for Mamdani, told CNN in a statement. 'We look forward to the opportunity to build on this conversation, even in navigating disagreement on fiscal policy. Zohran continues to believe that working in partnership is the best way to deliver an affordable city for all New Yorkers.' The 90-minute meeting was cordial despite some pointed questions, the two people who were present said. In attendance were leaders from a range of different companies, including the Bank of New York, Macy's, and Tapestry, a luxury brand company; leaders of private equity firms; and several leaders in real estate, including Rob Speyer of Tishman Speyer and Jeff Blau of Related Companies. Mamdani is expected to hold a second meeting with the Partnership for New York on Wednesday, this time in front of tech leaders. The conversation will be moderated by AlleyCorp's founder and CEO Kevin Ryan. 'There are those who have an ideological or religious problem with his stance on capitalism and the larger Jewish question — they walked away more afraid than ever because of how smart he is,' Wylde said. 'But there were others that feel there is an air of inevitability, that he is a one-in-a-generation candidate and came across as someone who is open to listening and learning.' Mamdani's meeting with business leaders is a standard move for a Democratic nominee. His proposal to raise taxes on the city's wealthiest inhabitants and freeze the rent for residents living in approximately 1 million rent-stabilized apartments is concerning to many business leaders who believe the city's tax base will be harmed. Wylde said it's not just the threat of big corporations leaving the city, but rather the fear that if the city's services, quality of life and public safety begin to decline, combined with an increase in taxes, it will become much harder to attract and keep new talent in the city. 'He underestimates the vulnerability of the city,' Wylde said. For Mamdani, it was an opportunity to introduce himself to an audience unfamiliar with him and overly skeptical of many of his proposals. Wylde said that over all she thought Mamdani struck the right tone by listening and trying to assuage fears in the room. 'The way he responded is by saying that he is listening and will learn and that he is open. If that is true, that is very comforting,' Wylde said.
