Carol Platt Liebau: New York City and the Jewish Question

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently announced the people will advise him on his judicial appointments. Notably, not even one of the mayor’s 18-person Judicial Advisory Panel is Jewish.

This is no small feat in a city where one in eight residents is Jewish – and between thirty-five and fifty percent of the city bar is Jewish. In fact, the odds of this omission of a single Jew occurring by chance has been estimated at four ten-thousandths of one percent.

Alone, this exclusion would be disturbing. But it’s part of a broader pattern. Mamdani has reversed orders barring city agencies from participating in boycotts or divestment efforts targeting Israel, and omitted historic Jewish neighborhoods from a map highlighting immigrant enclaves.

Antisemitism is the canary in the coal mine for a sick society. It’s rearing its ugly head in New York City.

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