Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped the top of a left-leaning Jewish group as his antisemitism czar Thursday — however she’s already going through the ire of some Orthodox Jewish leaders.
Phylisa Knowledge, 39, the previous govt director of the lefty group New York Jewish Agenda will lead the Mayor’s Workplace to Fight Anti-Semitism.
“Phylisa is a revered chief and highly effective voice within the combat towards antisemitism in New York Metropolis, Albany and throughout the nation,” Mamdani mentioned in a press release. “Day in and day trip, throughout all 5 boroughs, we are going to work collectively to root out antisemitism and construct a New York Metropolis the place Jewish New Yorkers are secure, revered, and free.”
Whereas Mamdani is a recognized fierce critic of Israel — who helps the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions motion towards the Jewish state — the group that Knowledge beforehand headed, NYJA, states it’s made up of “liberal and progressive Zionists” and opposes BDS, in accordance with its web site.
Knowledge additionally beforehand labored for Yaffed, a bunch that pushes for oversight of secular training in yeshivas.
Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder claimed the group “slanders yeshivas and has performed irrevocable hurt to the Jewish training system” — as he known as Knowledge’s appointment a “shanda,” the Yiddish time period for shame, and mentioned that it ought to be withdrawn.
Felder mentioned that though the workplace was created out of necessity resulting from rising antisemitism, the brand new head honcho may solely gasoline Jewish New Yorkers’ anxieties and be used to “whitewash and legitimize antisemitism.”
A 2023 Division of Schooling investigation discovered that 18 faculties run by the Hasidic Jewish group failed to supply primary secular training necessities in violation of state legislation.
“New York Metropolis has lengthy been a beacon of hope for the Jewish group,” Knowledge mentioned in a press release. “We are going to proceed to make sure that Jewish security and belonging stays on the core of this administration’s imaginative and prescient for a extra livable metropolis.
“In a time of rising hatred and concern, I look ahead to embracing this solemn duty—each to signify the varied array of Jewish voices to Metropolis Corridor on this important second, and to exhibit the ability of pluralistic democracy within the best metropolis on this planet,” she mentioned.
In a Thursday interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, Mamdani was pressed in regards to the coverage variations between him and Knowledge — noting her assist for Israel present as a Jewish state and for yeshiva reform.
“The variations of opinion we could have on the query of Israel and Palestine will not be an impression on the significance and urgency we deal with the combat towards antisemitism in New York Metropolis,” he mentioned.
Mamdani beforehand mentioned he would concentrate on “compliance slightly than punishment” when it got here to yeshivas, and that chopping off funding could be “a step too far” for faculties that fail to fulfill secular training requirements.
“The Mayor and this administration consider that each little one deserves an excellent, secure training that’s each prime quality and culturally related — and that personal non secular, personal faculties are part of the material of our metropolis’s training system,” Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec mentioned in a press release.
Moshe Davis, the top of the workplace underneath Mayor Eric Adams, raised considerations over the decide in a press release.
“I want Phylisa nicely and genuinely hope she succeeds in making New York Metropolis safer for a Jewish group that’s understandably on edge. That mentioned, I’m involved about this appointment. The Mayor’s Workplace to Fight Antisemitism was constructed to be operational, not symbolic,” he mentioned.
