Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped the pinnacle of a left-leaning Jewish group as his antisemitism czar Thursday — however she’s already dealing with the ire of some Orthodox Jewish leaders.
Phylisa Knowledge, 39, the previous government 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 battle in opposition to antisemitism in New York Metropolis, Albany and throughout the nation,” Mamdani stated in a press release. “Day in and time out, throughout all 5 boroughs, we’ll 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 identified fierce critic of Israel — who helps the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions motion in opposition to 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 gaggle that pushes for oversight of secular training in yeshivas.
Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder claimed the group “slanders yeshivas and has executed irrevocable hurt to the Jewish training system” — as he referred to as Knowledge’s appointment a “shanda,” the Yiddish time period for shame, and stated that it ought to be withdrawn.
Felder stated that though the workplace was created out of necessity resulting from rising antisemitism, the brand new head honcho might solely gas Jewish New Yorkers’ anxieties and be used to “whitewash and legitimize antisemitism.”
A 2023 Division of Training investigation discovered that 18 faculties run by the Hasidic Jewish neighborhood failed to supply primary secular training necessities in violation of state regulation.
“New York Metropolis has lengthy been a beacon of hope for the Jewish neighborhood,” Knowledge stated 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 facility of pluralistic democracy within the biggest metropolis on the earth,” she stated.
In a Thursday interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, Mamdani was pressed concerning 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 might have on the query of Israel and Palestine usually are not an impression on the significance and urgency we deal with the battle in opposition to antisemitism in New York Metropolis,” he stated.
Mamdani beforehand stated he would deal with “compliance somewhat than punishment” when it got here to yeshivas, and that chopping off funding can be “a step too far” for faculties that fail to satisfy secular training requirements.
“The Mayor and this administration consider that each little one deserves a superb, secure training that’s each prime quality and culturally related — and that personal non secular, private faculties are part of the material of our metropolis’s training system,” Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec stated in a press release.
Moshe Davis, the pinnacle of the workplace underneath Mayor Eric Adams, raised issues over the decide in a press release.
“I want Phylisa properly and genuinely hope she succeeds in making New York Metropolis safer for a Jewish neighborhood that’s understandably on edge. That stated, I’m involved about this appointment. The Mayor’s Workplace to Fight Antisemitism was constructed to be operational, not symbolic,” he stated.
