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Jewish legal organizations blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for failing to appoint a single Jewish person to the 18-person committee tasked with advising the mayor on his judicial nominations.
“Your recent announcement of appointees to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary has left us deeply disappointed,” read a joint letter from the leaders of the Queens Brandeis Association, Jewish Lawyers Guild, the Brooklyn Brandeis Society and the Bronx County Jewish Bar Association.
“Not a single Jewish attorney, former judge or legal professional was appointed to a committee your administration described as one that would be ‘truly reflective of New York City,’” the letter continued.
Ali Najmi is the chair of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. Paul Martinka
The decision, the leaders said, “follows a troubling pattern that has left many Jewish New Yorkers feeling increasingly marginalized” — after Hizzoner rejected using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and his omitted Jewish neighborhoods on a map of immigrant enclaves in the city.
The Jewish community is feeling particularly vulnerable and in need of representation after last week’s hate-fueled attack on a Jewish man outside of a synagogue on the Upper West Side, the letter states.
“We urge you to correct this exclusion by appointing qualified Jewish members to the Advisory Committee and to reaffirm that Jewish New Yorkers are entitled to the same representation, respect and protection as every other community.”
The letter’s signers, Elizabeth Forspan, Benjamin Kaufman, Jeffrey Miller and Matthew Kluger, said they were particularly bothered by Mamdani’s rejection of retired Appellate Division Justice John Leventhal.
However, Mamdani’s office shot back that Leventhal was denied over his ties to convicted sex trafficker and notorious madam for Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, rather than his religion.
“To date, Mayor Mamdani has had the privilege of appointing a dozen qualified judges from a range of backgrounds, including Jewish judges,” Joe Calvello, Mamdani’s press secretary, said told Politico in a statement.
“When informed that Mr. Leventhal served on [Ghislaine] Maxwell’s legal team, the Mamdani administration chose not to move forward with his appointment. Any suggestion that the decision around MACJ was motivated by religion is false.”
The Post has reached out to City Hall for comment.
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The committee is chaired by Ali Najm — an attorney and close ally to the mayor who has referred to him as his “brother” and who was a key part of the Democratic socialist’s sudden rise to power.
The news comes as Mamdani has faced heavy criticism from the Big Apple Jewish community, who have blamed his anti-Israel rhetoric on surging incidents of antisemitism.
Mamdani last week posted a video address on social media in which called Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to attend the UN General Assembly in September a “war criminal” who is not “not welcome” in New York City.
He also admitted the city has no authority to arrest him on a warrant from the International Criminal Court, of which the US is not a member.
Just two days later, an Asian man and a man in a Yamulke were stabbed on the Upper West Side by madman Raul Morales, who screamed “Allahu Akbar” during the attacks.
Morales is facing attempted murder and hate crime charges, and is looking at up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Jewish leaders held a press conference outside of the synagogue where the man was attacked the following day and blasted the mayor’s anti-Israel stance.
“Mayor Mamdani, stop fanning the flames of hatred and division. The consequences are not abstract, they are playing out on our streets,” said UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein.
