The Anti-Defamation League said that a senior hire announced by New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani had published antisemitic remarks on social media more than ten years ago.
On Tuesday, Mamdani selected Catherine Almonte Da Costa to serve as director of appointments in his incoming administration. Da Costa previously held a similar role during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure.
According to the ADL, it uncovered posts from Da Costa’s X account written in 2011 and 2012 that contained antisemitic language.
Among the posts cited by the organization was the statement, “Money hungry Jews smh.” The abbreviation “smh” refers to “shaking my head.”
The ADL said Da Costa also wrote, “Promoted to upstairs office today! Working alongside these rich Jewish peeps,” as well as, “Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.”
Shortly after the ADL made the posts public, the X account was removed.
In response, the ADL said, “We appreciate Da Costa has relationships with members of the Jewish community, but her posts require immediate explanation — not just from Ms. Da Costa, but also from the Mayor-Elect.”
The controversy followed another incident involving Mamdani’s team, after a separate staff member issued an apology last month for past social media posts that portrayed Israel in a demonizing manner.
Mamdani’s transition operation has also drawn scrutiny for including Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory, who has been accused of engaging in antisemitic conduct.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said the White House had not officially arranged a meeting with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, even as he indicated that the Israeli leader was eager to meet and that a visit was likely to take place in Florida.
Asked in the Oval Office whether Netanyahu would be coming to Mar-a-Lago later in the month, Trump replied, “We haven’t set it up formally, but he would like to see me,” adding, “He’ll probably come to see me in Florida.”
Despite repeated briefings from Netanyahu’s office over more than a week asserting that a meeting was scheduled for December 29, the White House had not issued any formal confirmation.
During the same exchange with reporters, Trump was also questioned about the possibility of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi joining the gathering in Florida. Trump responded warmly, saying, “I’d love to have him. El-Sissi is a friend of mine.”
According to a US official quoted by The Times of Israel, Washington had been exploring the idea of hosting a three-way meeting involving Trump, Sissi, and Netanyahu. The official said US officials believed progress toward that goal was made after American mediation helped persuade Israel to move forward with a major gas agreement with Egypt, following months of hesitation by Netanyahu.
However, the same official said Egypt showed significantly less interest in such a summit, citing ongoing objections to Israel’s actions in Gaza and reluctance to offer Netanyahu a political advantage during an election year.
{Matzav.com}
Authorities are investigating two separate acts of vandalism aimed at the Chabad Jewish Center at Michigan State University, incidents that unfolded just days apart and are being treated as hate crimes.
According to police, a swastika was spray-painted on the building, an act first reported by the Lansing State Journal. Law enforcement officials said the vandalism is under investigation as a hate-motivated incident.
Earlier in the week, the Chabad center disclosed on social media that a stone was hurled at one of its windows in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The center said no one was inside the building at the time, and the reinforced glass prevented damage.
The attacks in Michigan come amid a broader wave of antisemitic violence. This week alone, a mass shooting in Sydney, Australia targeted a Chabad event, and members of the Jewish community were assaulted in two separate incidents in New York City.
{Matzav.com}
Senior police officials and political leaders sharply condemned violent disturbances in Yerushalayim on Thursday after clashes between police and hundreds of chareidi youths left 13 officers wounded and led to multiple arrests.
Police Commissioner Danny Levy described the events as a “very grave incident,” pledging that authorities would “hold everyone involved to account.” His remarks came after officers were pelted with stones and other objects, a police vehicle was overturned, and riot-control measures, including tear gas and stun grenades, were deployed to regain control.
According to police, the unrest erupted following an incident involving a municipal parking inspector who was attacked while carrying out his duties. Two young men allegedly assaulted the inspector, kicking him and threatening to kill him, telling him they would “slaughter” him if he returned to the area. Officers responding to the scene detained one of the suspects, a move that quickly inflamed tensions in the neighborhood.
As word spread of the arrest, hundreds of young men surrounded the police in an attempt to free the detainee, and the situation rapidly escalated into full-scale rioting. Five of the injured officers were taken to hospital for treatment, while police confirmed that four suspects had been arrested by early evening.
Hebrew media reported that officers on the scene identified the initial assailants as draft evaders and attempted to transfer them to Military Police custody. Police statements, however, attributed the outbreak of violence solely to the parking enforcement incident and did not confirm whether draft evasion played a role.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, issued a strong condemnation, saying he “unequivocally condemns the extremist rioting in Yerushalayim,” and warning that attacks on police officers crossed a “red line.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leveled harsh criticism at the government, calling the events an “inconceivable failure of the government” and a sign of the “disintegration of government institutions.” In a statement, he said, “It’s unfathomable that chareidi draft evaders can avoid arrest just because they are engaging in violence. The defense minister and prime minister continue to encourage an enterprise of [draft] evasion and refusal on historic scales.”
Lapid’s comments also referred to separate overnight confrontations in Ramat Hasharon and Herzliya, where dozens of chareidi protesters blocked Military Police from detaining draft evaders.
Channel 12 reported that Wednesday night’s protests marked the third time this month that demonstrators had successfully prevented arrests of yeshiva students.
Additional condemnation came from across the political spectrum. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman labeled the Yerushalayim riot “an act of terrorism in every sense,” writing on X, “This is what happens when the country’s leadership is in the pocket of chareidi wheeler-dealers,” and adding that “patience has run out and the excuses are over, the nation demands enlistment for everyone!”
Democrats party chairman Yair Golan also blamed the government, saying the violence showed that “the draft dodgers understand that the law in Israel does not apply to them, that everything is permitted to them — and this is how it looks.” He added, “The backing for [draft] evasion, and for violence against security forces, comes from above. The prime minister and defense minister are responsible for these shocking scenes. It is time to draft everyone and restore law and order in Israel, for the sake of Israel’s security.”
{Matzav.com}
A social media post by Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri ignited sharp criticism on Thursday after he issued a harsh call directed at protesters confronting Israeli security forces.
The remarks came in the wake of demonstrations in which chareidi protesters hurled stones at IDF soldiers and police officers, an image that sparked outrage across parts of the political spectrum.
In the post, Shiri wrote: “Every protester who throws a rock at an IDF soldier has to end the day with a bullet in his knee. No less,”
Within roughly an hour, the MK removed the statement and sought to clarify his position. In a follow-up message, he wrote: “I deleted the post. The image of soldiers and police officers in Israel being stoned is unfathomable and is like a terrorist incident to me.”
Shiri went on to stress that the consequences of such actions could be far more severe, adding, “If a rock had hit a soldier and he had been injured, G-d forbid, the discussion about the limits of protest would certainly be completely different.”
Addressing the decision to take the post down, Shiri explained that his intent was not to inflame tensions with the chareidi public. “I deleted it because our country is on the precipice, and the purpose of the post was not to be hateful of the chareidim.”
{Matzav.com}
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas praised the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, calling it “the greatest day in Palestinian history,” Palestinian researcher Hani al-Masri said in a recent interview.
Al-Masri, the director general of Masarat—The Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies—spoke when asked by Palestinian content creator Ahmad Biqawi in a YouTube interview posted on Dec. 11 how Ramallah reacted on the morning of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
“This is the ‘authority’ people want the ‘Palestinian Authority’ to be? A terror-worshiping authority,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in an X post on Wednesday, accompanying the relevant clip from the interview. The ministry noted that al-Masri is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Yasser Arafat Foundation, saying he “knows a thing or two about the P.A.”
Al-Masri also said that the P.A. is continuing terror payments to the families of prisoners and “martyrs,” despite commitments to the European Union and the United States to end its “pay-for-slay” policy.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar highlighted the continuation of the P.A.’s payments policy in an X post on Wednesday, accusing Abbas of once again lying about ending the practice. He added that the P.A. is disguising payments to released murderers as pensions for members of the Palestinian Security Services.
“This is distorted. End ‘pay-for-slay’ now!” Sa’ar wrote.
{Matzav.com}
