Andrew Cuomo is now openly arguing that his defeat in the New York City mayoral race wasn’t the result of Zohran Mamdani’s surge — but Curtis Sliwa’s presence on the ballot. In a lengthy appearance on 77 WABC, Cuomo insisted that the Republican contender siphoned off just enough votes to derail his path to City Hall.
In the interview, Cuomo repeatedly branded Sliwa “a total fraud for decades,” charging that his candidacy served no purpose other than sabotaging Cuomo’s campaign. He said bluntly that if Sliwa had stepped aside, he “would’ve won” the race against the now–Mayor-Elect.
Cuomo discussed the election outcome with former Governor David Paterson, who admitted he had “never heard” of Mamdani’s name until earlier in the year and questioned how Mamdani “able to do what he did.” That remark opened the door for Cuomo to argue that the race was defined more by Republican missteps than by Mamdani’s rise.
Looking back, Cuomo claimed he always expected Sliwa to bow out. “I always believed he [Sliwa] would drop out because there was no way for him to win,” he said, insisting that Sliwa’s only role was to “be a spoiler and be responsible for Zohran’s victory.” Cuomo said he remained stunned that “as a Republican, he would … could live with himself and the Republicans could live with him as the person who elected Zohran, which is exactly what happened.”
Cuomo emphasized that even a minor shift in the numbers would have reshaped the contest. “If he had dropped out, I would have won, I’m convinced,” he said. “Because I would have gotten that seven, I would’ve been about a point from Zohran, but it would have changed the whole dynamic.”
He also accused Sliwa of spending the campaign “with the clown show,” directing far more fire at Cuomo than at Mamdani. When Paterson noted that Sliwa’s relatives had been calling the station claiming he wasn’t given equal time, Cuomo countered that WABC and Sid Rosenberg “made Sliwa” and “gave him tremendous coverage.”
Cuomo then revisited Sliwa’s controversial history, claiming the media ignored it. “Again, talking about election coverage — nobody ever mentioned that Sliwa has been a total fraud for decades,” he said, pointing to past scandals. He referenced the period “when it turned out that the Guardian Angels and Sliwa made up a whole raft of stories of rescues that they did, that turned out not to be true — that Sliwa said he was kidnapped by the New York Police Department and held, and then admitted that wasn’t true.”
By the end of the conversation, Cuomo summed up his view plainly: “I believe he cost me the election,” asserting once more that he would have prevailed had Sliwa not entered the race.
His comments followed Mamdani’s sweeping victory, which Breitbart News noted came after “consistent polling” showed him in the lead. Final totals reported by CNN put Mamdani at 50.4 percent, Cuomo at 41.6 percent, and Sliwa at 7.1 percent.
The tension between Sliwa and WABC had flared before Election Day as well. In a particularly heated moment during an earlier interview, Sid Rosenberg warned Sliwa he was self-sabotaging. “So far, you’ve been on this show for eight minutes, and all you’ve talked about is Cuomo,” Rosenberg told him. “And, I know you hate him, and I’m going to be honest with you, Curtis — because we’ve been friends for a long time — I don’t feel like you’re running against Mamdani anymore.”
{Matzav.com}
Israeli emergency crews on Monday rescued a teenage boy who had been trapped for roughly nine hours atop a crane suspended over a high-rise building in Yerushalayim.
Channel 12 News reported that the 15-year-old, stranded on a small platform hanging from the crane’s hook atop a 36-story building, phoned Fire and Rescue Services himself, reportedly telling them: “I need help, I’m stuck. I wanted to see the view.”
Petty Officer Eyal Cohen, deputy commander of the Yerushalayim District Fire and Rescue Station, said the boy had climbed to a height of about 328 feet around midnight, slipped and was “miraculously” stopped by a counterweight.
“He screamed throughout the night,” Cohen said. “The report came in the morning, and crews from the Ha’uma Station rescued him professionally. Only by a miracle did he make it out alive.”
Rescuers from the Yerushalayim District’s Special Rescue Unit were dispatched with additional personnel after the call came in. They rigged rope systems on the crane, navigated obstacles and a difficult angle, reached the boy and secured him safely.
He was lowered to the ground in good condition and handed over to medical and police crews for evaluation, authorities said.
The incident took place at the same tower where a 15-year-old boy fell to his death during the atzeres tefillah about a month ago. The Oct. 30 incident was reportedly a suicide. Authorities said they do not suspect Monday’s event was a suicide attempt.
“This was a very complex rescue, both because of the great height and the difficult angle of the crane,” Lt. Cmdr. Shai Nechemia, commander of the Ha’uma station, told Channel 12 News. “The fighters acted with discretion and professionalism to construct a rope system that enabled safe access to the boy and his rescue.”
{Matzav.com}
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid told JNS on Monday that Israel would “effectively” exercise its right to self-defense against the Iranian regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs “if necessary.”
“I think Iran is an existential threat to the Middle East and to the entire world, and it’s not only an Israeli problem, it’s a global problem,” said Lapid, speaking at a meeting of his Yesh Atid Party at the Knesset.
Iran’s ballistic missile program is “threatening the entire region, and therefore, it’s an American problem, a Saudi problem, an Emirati problem, an Israeli problem,” added Lapid, speaking in English.
Israel reserves the right to protect itself “under any circumstances, and we will effectively use this right if necessary,” he said.
Tehran has rebuilt most of its missile arsenal and is approaching the number of projectiles it had before the 12-day conflict with Israel in June, Israeli security officials cited by Channel 13 said over the weekend.
The Islamic Republic has accelerated production of surface-to-surface missiles and is expected to amass within a few months approximately 2,000 missiles capable of reaching the Jewish state, the report said.
Between June 13-24, Iran launched over 550 ballistic missiles and sent 1,000-plus UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) toward Israel’s territory.
At the start of the war, the Israel Defense Forces revealed an Iranian plan for a combined aerial and ground assault that sought to “destroy the State of Israel and establish a Palestinian state on its ruins.”
In parallel with Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, the regime had focused on producing “tens of thousands” of missiles and drones, while advancing its plans to carry out a “combined ground offensive against Israel on multiple fronts simultaneously,” the IDF stated on June 13.
The Islamic Republic’s “Destruction of Israel Plan” was to have started with a “large-scale rocket and missile barrage” on Israel, launched by the regime’s terror proxies in Lebanon, Yemen and across the region.
Amid the aerial assault, thousands of terrorists were to invade Israel from the Gaza Strip, Judea, Samaria, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen.
Benny Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister who now heads the opposition National Unity Party, told JNS on Monday that “another conflict won’t be necessary if Iran stops what it does—so actually it’s in the Iranian’s hands.”
However, “if they will reignite their nuclear process, and other ways of convincing them will not work, then another round is not necessarily inevitable, but an option definitely,” the opposition lawmaker stated.
“The missiles that the Iranians are making are not just a threat to the State of Israel; they are endangering the entire Middle East,” said Gantz, adding: “And definitely if they come in high qualities, it might become kind of [a] potential existential threat, as everybody saw.”
Jerusalem “knows how to deal with it, and whether we do it defensively or whether we do it offensively, Israel will stay a safe place to live in,” he vowed, while warning the same might not be true for Iran if the regime “will continue in this direction” of nuclear proliferation.
Also on Monday, the Islamic regime denounced a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency demanding that Iran fully cooperate with the agency and provide “precise information” about its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium, as well as grant its inspectors access to nuclear sites.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei slammed the resolution as “a stain on the designers and sponsors of it,” and said “no meaningful negotiation will take shape” until the United States halts its “dictates” to Iran.
Iran sent a letter to Saudi Arabia last week asking Riyadh to convince the Trump administration to reopen nuclear negotiations, Reuters reported.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Tehran is not looking for confrontation and that the regime is “open to resolving the nuclear dispute through diplomacy, provided its rights are guaranteed,” per the Reuters report.
The regime denied sending the missive, with Baqaei telling the state-run IRNA news agency on Monday that “the president’s letter to the crown prince … did not include any reference regarding negotiations.”
{Matzav.com}
A Melbourne courtroom delivered a controversial determination on Monday, concluding that the man who set the East Melbourne Synagogue ablaze last summer acted out of mental instability rather than hatred toward Jews. According to JNS, the ruling left many unsettled as the country continues to see a surge in attacks targeting Jewish institutions.
The judge, Magistrate Malcolm Thomas, accepted the argument that 35-year-old Angelo Loras was suffering from an untreated schizophrenic episode when he poured accelerant on the shul’s front entrance and lit it on fire on July 4. His delusions, the court said, stemmed from failing to take prescribed medication.
Loras entered guilty pleas to arson and to recklessly endangering lives. Because of the time he already spent in custody, he became eligible to walk free on Monday. Roughly 20 people had been gathered inside the building for a Friday night meal when the flames broke out, heightening the alarm across Melbourne’s Jewish community.
The attack coincided with a separate violent outburst at an Israeli restaurant in the city that same night, an incident in which the establishment sustained considerable damage, adding to a sense of unease.
Reacting to the court’s decision, Jamie Hyams, Director of Public Affairs at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, told JNS, “This is a difficult one because there do seem to be genuine mental health issues, but it’s perhaps worrying that Mr. Loras, who was born in Iran, came to have a bag with flammable liquids and something to start a fire with, that he came to choose a synagogue out of all the available buildings, and that he came to be there on a Friday night and was trying to gain entry. We certainly hope this was indeed just an unfortunate coincidence, and that there will be no repeat.”
His comments reflect a broader concern: antisemitic activity in Australia has climbed sharply since the Israel-Gaza conflict erupted in October 2023.
In early December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was struck by a firebombing. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later announced that Iran’s government orchestrated that attack along with another assault targeting the Jewish community.
Just days after the Adass Israel incident, a car in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra—home to a large Jewish population—was torched, and two properties were defaced with anti-Israel graffiti, marking yet another escalation.
Elsewhere in Sydney, the phrase “[Curse] the Jews” was spray-painted onto a vehicle, serving as another disturbing reminder of rising hate.
The pattern continued into January. The Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah was hit with antisemitic graffiti, followed the next day by red swastikas plastered across the façade of the Newtown shul in the city’s inner west.
Another violation occurred when a home previously owned by Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, was vandalized.
The climate has been further inflamed by rhetoric online. In February, a video circulated in which two Australian nurses, Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, declared they would refuse medical treatment to Israelis and would send them “to h—.” Authorities responded by barring both individuals from working with participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme for two years.
{Matzav.com}
Park East Synagogue in Manhattan received an unannounced show of support on Monday when outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams stopped by the shul that had been subjected just days earlier to a jarring anti-Israel demonstration. Protesters had gathered outside the building shouting “globalize the intifada” and “death to the IDF,” turning a routine community event into a scene of hostility.
Adams used his visit to send a message of resolve. “We don’t back down in the face of hate – we show up,” he posted, emphasizing that he stood “proudly” beside Rabbi Arthur Schneier and the shul’s members to “celebrate Jewish life and reaffirm our unshakable bond with Israel after last week’s antisemitic protests.” He went on to stress, “Neither antisemitism nor ANY other form of hate has any place in NYC.”
Images from the visit showed the mayor speaking warmly with congregants and posing alongside Rabbi Schneier, underscoring his intention to reassure the community after a tense week.
The demonstration that triggered the outcry took place the previous Wednesday, when roughly 200 activists organized by Pal-Awda NY/NJ assembled outside the synagogue during an event sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh. Attendees were jeered as they arrived, and one protest leader riled up the crowd by declaring: “It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events… We need to make them scared.”
Adams was traveling abroad when the incident unfolded, but the aftermath reverberated through City Hall. First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro later said the mayor was furious that police officers had allowed demonstrators to reach the entrance. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch personally apologized to the congregation, acknowledging that the department had not adequately protected the event.
Federal officials soon stepped in. On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the launch of a probe into the protest. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon stated, “Every time we see violence around a house of worship, we take action,” confirming that a federal investigation “is underway.” She added that the DOJ maintains “zero tolerance” for obstruction “around any American house of worship.”
Local reactions continued to pour in. Several elected officials denounced the protest outright, while a spokesperson for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani issued a more mixed response. The spokesperson condemned the demonstration, yet also said Mamdani believes that “sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law,” without explaining how Nefesh B’Nefesh’s work could possibly fit that category.
All of this unfolded against a troubling backdrop: fresh NYPD statistics released the day before the mayoral election won by Mamdani showed that Jews were targeted in 62% of all hate crimes reported last month—29 antisemitic incidents out of 47 total—highlighting the tension gripping the city’s Jewish community as leaders confront rising threats.
{Matzav.com}
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A tense moment unfolded in Yerushalayim on Monday night when the vehicle transporting Mayor Moshe Lion came under attack while he was visiting the Meah Shearim area. According to his office, rocks struck the car and shattered the rear window.
Despite the violent outburst, Mayor Lion emerged without injury. Law enforcement units were quickly sent to the location, and authorities have launched a full investigation into the incident.
The Israel Police later confirmed the event, stating: “In the past hour, a report was received regarding stones thrown at a vehicle traveling on Avinoam Yellin Street in Yerushalayim, with the mayor inside. No injuries were reported, though damage was caused to the vehicle’s window.”
Municipal officials also released a statement describing what took place, noting: “During the mayor’s visit to the Meah Shearim neighborhood, several rioters attacked his vehicle, causing, among other damage, a crack in the rear window. The mayor was not physically harmed and continued his schedule as planned. The incident has been transferred to the police. The municipality views any attempt to harm elected officials or disrupt public order with great severity and will continue to act decisively to safeguard security in the city.”
{Matzav.com}
A storm of anger is sweeping through the normally quiet Shaarei Tzion kehillah in Bat Yam after their shul, led by Rav Moshe Gabay, became the repeated target of hateful vandalism — including spray-painted swastikas. Mispallelim say that despite providing police with the identities of the culprits, the case was closed without any criminal action.
Police, however, claim the initial complaint was investigated and transferred to prosecutors — and that a second complaint could not be pursued without new evidence.
According to the kehillah, vandals struck the building multiple times over the past year. They sprayed obscenities, anti-religious slurs, and prominently displayed swastikas and other offensive imagery. Some of the attacks reportedly took place on Friday nights, causing significant fear and distress among community members.
The repeated desecrations left the shul’s leadership shaken. Each time, the gabbai’im collected footage from the shul’s security cameras and filed detailed police reports. They say they even submitted the names and phone numbers of the teenagers they believe are responsible.
Despite what members describe as “clear, incriminating evidence,” they were stunned to learn that the case was categorized merely as “property damage,” not as a hate crime or racist incitement offense. Soon after, the file was closed — prompting sharp criticism from congregants who accuse the police of dismissing the severity of the attacks.
Community members argue that the handling of the case reflects broader concerns about how law enforcement responds to incidents involving religious or ethnic hatred. With antisemitic incidents rising worldwide, they say, ignoring swastika graffiti on a shul sends a dangerous message.
Closing the case effectively leaves the suspects free and the shul vulnerable to future attacks, residents warn.
Photographs from the scene show swastikas and graphic vandalism scrawled across the building’s walls, adding to the sense of violation felt by the worshippers.
In response to inquiries, the Bat Yam Police spokesperson released new information disputing claims that the investigation was abandoned.
“Until now, two complaints have been filed. The first complaint was submitted in August three months ago — the findings were examined, the suspect was questioned, and the case was transferred to the prosecution unit,” police said.
This means, according to police, that the initial investigation reached the stage where prosecutors could consider filing charges.
However, they clarified that the second complaint — filed a month later in September — did not advance to a new investigation.
“A second complaint was submitted in September, but the documentation was identical to the previous complaint, which made it very difficult for police to open a new investigation,” a senior police official explained.
Police say they are willing to handle any future incidents, but only with updated material.
“If the shul’s leadership is suffering from additional harassment, they must submit a new, detailed complaint with new documentation, and not use images already addressed in the investigation from the first complaint,” the official stated.
This position places the burden back on the shul, even as community members continue to express frustration over what they believe is the downplaying of antisemitic vandalism and the failure to recognize swastika graffiti on a shul as a hate-motivated crime.
{Matzav.com}
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the U.S. Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for an intense and often contentious confirmation hearing. He was joined by five other nominees scheduled for ambassador-level posts under the new administration. The process, standard for high-level government appointments, involved several hours of probing questions from senators in both parties.
Kaploun arrived at the Senate with several symbolic personal items. Among them were a booklet containing a chassidic discourse titled “Blessed Is He Who Performed a Miracle for Me” and a single U.S. dollar bill he personally received from the Lubavitcher Rebbe 35 years ago. He placed these items inside the binder of briefing materials used for the hearing. According to sources, after the session ended, White House officials reached out to tell him they were pleased with his performance, despite the confrontational tone of parts of the hearing.
The public hearing followed many months of rigorous vetting conducted by the U.S. government, a standard examination of a nominee’s background, integrity, and positions on a wide array of issues.
At the start of his remarks, Kaploun described his firsthand experiences with antisemitism in the United States, recalling childhood memories of being taunted with slurs while walking to synagogue in Connecticut. He also spoke of losing his cousin in the October 7 massacre.
Kaploun told the committee: “This is not an easy task. Antisemitism is a symbol of much greater hatred. History has proven that when a nation begins to allow antisemitism, the results are not good for that country, because antisemitism is anti-American. Those who shout ‘Death to the Jews’ too often also shout ‘Death to America’.”
Photographs from the hearing showed Kaploun displaying the chassidic booklet and the dollar he received from the Rebbe, items he said were sources of strength and blessing.
Despite the significance of the position, Democratic lawmakers launched a coordinated effort to derail the nomination. Representative Jerry Nadler authored a sharply worded letter opposing Kaploun’s appointment, signed by 17 other Democratic members of Congress. Nadler and his colleagues argued that Kaploun, a longtime ally of President Trump, was a partisan choice who, in their view, overlooked antisemitism within the Republican camp. They further claimed they could not trust him because he had previously criticized Democratic support for what he described as Hamas-aligned positions.
The Democrats pointed to an English-language Jewish newspaper interview in which Kaploun had urged American Jewish leaders to vote for Trump because “the Democrats refuse even to recognize the women-raping, child-kidnapping terrorists as terrorists,” calling these comments “highly partisan statements.”
Ignoring the urgency of filling the role of special envoy to fight antisemitism, the lawmakers wrote: “Such a sweeping and false charge against those entrusted with Mr. Kaploun’s judgment raises serious concerns about his judgment, temperament, and ability to work effectively across party lines.” Rather than addressing the substantive issue of rising antisemitism in the United States and abroad, they claimed Kaploun was “Trump’s antisemitic scapegoat.” Kaploun declined to respond to their accusations during the hearing.
Kaploun was born in Kfar Chabad and immigrated to the United States as a toddler. His family settled in Crown Heights, close to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s study hall. Over the years he emerged as a prominent Jewish supporter of Donald Trump, developing ties during Trump’s New York years. His relationship with the Trump political orbit strengthened through Kaploun’s business partner, Ed Russo, who served as an environmental adviser to Trump, as well as through connections with major Jewish philanthropists, including the Adelson family.
During Trump’s campaign last year, Kaploun served as a key figure in Jewish voter outreach. He coordinated meetings between Trump and leading rabbis and communal figures. About six months ago, Trump rewarded Kaploun’s efforts by offering him the special envoy position.
The period for submitting letters of support or opposition to Kaploun and the other nominees remains open until Thursday morning. Expectations are that Kaploun will be sworn in by the end of the week. The State Department has already prepared a dedicated office for him and is awaiting final Senate approval so he can begin his work combating the surge in antisemitism.
Trump announced his intention to appoint Kaploun shortly after winning the election. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly welcomed the nomination, writing: “I am confident Yehuda will serve America and the Jewish people well. I look forward to working together with Yehuda to confront this growing threat to Jews and free societies everywhere.”
Israeli President Herzog also congratulated Kaploun. In a post on X he wrote: “Mazal tov to Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun on his appointment as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism. With a long record of success across varied fields, Rabbi Kaploun is uniquely suited to lead this sacred mission.”
Herzog added: “Antisemitism is not just a threat to Jews around the world – it is a stain on the moral fabric of every society. The fight against this ancient hatred must be a global effort – for the sake of the Jewish people and for the soul of humanity.”
According to Herzog, Kaploun’s appointment “reflects the profound commitment” of the current U.S. administration and President Trump “to the American Jewish community, to its security, freedom, dignity, and well-being, and to the ongoing efforts to secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas – in which Rabbi Kaploun has also played an important role.”
He concluded: “As the Jewish people prepare to mark the seventh day of Pesach – commemorating the miraculous splitting of the sea and the triumph of faith over fear – we are reminded that the journey to freedom continues in every generation. Rabbi Kaploun’s leadership is now an inseparable part of that sacred journey. May he go from strength to strength.”
{Matzav.com}
