New York City Bills To Protect Synagogues and Schools From Protesters Leave Mamdani in Awkward Spot

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s loyalty to his anti-Israel activist base is being put to the test as he faces a decision on whether to sign twin bills passed by the City Council to shield houses of worship and schools from disruptive demonstrations.Mr. Mamdani has not yet indicated whether he plans to sign or veto either bill, though both have received fierce pushback from the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mr. Mamdani has been a member since 2017.Mr. Mamdani’s spokesman, Dora Pekec, said on Thursday that the mayor “is keenly aware of the serious concerns regarding these bills’ limiting of New Yorkers’ constitutional rights, and he will keep these concerns in mind for any bills that land on his desk. He wants to ensure both the right to prayer and the right to protest are protected here in New York City.”The first measure, championed by Speaker Julie Menin, came in response to a surge in unruly anti-Israel demonstrations outside city synagogues. Though Ms. Menin had initially sought a 100-foot buffer zone around houses of worship, the final bill instead compels the NYPD to establish within 45 days an official protocol for protecting religious sites from “physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation, and interference” during protests.The second bill, introduced by Councilman Eric Dinowitz, calls on the NYPD to produce a similar plan for protests staged at educational facilities. That includes public and private schools as well as institutions of higher education, like Columbia University, which became the epicenter of the anti-Israel encampment movement after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.The first bill passed 44-5, a margin large enough to render a mayoral veto ineffective, as the council could override it with a two-thirds majority. Mr. Mamdani could choose to veto the bill symbolically, though the move would undoubtedly damage his already strained relationships with leaders of prominent city synagogues.Alternatively, the mayor could appease the far-left members of his coalition by vetoing the bill pertaining to educational facilities, which passed 30-19, just four votes short of the two-thirds needed to override a veto.Mr. Mamdani’s other option is to do nothing. Under the city’s laws, the measures automatically go into effect in 30 days — no signature required.The bills arrive as Mr. Mamdani faces lingering backlash from city rabbis over his response to an unruly demonstration outside a historic Manhattan synagogue last November. The protest, which inspired Ms. Menin’s bill, saw keffiyeh-clad demonstrators shouting menacing slogans like “Death to the IDF;” “We don’t want no Zionists here;” and “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada.” Mr. Mamdani declined to outright condemn their actions, instead suggesting that the target of the protest — an event which promoted Jewish immigration to Israel — was “in violation of international law.”On the other side, New York City’s DSA branch has sought to quash both bills, which it claims “expand the capacity of the NYPD to police and surveil Black, brown, and immigrant New Yorkers” and jeopardize “the safety of protestors exercising their First Amendment rights and students attending school.”City law permits protesters to assemble outside houses of worship provided they don’t block entrances or obstruct pedestrian traffic. However, the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits the use of force, threats, or physical obstruction to interfere with access to places of worship.The Justice Department in September filed a civil complaint under that law against individuals who targeted a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, during a November 2024 protest that turned violent.

New York City Bills To Protect Synagogues and Schools From Protesters Leave Mamdani in Awkward Spot

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