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.
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.”
City Hall announced Mamdani’s appointments to the Advisory Committee to the Judiciary on July 22.
The committee is chaired by Ali Najm — an attorney and close ally to the mayor who has referred to as him as his “brother” and who was a key part of the Democratic socialist’s sudden rise to power.
