Mamdani's Antisemitism Plan Comes With Money
$1 million for synagogue security, and four big Jewish groups still unhappy with him.
Mamdani's antisemitism plan comes with money. New York's mayor unveiled a 35-page strategy Tuesday, with $1 million for security at synagogues and other nonprofits and $2 million for a Holocaust memorial at Queens Borough Hall. Bend the Arc and Brad Lander praised it. UJA-Federation, the JCRC, AJC and the New York Board of Rabbis said it "fails to address" rhetoric from the mayor himself that "demonizes and delegitimizes Israel." 1
Jerusalem threw a parade for draft dodgers. Several thousand Haredi men marched Tuesday to honor draft dodgers who did time in military prison. Ynet put the promised payment at about 1,000 shekels ($310) per person. One sign demanded freedom for "the hostages from Prison 10" and vowed never to serve in the "enemy army." 2 The backstory →
Antisemitism on British campuses rose 14%. The Community Security Trust counted 95 university-related incidents in 2025/26, up from 83. Staff were behind 16 incidents over two years, and CST chief Mark Gardner called that share "particularly troubling." 3
Sunkist Fruit Gems are coming back. Ferrara, the Chicago candy company, had cut them from its Jelly Belly line to "focus resources on future growth and innovation," and synagogues panicked. Sara Fredman Aeder, an executive vice president at the JCRC of New York, had published an appeal titled "Save the Fruit Gems." Sunkist now says the candy returns in early 2027, made with CandyRific of Kentucky, and still individually wrapped, soft and kosher, which is why they're thrown at bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings. Soft matters, since the target is a 13-year-old standing on the bimah. The company thanked fans for their "overwhelming support and enthusiasm." The candy began in the 1930s as Christopher's Fruit Gems, a use for surplus citrus, and took the Sunkist name in the 1960s. 4
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