This week’s newsletter is dedicated to the victims of the Hebrew University bombing that took place during the Second Intifada. On July 31, 2002, a Hamas cell detonated a bomb in the cafeteria of the university, killing nine students, five of whom were Americans. 85 others were wounded.
Photo Source: Il.gov
According to Palestinian Media Watch, the bombers received over $1.25 million dollars as “pay-to-slay” payments from the Palestinian Authority.
Marla Bennett was a 24-year-old American who was killed in the attack. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she was completing a masters at Hebrew University, a school known for its diversity of Arabs, Jews, and international students. Molly Livingstone, a former camper of Bennett’s and later counselor at the same summer camp, wrote a heartbreakingly beautiful tribute to the life and legacy Bennett left behind. An excerpt is below, the entirety of which can be read here.
Marla’s smile was in the sunlight. I felt it. It was a ray so bright that it demanded me to get up and take care of the campers. She was still making me a better woman. A more committed Jew. And I promised her I would go to Israel.
I did.
I never left.
I never got over her murder.
I never forgot about her smile.
I never underestimate what the world lost that day and everyday after.
MAMDANI’S JUDICIAL PANEL HAS NO JEWISH LAWYERS
The lead story this week is the mayor’s 18-person judicial panel that is devoid of any Jewish lawyers. The panel was revealed earlier this week and will advise Mamdani on judicial nominations. A full list of his appointments can be found here.
Photo Source: The New York Times
Four legal associations co-signed a letter expressing their disappointment in the mayor’s decision.
“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.’”
“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.”
- Brandeis Association of Queens, Lawyers Guild of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Brandeis Society and the Bronx County Jewish Bar Association.
They also asserted the mayor had passed over Justice John Leventhal, a Jewish judge, recommended by New York’s Chief Judge Rowan Wilson. Mamdani claims Leventhal was not chosen because he had served on Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team.
In an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Leventhal said:
“To single me out because of Maxwell, if it’s not a pretense, it’s hypocritical. If not me, why not another Jew?”
It’s noteworthy that the mayor claims Leventhal was not chosen because he was on the legal team representing Ghislaine Maxwell, but other attorneys on the panel and serving in his administration have defended controversial clients.
The Beacon reports that Soffiyah Elijah, one of Mamdani’s picks for the panel, has represented and advocated for numerous individuals “convicted of murdering police officers, armed robbery, or terrorism-related offenses.”
His own chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, represented a terrorist convicted in an al-Queda bombing plot.
The ADL also posted their concerns with the panel, noting its lack if inclusivity.
Mamdani claims religion did not play a role in choosing his judicial panel and insists a diverse array of judges should be appointed.
"I did not ask for the religion of each of the persons that was put forward.” - Mayor Mamdani
The judicial advisory panel is overseen by Ramzi Kaseem who said the panel:
“offer[s] a truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York City, bringing a wide range of professional experience from all five boroughs.”
This was a big story this week covered by The New York Times, New York Post, AM NY, NY1, NBC News, The Forward, among others.
Jacob Kornbluh, a journalist for The Forward, wrote:
“The judicial committee controversy is different. It raises questions about Jewish representation within his own government and whether the country’s largest Jewish community is being included in an influential legal panel…Unlike criticism over Israel, accusations that Jews are being left out of his own administration strike at the inclusive image he has tried to build as mayor.”
The Jewish community was not the only one who voiced anger and concern over the pick of lawyers on Mamdani’s judicial panel. The police union issued a blistering statement on the mayor failing to place a pro-public safety and pro-law enforcement attorney on the panel.
“Once again, the mayor is putting his ideology before public safety. We have zero confidence that a panel stocked with cop-killer defenders and anti-police activists is going to select fair-minded judges who will protect victims and hold criminals accountable.” - PBA President Patrick Hendry
The controversial judicial panel comes on the back of several anger-filled weeks at the mayor. Specifically that he is using his political and social media platforms to reassert claims of genocide against Israel and his desire to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu when he arrives for the U.N. General Assembly in September. The mayor made these statements knowing he has no legal authority to arrest Netanyahu. Jewish community and political leaders have claimed he is inciting hostility towards Jewish New Yorkers and ‘fanning the flames’ of antisemitism.
A week after this statement, a Jewish man leaving synagogue and an Asian man were stabbed on the Upper West Side by a man who yelled “allahu akbar.”
It also comes a week after 9/11 families filed a petition to bar Mamdani from attending the 25th anniversary ceremony. One of the reasons stated in their petition is the mayor’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem and his representation of an al-Queda terrorist.
The petition now has over 70,000 signatures.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT WORKERS UNION ENDS DEMAND TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL
The Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers union dropped their demand of divesting from Israel. The union has been negotiating its contract with the university since March 2025, with multiple articles of the contract being withdrawn or backed off as the parties try to reach an agreement.
It does not appear any students are actually auto workers but rather chose to affiliate with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union for bargaining power and resources. The union represents over 3,000 undergraduate and graduate student workers.
Photo Source: Columbia Spectator
The Columbia Spectator and Times of Israel covered this story, reporting that the union dropped its demand to divest from Israel. This was one of the core tenets of the BDS movement.
The union had passed a resolution in 2024 supporting BDS.
“We, as workers—as the people producing value for this institution—have a stake in how that money is invested. Because of these obligations that we all have under the international legal framework to maintain a certain commitment to human rights, we understand it as a labor issue when the value we produce is used to violate human rights.” - Frankie Tavares, member of the union bargaining committee
This past Monday, the union withdraw its demand to divest, stating this decision occurred in the “process of negotiations.”
The UAW has applied pressure on the student union with regard to its political activism. In March The Free Press reported the UAW would withhold funding and not allow the student workers to strike unless they “alter their proposals.”
MORE IN NYC NEWS
Attacker Accused of Stabbing Two Men Pleads Not Guilty
Raul Morales, the man accused of stabbing a Jewish man outside his synagogue and an Asian men last week, was arraigned on multiple hate crime charges.
Morales is being held without bail and faces up to 40 years in jail. He pled not guilty at his arraignment.
“United Against Hate” Rally Mobilizes Against the Mayor
The group End Jew Hatred hosted a rally on Sunday, July 26, near the Upper West Side location where one of the stabbings occurred earlier in the week. The rally, dubbed “United Against Hate,” accused Mamdani of fueling antisemitism through his actions as mayor and anti-Israel rhetoric.
“We’re here because Mayor Mamdani has blood on his hands. Every word that comes out of his mouth—his obsessive Jew hatred, his obsessive hatred of Western ideology—is causing violence.” - Michelle Ahdoot, director of End Jew Hatred
A small group of counter protestors, primarily of the Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionist fringe Jewish group, were present. Above the Scroll covered this group previously in this newsletter. Neturei Karta are not representative of the Jewish community, but their photos and images are used consistently in the media as they appear at many counter-protests.
Photo Source: Pix 11, NY News
ANTISEMITISM IN AMERICA
Michigan Attorney General Won’t Attend Democratic Convention Due to Fears of Antisemitism
The Jewish Insider reported that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel will not attend the state’s Democratic convention due to the alarming embrace of antisemitism within the party.
Photo Source: Michigan.gov
Nessel is a Jewish LGBTQ Democrat and says the atmosphere in the Democratic party towards Jews has become so toxic that she fears for her safety.
“I feel like my presence is not going to be welcomed. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. And I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying. And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen.”
“This cannot continue. I have profound fears about what is going to happen to this state, and what is going to happen to this country if we don’t have a significant change of course.” - Dana Nessel
ANTISEMITISM AROUND THE GLOBE
CANADA - Multiple Incidents Targeting Jewish Bakeries and Restaurant
Jewish-owned bakeries in Toronto were attacked this week in what are being investigated as antisemitic hate crimes. Two locations of Kiva’s bakery were attacked on Sunday morning July 26. One location had gunfire shot through a window, the other was vandalized. Local resident Marjan Mekis goes to Kiva’s daily:
“It feels very personal to me. I could have been in there, or anybody in this neighborhood. It could have been daytime as opposed to nighttime. Thank God no one was in there. But still, what does that do? Shooting a bullet into a bakery because you don’t like the fact that they happen to be Jewish.” - Marjan Mekis
In Montreal, Nöam restaurant is the site of a possible hate crime. In the early hours of August 1, a two-alarm fire that has been deemed suspicious severely damaged the building of the kosher restaurant. Video surveillance shows an individual appearing to start the fire before he flees the scene. The building houses multiple businesses, but only the kosher restaurant was damaged.
"Given the fact that it was a kosher restaurant, I find it hard to believe it wasn't antisemitism.” - Howard Szalavetz, owner of the building.
Photo Source: CBA.ca
AUSTRALIA - Court Allows Video in as Evidence in Trial of Nurses That Threatened To Kill Israelis
In June, a judge in Australia had ruled that the video evidence obtained of two nurses who spewed antisemitic hate and threatened Israeli patients on a 2025 video was not admissible in court.
A Court of Appeal ruled this past week that the video evidence IS admissible. Both defendants, Sarah Abu Lebdeh and Ahmad Rashad Nadir, have pled not guilty to the charges brought against them.
Photo Source: ABC News
UNITED NATIONS - Israel is Accused of ‘Femicide’ While Excluding Sexual Violence Inflicted on Israeli Women
A United Nations report “Violence Against Mothers” was issued this week by Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. In a section about conflicts and crises, the report uses Gaza as an example of ‘femicide,’ which is “the intentional killing of women or girls because of their gender.” Alsalem also alleges reproductive violence is used against women in the state of Palestine, referencing healthcare clinics that were destroyed during the war.
Photo Source: U.N. Photo
Why is this relevant?
There are no international courts that have made a finding of femicide against Israel.
Alsalem completely omits Hamas and the fact that the terrorist group embeds itself in civilian infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and clinics.
Alsalem’s report has no reference to the use of the sexual violence by Hamas on Israeli women on October 7 or on the hostages held in captivity. The report is devoid of any mention of Israeli women and girls affected by the war.
Last month, Ilana Gritzewsky, an Israeli woman kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas recounted her physical and sexual abuse at the United Nations. She confronted Alsalem directly at the United Nations, asking her:
“When I and other Israeli women begged not to be raped, why were you silent? Please look at me. Do you believe us now? Will you apologize?”
For more on United Nations, historian and journalist Haviv Rettig Gur has a recent podcast episode “Why Don’t Israelis Trust the UN?”
Boy George Releases “We Will Dance Again”
Boy George released a new song, We Will Dance Again, inspired by his visit to the Nova Exhibition in London. He has faced significant backlash since the release of the song, but defended his position in a statement released this week.
“The suggestion that I feel no compassion for Palestinians is both untrue and absurd. I have read members of the press calling me a ‘genocide denier’ yet those who deny the suffering of Israelis are given a free pass.”
“The Nova Festival is a mirror of my world as a DJ and I have played many such festivals, including in Israel so it resonated with me and I felt compelled to write something.”
“My personal opinion is that this is sadly a war, but not an attempt to wipe out Palestine. But I respect that everyone has their own opinions and believe we should all be allowed to have that right.”
“I understand that it is uncomfortable to defend your friends when a war like this is raging but the woman who sells me bagels is not to blame, neither is my doctor or publicist, manager, ex boyfriend or my thousands of Jewish friends. This song is for them.”
Independent Book Store Cancels Jewish Author’s Book Event
Author and photographer Alyssa Rosenheck’s book White. Blonde. Jew.: A Call to End Extremism, Speak Up, and Reclaim Center, is being published on August 18. Her event at Bell Bird Books in Nashville was cancelled this week. The bookstore deleted the post advertising the event on their website and social media, and have limited comments on their Instagram page with the exception of a post Rosenheck was tagged in on July 2.
In an article in The Tennessean, the owner of the store, Mary Ann Weprin, says she received “Free Palestine” comments and negative feedback about platforming a Zionist. The article was published on July 29 and Weprin is quoted as saying she is looking forward to the event and "While hosting guest authors isn’t an endorsement of every perspective shared, our goal is simply to foster a space for open, thoughtful conversation grounded in a shared love of books.”
Rosenheck recorded a video on her social media page stating that the bookstore had cancelled her event the day before the article was published and advised her that they would not be promoting her or her book. Her book can be preordered here and here.
Phish + Avinu Malkeinu + Madison Square Garden = Jewish Joy
American rock band Phish performed a rendition of the Jewish prayer Avinu Malkeinu in song form at Madison Square Garden this week. Phish has been performing together for over four decades, regularly tours, and has a dedicated fanbase that have made their tours one of the highest grossing in the world. Two of the band members, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jonathan Fishman, are Jewish.
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