Month: July 2026

A DYKER HEIGHTS MAN was struck by a minivan and killed as he was riding a stand-up scooter last Wednesday on 14th Avenue.

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani insisted on Monday that his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was directed at a political leader rather than Jewish New Yorkers. The mayor also repeated that the safety of the city’s Jewish community remains one of his top priorities.

Mamdani was responding to Netanyahu’s accusation on Sunday that the mayor was “fomenting hate” and making Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe following the stabbing of a Jewish man and an Asian man on the Upper West Side last week.

“I’m not interested in getting into a back and forth with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Mamdani said when asked about the Israeli prime minister’s remarks during an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn on Monday morning.

“What I will say is that here in New York City, one of my top priorities is keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe, keeping every single New Yorker safe,” he added.

Netanyahu made the accusation during a Sunday interview on Fox News. He also suggested there was a connection between Mamdani’s recent statements about him and the stabbing of the Jewish victim near an Upper West Side synagogue — though no such connection has been established by the NYPD and other city officials.

The NYPD arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales following the two stabbings on Thursday. Authorities charged Morales with attempted murder and a hate crime. Both victims were hospitalized in stable condition.

Mamdani said Monday that he wished both victims a full recovery and expected Morales to be prosecuted “to the full extent of the law.”

“We have no tolerance for hatred; we have no tolerance for bigotry,” Mamdani said.

He noted that although Jewish New Yorkers make up a minority of the city’s population, they account for a majority of its hate-crime victims — which he said was “unacceptable.”

Several Jewish community leaders and elected officials had urged Mamdani and other public figures to lower the political temperature following the attacks, although speakers differed over whether the mayor bore responsibility for the broader climate.

At a Friday press conference near the site of the Upper West Side attack, UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein directly accused Mamdani of contributing to hostility toward Jewish New Yorkers. Assembly Member Micah Lasher also urged the mayor to reconsider his rhetoric.

Attorney General Letitia James, however, cautioned against reaching conclusions before investigators determined the suspect’s motivation. City Council Speaker Julie Menin called more broadly on elected officials to “bring the temperature down” without naming Mamdani.

Residents and political activists repeated some of the criticism during a rally on the Upper West Side on Sunday, while a pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist Jewish counterprotest defended Mamdani and accused his critics of vilifying him for speaking about Palestinian suffering.

Asked Monday whether he took those concerns to heart, Mamdani again drew a distinction between Netanyahu and Jewish New Yorkers.

“When I make criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu, they are criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Mamdani said. “What I shared were not even, frankly, personal assessments; they were objective facts.”

Mamdani said his responsibility was to protect all New Yorkers, regardless of whether they agreed with him politically.

“My job is to make sure that they are safe, that they are thriving, and they continue to call this city home, and that’s always going to be my north star on how we can do that, because this is an incredible city, and it’s a city where everyone needs to know that their belonging to it is not conditional on how they feel about the mayor,” he said.

Mamdani also pointed to an increase in funding for the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. The mayor’s office has said the office’s budget is increasing from $3 million to $26 million, a nearly ninefold increase.

The dispute with the Israeli prime minister followed Mamdani’s announcement last week that New York City lacked independent legal authority to execute an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Netanyahu, despite repeatedly saying during his mayoral campaign that he would have the Israeli leader arrested if he entered the city.

The New York Times reported that Mamdani had already been advised by city lawyers that he lacked that authority when he told the paper he remained in “active conversation” with his legal team about the issue.

Politico separately reported that outside advisers had urged Mamdani during the 2025 campaign to stop discussing an arrest because of the legal obstacles and the risk of distracting from local issues.

Asked Monday why he had described the legal discussions as active after reportedly being told an arrest could not be carried out, Mamdani declined to elaborate, saying he had nothing further to add.

A FREE FOOD GIVEAWAY helped about 350 constituents of Assemblymember William Colton, who hosted the event outside his district office.

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PERSISTENCE PAID OFF and residents of southern Brooklyn finally got a chance on Saturday to clean up their neighborhood.

The post Sun emerges for community cleanup; next event scheduled for Aug. 8   appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — After more than 30 years in Brooklyn Heights, neighborhood grocery, deli and produce market All in One Deli Mart, fondly known as Peas N’ Pickles, has closed its doors. The market, on the corner of 79 Henry St. and Pineapple Walk, is still known to many in the neighborhood by its original […]

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