Mamdani picks for panel that appoints NYC judges, including those who hear hate crime cases, short on Jews

Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, appointed 18 new members to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary this week, and although the city likely has the highest percentage of Jews in its bar association, none of those appointed appeared to be Jewish.

At least one signed onto an anti-Israel statement at the City University of New York.

The advisory committee appoints judges to the city’s criminal courts, where hate crimes, among other offenses, go to trial. It also appoints judges to family courts, and interim judges to civil court benches when there is a temporary vacancy.

“The newly revitalized committee will work to make the judicial selection process more transparent, more accessible and truly reflective of New York City,” the mayor’s office stated.

“The members announced today offer a truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York City, bringing a wide range of professional experience from all five boroughs to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary,” stated Ramzi Kassem, chief counsel to the mayor and to City Hall and supervisor of the committee.

Mark Goldfeder, a rabbi and CEO, and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS that the apparent lack of Jews on the panel “is all part of a pattern and practice of under-protecting Jewish residents in this city.”

“It is the normalization of antisemitic hate,” Goldfeder said, “normalizing it up and down the pipeline.”

“If you were to pull 18 at random, you would expect there to be several Jewish members,” he told JNS. “When they call it ‘truly representative,’ that’s ridiculous.”

One of the newly appointed members is Julia Hernandez, associate professor at the City University of New York’s School of Law.

In 2020, she signed onto a statement from CUNY Law School students, faculty and alumni affirming their support for Students for Justice in Palestine and Palestinian and Muslim students, faculty and others.

“Palestinian activism on campus has a history of being particularly marginalized and attacked by people who support Israel,” the group stated. “A subset of Zionist activists choose to weaponize the genuine threats of antisemitism elsewhere in our society as a tactic to repress activism and harass and threaten Palestinian students and Muslim students more broadly.”