- Tamika Mallory stepped down from feminist movement in 2019 after lionizing antisemitic Nation of Islam leader and refusing to condemn discrimination against Jews
NEW YORK — New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team announced on Monday includes a prominent activist with a history of alleged antisemitism.
Tamika Mallory, a leader of the Women’s March movement, stepped down from the board of the feminist group in 2019 amid allegations of antisemitism among the organization’s leadership.
Mallory had lionized the antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and refused to condemn his discrimination against Jews. Mallory also reportedly said that Jews were responsible for the oppression of people of color, a charge she denied.
Mallory was appointed to Mamdani’s Committee on Community Safety.
Mamdani rolled out the list of 400 advisers on 17 transition committees as he prepared to take office at the start of 2026.
The list includes five local rabbis, mostly from the progressive left, including the prominent anti-Zionist activist Abby Stein.
Other members of Mamdani’s transition committees have been involved in Israel issues in New York.
Ramzi Kassem, on the Committee on Legal Affairs, is a longtime anti-Israel activist who was on the legal team for the Columbia University protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, after Khalil was detained by US authorities.
Kassem heads Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR), a resident nonprofit and legal clinic at the CUNY Law School. CLEAR has advised some of the most hardline anti-Zionist activist groups in the city.
Hassan Naveed, on Mamdani’s Committee on Community Safety, was appointed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams to head the city’s office to prevent hate crimes in October 2022.
Naveed sued Adams last month, claiming Islamophobia in the administration following the October 2023 attack on Israel contributed to his removal from his position in 2024.
Naveed alleged that Adams compared anti-Zionist rallies after the Hamas slaughter to Ku Klux Klan rallies and criticized the Muslim community for not adequately condemning Hamas, and organizing anti-Israel protests instead, stoking tensions with Muslim staffers.
There are a number of other committee members who have participated in anti-Israel activism, or are affiliated with the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s base, which has made anti-Israel advocacy one of its party planks.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis and the chief chaplain for the fire department, is on the Committee on Emergency Response.
Other notable Jews on the transition committees include Jonah Boyarin, a member of the far-left Jews for Racial and Economic Justice who helped craft city antisemitism trainings, on the community safety committee; Ruth Messinger, the former leader of American Jewish World Service, on the immigrant justice committee; Masha Pearl of the Blue Card, which supports needy Holocaust survivors, on the social services committee; and Mamdani’s high school teacher Marc Kagan on the transportation committee.
BY: The Times Union
