Read This and Think Twice:

 Seven Jewish employees of New York City’s Health Department have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city of antisemitic discrimination, retaliation and fostering a hostile work environment after they were investigated for organizing a gathering to mourn victims of a terror attack.

The lawsuit centers on an online support meeting arranged following the December 2025 massacre at a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia. The employees allege that their effort to find comfort among colleagues instead subjected them to a prolonged internal investigation.

An email inviting coworkers to the gathering quoted a rabbi warning that calls to “globalize the intifada” were calls to murder Jews and that “anti-Zionism kills.” Approximately 16 people attended the meeting.

According to the lawsuit, other employees, including prominent anti-Israel activists, subsequently complained that the invitation was discriminatory and improperly linked the Australian massacre to support for Palestinians. The plaintiffs allege that the overwhelming majority of those who complained had not attended the gathering.

The city then launched an investigation into the Jewish organizers over allegations of racial and religious discrimination. The inquiry lasted approximately four months and, according to the plaintiffs, involved aggressive questioning and unfair procedures.

The employees allege that investigators challenged them to explain why they viewed slogans involving “intifada” as threatening. They further contend that the questioning suggested their expressions of grief over murdered Jews were offensive to Arab or Muslim colleagues.

The investigation ultimately closed without definitive findings, according to the account, but the plaintiffs say they received no apology and that records of the inquiry remain in their personnel files.

Beyond the investigation, the lawsuit alleges a broader pattern of unequal treatment within the department. The employees say their request to establish a Jewish heritage group called “Hinenu” was rejected on the grounds that Judaism is a religion rather than an ethnicity, despite their description of the proposed group as nonreligious.

They contrast that rejection with the recognition, funding and access to city facilities provided to other employee groups organized around ethnicity or geographic heritage.

The plaintiffs also allege that other employee groups used city resources to host one-sided political presentations accusing Israel of “genocide” and colonial rule. Materials circulated within the department allegedly included descriptions justifying the October 7 attacks as “armed resistance.”

Senior department officials are also accused of distributing official messages comparing Israel to apartheid and using an International Holocaust Remembrance Day message to condemn Israeli actions in Gaza. The lawsuit further alleges that city-sponsored discrimination training minimized antisemitism compared with other forms of racism.

The plaintiffs connect the alleged workplace climate to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies and statements, including what they describe as the reversal of earlier measures intended to combat antisemitism and BDS.

Represented by the Jewish legal organization NJAC, the employees are asking the court to require recognition of their Jewish employee group, remove the investigation records from their personnel files and award substantial damages.

“The city told its Jewish employees that every identity counts except theirs, and then investigated them for mourning murder victims,” the organization’s chief executive said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2622390/antisemitism-lawsuit-jewish-nyc-health-workers-say-they-were-investigated-for-mourning-terror-victims.html

Shalom Pollack: He Was Right

 One does not have to agree with everything Rav Kahana said to recognize that he made good points that others haven't thought of or avoided, and, on balance, he was on target.

Before addressing his particular policies, it is important to understand what those policies were designed to achieve.

First and foremost, he wanted to bring the Jewish people to another stage of our history by teaching them why to be Jewish and to be proud of it.

This can not be overestimated.

It is the crux of the matter.

His unapologetic message of Jewish pride and self-confidence was designed to remold the problematic self-perception of individual Jews and the Jewish nation as a whole.

Two thousand years of learned insecurity and internalized inferiority -  the fear of being too noticed - is a complex that Jews have yet to overcome.

These psychological/social chains were loosened by his relentless educating of Jews and the institutions he established in the USA.

As far as his policies go, I think the criteria for policies should be what will help Jews survive and flourish, psychologically, socially, and especially physically.

In the USA, the JDL addressed all the above. His motto, "every Jew a .22," was revolutionary and unsettling for the Jewish establishment, which just wanted to keep a low Galut profile and hope that storms would blow over and be infrequent. Since when do Jews, like all other peoples, dare to defend themselves?

It's not "Jewish"

Soviet Jewry owes him a big thank you, as he brought their issue to the front pages through "non-Jewish" means; the ones that the establishment frowned upon.

He earned a place in the hearts of a large number of Jews, especially Holocaust survivors.

He hit a nerve that was thought to be dead.

In Israel,  the Jewish state adopted many Galut complexes that the Jewish state was supposed to eliminate but did not. On the contrary.

Rav  Kahane was even more foresighted about the Israel malaise than about the USA.

He understood that Israel was the most important theater in the Jewish world; the one that determines the nation's future.

In 2026, many people in the street will  now say "Kahane was right," though perhaps still  in a whisper

In the 1980's, when he warned us so succinctly about the many developments leading up to  2026,  far fewer would have agreed with him

What was he "right" about?

He addressed many issues about Jewish national health and survival, but the one he is known most for is his warning about the "cancer" in our  Jewish state. He dared to declare that the Arabs who lost the war of 1948 (the "Nakba", or disaster in Arabic) will never let go of their hatred for the Jewish enemy that they tried to exterminate but failed. Their hate and desire for revenge will only grow despite all attempts to make them comfortable in the Jewish state.

He often said, "I don't hate Arabs; I love Jews".

When Arabs frequently murdered Jews,  it pained him to his soul because he loved Jews and mourned over what he saw as the inevitable continuing and increasing deaths that could be prevented.

Israel ignored its core existential problem, and it gave him no rest.

He said, "I don't want the Arabs to conquer the Jewish state with bullets or with  babies."

Everyone shoved the issue under the rug and demonized him.

He said democracy - giving the Jew hating Arabs a vote in determining the fate of the Jewish state is inviting national suicide.

Half a century ago, the numbers of Arabs and their  self-confidence (Hutzpa) weren't as apparent as today,

The illusion that, despite the democratic rules played in the Jewish state, it would always be securely Jewish.

It  was a convenient story to believe

He warned otherwise.

He warned of a coming Red-Green alliance in Israel.

They laughed.

He was on target long before the dilemma we face today, as pro-Hamas Arabs make up a huge chunk of the Knesset and brazenly walk out when the national anthem is played.

Those who walked out (the entire Knesset membership) when Kahane spoke in the mid-1980s never thought this day would come.

Kahane warned in an empty Knesset that the day was indeed coming.

He did warn us, and he was right.

The day has come.

Without going into policy details, Arabs have already  long since decided the fate of the Jewish state with their votes in the Knesset ( Oslo, Gush Katif expulsions)

Should they also vote on "who is a Jew", or about Jewish identity and Jewish education, in the name of democracy?

Is that why a Jewish state was founded after two thousand years, to be a perfect democracy?

As Moshe Feiglin says, 'Israel is a Jewish state.

Period.

Democracy is our chosen form of government.

The latter is there to serve the former.

Intermarriage in Israel is a real problem. Rav Kahane was the first to ring the bell.

Arab men very often prey on  Jewish girls (never Jewish men marrying Arab women - their fathers literally kill them), with repeated tragic results when the girls are trapped in the Arab villages in Israel.

The state treats it as a personal choice and not the concern or responsibility of the Jewish country.

I don't know exactly which policies or laws will prevent this tragedy, but  I am ready to listen.

Separate beaches, age guidelines for mixed workplaces..

Something has to be done to save our sisters and their families from the humiliating tragedy in our Jewish state.

Families who moved to Israel never dreamt of their daughters marrying a Muslim in Morocco or Yemen. Why in the Jewish state?

It must be fixed, and fast

As far as foreign policy goes, Kahane welcomed relations with all countries based on mutual interest.

Our experience has shown us that an independent policy,  even going against American directives and enduring embargos, such as in  1948 and 1967, brought the best results and respect.

We are far stronger,  richer, and more populous than in  48  and 67.

A self-assured and proud Jewish population is our greatest weapon, along with faith in our justice and God.

These nation-saving tools must be cultivated with the necessary budgets.

They are  more powerful weapons than another 10  F -  35s and "Iron Dome"

The best foreign policy is success.

Anti-Semitism will never go away and will never be appeased. It is less likely to raise its head when we succeed and do not apologize.

Libels of Genocide arise exactly when we try to please our enemies.

Rabbi Kahane said, I don't want their love; I want their respect"

He was right.

shalompollack613@gmail.com