NEW YORK — Far-left Jewish groups in New York City came out on Monday against legislation meant to create protective buffer zones around synagogues in response to recent protests, complicating a fraught issue for the city government and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin introduced legislation to protect houses of worship last month, part of her broader plan to combat antisemitism in the city, where Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group.

The bill proposes a 100-foot (some 30 meters), police-enforced buffer zone to prevent “harassment” and “intimidation” around sensitive sites such as synagogues, mosques, churches, and schools. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed a separate statewide measure that would mandate a 25-foot (7.6 meters) protective zone.

The legislation came after two vitriolic protests at synagogues in recent months. At one demonstration, anti-Zionist activists harassed Jews with discriminatory, violent and threatening rhetoric, and, at the second, chanted in support of Hamas.

The protesters framed the demonstrations as political, and not as an attack on religious worship. At the first protest, Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue hosted an event facilitating immigration to Israel. The group organizing the event, Nefesh B’Nefesh, provides information to those seeking a move to Israel, including West Bank settlements. The second protest, in Queens, targeted an Israeli real estate event that included information on real estate in Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank.

The fault line between antisemitic discrimination and protected, anti-Zionist political protest has become a major issue in US politics and the court system.

The far-left........

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