Local pol’s Israel bill creates controversy in Queens
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Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani introduced a controversial bill in Albany earlier this week. Photo via Mamdani
By Ryan Schwach
A bill introduced by a Queens elected official this week has drawn a wave of controversy from his fellow lawmakers and statements from Assembly leadership saying the bill will never even come to a vote.
Astoria Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani recently introduced "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act,” a bill that would stop tax-exempt registered nonprofits in New York from helping to fund the State of Israel’s settlement activities in the West Bank, which have been deemed illegal by the United Nations.
That legislation is now garnering condemnation from dozens of his legislative colleagues who have called it antisemetic.
Mamdani announced the bill, which comes amid a violent week between Israelis and Palestinains, via Twitter on Tuesday, and formally announced it during a press conference in Albany on Wednesday.
“Charities registered in New York State currently send more than $60 million dollars a year in tax-deductible donations to aid and abet Israeli Settlements. This is done in our name as New Yorkers and on our dime. This legislation puts an end to that,” said Mamdani in a statement. “Subsidizing violence and activities outlawed by the Geneva Convention is not charitable giving. It’s past time for New York to catch up to international law.”
Mamdani’s bill specifically targets non-profits, under the premise that their tax-exempt status means that their donations are being made at the expense of the taxpayer.
Mamdani has drawn support for the “Not on our dime” campaign from Palestinian groups, some Jewish groups and others, and has a sister bill in the Senate led by Brooklyn Senator Jabari Brisport. That bill is co-sponsored by Mamandi’s fellow Queens representative, Senator Kristen Gonzalez.
However, on Wednesday, many of his colleagues in government condemned the bill in a collective statement, saying, “not on our watch.”
Sixty-six lawmakers, the majority of the Democratic Conference, signed onto the statement, including 11 fellow Queens representatives. Included in the letter were Asssemblymembers Daniel Rosenthal, Nily Rozic, David Weprin, Stacey Pheffer-Amato, Jenifer Rajkumar, Ed Braunstein, Vivian Cook, Andrew Hevesi, Clyde Vanel, Alicia Hyndman and Jeff Aubry.
“[The bill’s] purpose is to attack Jewish organizations that have wide ranging missions from feeding the poor to providing emergency medical care for victims of terrorism to clothing orphans. This bill targets them all,” the statement reads. “This bill is a ploy to demonize Jewish charities with connections to Israel.”
“It was only introduced to antagonize pro-Israel New Yorkers and further sow divisions within the Democratic Party,” the statement continues.
Pheffer-Amato released a separate statement of her own, calling the bill “hateful, offensive, and antisemitic.”
Mamdani shot back on Wednesday, looking to correct the record on the bill.
“The Not on Our Dime Act only addresses charities that are found guilty of funding violations of the Geneva Convention,” he said. “Characterizing an effort bring [New York] in line with longstanding U.S. foreign policy is purely being motivated by a desire to antagonize pro-Israel New Yorkers and further sow divisions within the Democratic Party is not only disingenuous, it reveals how little regards there is for international law when it comes to Palastinians.”
Mamdani says that organizations and Jewish groups that give money to Israel that provide medical care, clothing and food will not be affected by the legislation.
“The rhetorical tactics employed by this letter to suggest otherwise is an attempt to avoid the issue at hand: settlements,” he wrote.
Regardless of the controversy, the bill is unlikely to get any further in the legislature, with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie already calling it a “non-starter.”
