Flatbush Siege, Parade Snub, and a Rally at Gracie Mansion — NYC’s Jewish Community Mounts a Response

Anti-Israel demonstrators marched outside a Brooklyn synagogue hosting an Israeli real estate event last week, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani has confirmed he will skip the Israel Day on Fifth Parade this Sunday — the first sitting NYC mayor to do so in 61 years. The twin provocations have crystallized into a mobilization: thousands are expected at Gracie Mansion Tuesday evening for an End Jew Hatred rally protesting rising extremism and intimidation. Parade organizers say they expect record attendance anyway, with Israeli officials, hostage families, and Holocaust survivors marching without their mayor.

• Mamdani confirmed he will skip the Israel Day Parade — breaking a tradition honored by every NYC mayor since 1964, and drawing fierce condemnation from Jewish organizations.
• Anti-Israel protesters marched outside a Brooklyn synagogue in Flatbush hosting an Israeli real estate event, in what organizers described as targeted intimidation of the Jewish community.
• Thousands expected Tuesday, May 26 at 7 PM outside Gracie Mansion for a rally organized by End Jew Hatred, with leaders of multiple faiths scheduled to speak.
• The Israel Day Parade will proceed without the mayor; parade organizers expect record attendance and a strong Israeli official delegation.

Mamdani has not merely failed to show up — he has made a political calculation that the cost of alienating the Jewish community is worth paying to maintain his progressive base. The Flatbush march and the Gracie Mansion rally reveal that the community is recalibrating its relationship with the mayoralty in real time, not waiting for election season.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess testified before Australia’s Royal Commission on Antisemitism on Monday that antisemitism was “left unchecked” and became “normalized” in the years before the Bondi Beach massacre — the worst terror attack in Australian history, which killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration last December. Burgess told the commission that the nature of antisemitic incidents escalated from threats and harassment in 2024 to direct attacks, and that the lack of response “gave more permission for violence.” A separate hearing block is now examining what was known about the shooters in the months prior to the attack.

• ASIO chief Mike Burgess testified that antisemitism normalized after October 7, escalating unchecked from harassment to lethal violence.
• The Bondi attack killed 15 people during a Hanukkah celebration — Australia’s worst terrorist attack in history.
• Burgess confirmed that foreign interference was found ‘under every rock’ in the period prior to the attack.
• The commission entered its second hearing block focused specifically on the attack’s timeline and what intelligence was available beforehand.

The ASIO testimony establishes a formal evidentiary record that normalization of antisemitism is a direct precondition for lethal violence — a causal chain that Western governments have systematically avoided acknowledging. If Burgess's findings are adopted by the commission, they could become a precedent-setting framework for prosecuting institutional failure to counter antisemitism in other Five Eyes countries.

President Trump posted on Truth Social that it is “mandatory” for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords as part of any Iran deal — calling non-participation a sign of “bad intention.” Separately, two Israeli officials told Reuters that Netanyahu privately admitted he has “no maneuver to influence the president right now” on the Iran negotiations, with Israel largely left out of the talks. The MOU framework being discussed would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief, with nuclear questions deferred to a later 60-day negotiation window.

• Trump declared Abraham Accords expansion ‘mandatory’ for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan — tying normalization directly to Iran deal completion.
• Netanyahu admitted to aides he has little influence over Trump on Iran, with Israeli officials describing the PM as aware that Israel ‘has no maneuver’ right now.
• The emerging MOU would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin 60 days of nuclear talks — but Iran insists nuclear issues are separate from the frozen asset release.
• IDF frustration is building: senior officers warn the framework leaves Iran as a nuclear threshold state if enrichment sites aren’t dismantled.

The Abraham Accords ultimatum is the first time Trump has explicitly used the Iran settlement as leverage for regional normalization — converting what was a bilateral war-termination framework into a Middle East realignment play that implicitly conditions U.S. backing on Arab states choosing Israel. Whether the six countries comply or resist will define whether this deal produces a genuine strategic shift or simply a tactical ceasefire that Israel had no hand in shaping.

NASUWT, the UK’s second-largest teaching union, has privately passed a resolution to boycott goods and services from companies involved in Israeli settlements — with its leadership overriding the rank and file to do so. The move drew immediate backlash from Jewish groups who warned it threatens the union’s status as a “safe space for Jews.” The decision follows a broader pattern of BDS-adjacent institutional capture in UK professional associations.

• NASUWT leadership privately adopted the boycott motion despite members not voting on it — a procedural move that bypassed rank-and-file input.
• The union is the UK’s second-largest teaching union, giving the resolution significant institutional reach across British schools.
• Jewish groups warned the move threatens the union’s ability to be a safe and inclusive environment for Jewish educators.
• The resolution targets companies with ties to Israeli settlements — framing it within BDS movement doctrine.

Leadership-driven institutional capture — where BDS-adjacent motions are passed by executive committees rather than member votes — is the fastest-growing vector for embedding anti-Israel policy in professional bodies. The NASUWT move establishes a template: adopt the motion quietly, absorb the backlash, and let the precedent stand.