Zohran Mamdani grilled on Jewish judge snub, points out judge ‘served on Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal defense team’

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come under fire after not appointing any Jewish people to the committee that appoints judges.

In a press conference, a journalist asked:

“There are no longer any Jewish people on your committee to appoint judges. You didn’t apparently appoint any of the 18 who were Jewish and some Jewish legal groups are asking you to address that, to reverse that. Is this a concern? Was it an oversight? And if nothing else, does this present an appearance problem for you at a time when some Jewish New Yorkers are feeling suspicious about your views?”

Mamdani clarified that he has appointed Jewish judges in his time as mayor, and said: “Any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false.”

“Best to avoid any association between the committee that would be appointing judges and the Epstein world”

The question references a letter sent from several New York Jewish legal groups on July 27, which singled out Mamdani’s decision not to appoint John Leventhal: “We find your unprecedented rejection of the highly respected retired Appellate Division Justice John Leventhal particularly disconcerting.”

Mamdani went on to address this, saying:

“We decided not to move forward with his appointment because of the fact that he served on Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal defense team and collected legal fees as such. And, as much as possible, we thought it best to avoid any association between the committee that would be appointing judges and the Epstein world, especially given how much of a loss of faith it has created for New Yorkers and Americans generally in our legal and political system.”

This response was echoed by his press secretary Joe Calvello, who also rejected the accusation that this was religious discrimination and went on to underline that, “To date, Mayor Mamdani has had the privilege of appointing a dozen qualified judges from a range of backgrounds, including Jewish judges. When informed that Mr. Leventhal served on Ghislane Maxwell’s legal team, the Mamdani administration chose not to move forward with his appointment.”

Mamdani’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, also said that the committee now offers “a truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York, which fulfils Mamdani’s campaign promise that it would ‘reflect the cosmopolitan population of the City of New York.

The new mayor has also recently been in the news after his vow to arrest Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu hit legal trouble. Mamdani underlined that he considers Netanyahu a “war criminal”, but said his legal team had concluded the mayor’s office has no power to execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant.