New York Gov. Kathy Hochul could be headed for a clash with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as Hochul supports legislation in upcoming state budget negotiations that would restrict protests near houses of worship.
Micah Lasher, D-Manhattan, a member of the state Assembly, and state Sen. Sam Sutton, D-Brooklyn, have introduced a measure that would ban demonstrations within 25 feet of the entrances and parking lots of houses of worship and abortion clinics.
A source in the governor's office told the New York Post on Friday that creating buffer zones around religious sanctuaries will be part of Hochul's agenda when lawmakers return to Albany next month.
The proposal has gained traction after an incident last month in which anti-Israel protesters gathered outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
When asked about the episode, Hochul said she supported restricting rallies near houses of worship but noted she was not endorsing a specific bill, according to the Post.
"I'm very interested in protecting the rights of individuals to worship in any location, place, house of worship or sensitive locations, and so I'm actually willing to look seriously at a buffer to protect that fundamental right we have," Hochul said Thursday, the Post reported.
Demonstrators wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags gathered just steps from the synagogue, which was hosting Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that facilitates helping Jews move to Israel.
They chanted slogans including "Death to the IDF," referring to the Israeli military, and "globalize the intifada."
Although "intifada" means "uprising" or "shaking off" in Arabic, the term over the past 30 years has become increasingly associated with armed campaigns by Palestinian terrorist groups that targeted Jewish civilians.
Mamdani issued a brief statement after the protest that "discouraged the language used" by the demonstrators, but he also criticized the synagogue for holding the event.
"He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation," Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said, according to the Post, "and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law."
A Mamdani spokesperson told CNN that the reference to "violation of international law" was tied to Nefesh B'Nefesh's promotion of Jewish communities beyond the Green Line, an armistice boundary separating Israel from the West Bank.
Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians view the area as the heart of a future state.
"Nefesh B'Nefesh facilitates Jewish immigration to Israel [Aliyah] without directing or encouraging immigrants to move to any specific community," a group spokesperson told CNN. "There is no law prohibiting assistance to Jews making Aliyah, and Nefesh B'Nefesh fully complies with the laws of every country in which it operates."
Hochul, a Democrat who endorsed Mamdani, a democratic socialist, for mayor, distanced herself from his claim that the synagogue was promoting illegal activity.
"I do not agree with that assessment," Hochul told reporters, according to the Post. "I'm not characterizing his behavior, I'm just simply saying I don't agree with it."
Lasher, who is running for Congress in the crowded 12th Congressional District primary, said he welcomed Hochul's support for buffer zones around houses of worship.
"I'm heartened by Gov. Hochul's support for common sense legislation to ensure people can freely come and go from their houses of worship," he told the Post. "What happened at Park East Synagogue was ugly and unacceptable and can't become the new normal."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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