New York
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With below two weeks to go earlier than he’s sworn in, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has not introduced many hires for his administration. One of the few that he has introduced was compelled to nearly instantly resign Thursday after her previous antisemitic tweets got here to mild.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa, whom Mamdani named his director of appointments simply on Wednesday, in 2011 tweeted about “money-hungry Jews” and different related feedback, in posts first reported by The Judge Street Journal, a publication about New York politics.
In an announcement, Da Costa stated, “I spoke with the Mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements. These statements are not indicative of who I am. As the mother of Jewish children, I feel a profound sense of sadness and remorse at the harm these words have caused. As this has become a distraction from the work at hand, I have offered my resignation.”
Mamdani’s transition additionally offered an announcement from the mayor-elect: “Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and I accepted.”
Several New York political insiders advised NCS that they questioned the incoming administration’s vetting course of, provided that she was picked regardless of tweets that had been revealed so rapidly after her introduced rent.
Mamdani has to this point named just one deputy mayor and no commissioners aside from retaining present Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Beyond the delays themselves was the most recent in Mamdani’s struggles to convince key leaders of the city’s Jewish population that he’s not overlooking or fostering antisemitism.
Mamdani, who will change into the town’s first Muslim mayor, is a fierce critic of Israel whereas additionally vowing to battle antisemitism. But he has confronted questions on his initial refusal to disavow chants like “globalize the intifada” or his assertion criticizing a synagogue after a protest exterior of it.
Da Costa would have been in command of different hires within the incoming Mamdani administration. A Dominican immigrant who grew up in Queens, Da Costa has labored in authorities for years and beforehand served in former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration in his workplace of appointments.
“Obviously, I would strongly disagree with those statements. I think I’ve been very clear on my views on that,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents components of Brooklyn and held off for months in endorsing Mamdani partly due to considerations concerning the incoming mayor’s method to antisemitism, advised NCS on Thursday afternoon.
Jeffries added he’d have extra to say after reviewing the story.
The Anti-Defamation League’s New York/New Jersey chapter, which highlighted Da Costa’s old tweets, stated her posts “echo basic antisemitic tropes and in any other case demean Jewish individuals.
“Tweeting about ‘Money hungry Jews’ is indefensible,” the ADL chapter stated on X.