Zohran Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani

Monitoring Mamdani… The ADL has announced an initiative to track and monitor incoming New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies and appointments that impact the safety and security of the city’s more than 1M-member Jewish community.

The 34-year Mamdani, who will be New York's first Muslim mayor, took about a third of the Jewish vote on Nov. 4.

That number didn't impress ADL CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt. “Mayor-Elect Mamdani has promoted antisemitic narratives, associated with individuals who have a history of antisemitism, and demonstrated intense animosity toward the Jewish state that is counter to the views of the overwhelming majority of Jewish New Yorkers,” he said in unveiling the Mamdani Monitor on Nov. 7.

But Mamdani's animosity is focused on Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies of genocide in Gaza, a belief shared by a good number of NYC Jews.

The ADL also plans a tip line for people to report "real life incidents" of discrimination "so we can track them effectively and make sure law enforcement's following up as appropriate,” according to Greenblatt.

The organization has never set up a project focused on an individual. Greenberg denies that the ADL is using a double standard with its increased scrutiny of Muslim Mamdani

“This isn't inherently pejorative. It's simply saying in a moment of crisis like we've never had before, we're going to be paying very close attention,” he told NPR’s Steve Inskeep.

Mamdani says he takes the issue of antisemitism very seriously. “And we will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” he said during his election night victory speech.

Greenblatt has every right to set up his Mamdani Monitor and tipline but he should have waited a bit to see what access the ADL is going to get from the new administration before launching the initiative.

He just blew up any relationship with the guy who took more than 50 percent of the vote in a three-person race race. Bad move, Jonathan.

The US is well represented on the 35-member Press Freedom Predators list compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

Alphabet/Meta and Alden Global Capital made the cut in the economic group.

According to RWB, the ad dominance of Alphabet (Google & YouTube), and Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads) is sapping the financial strength of the media. Along with Amazon, they control about 56 percent of the advertising market outside of China, while the rest of the media world fights for financial crumbs.

Alden, which owns 170 newspapers, lands on the list for buying papers such as the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post and then gutting them by slashing staff and selling real estate.

Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission stands out for subjecting journalists to judicial harassment. RWB cited Carr for launching probes into outlets that seemed overly critical of Donald Trump, including CBS, ABC and NBC, and spearheading the successful effort to defund PBS and NPR.

Elon Musk, America’s favorite native of South Africa took a spot for smearing media and promoting mistrust of journalists. He has transformed the X platform into a major vehicle for the “dissemination of disinformation," according to RWB.

Let's see what the media have in store from Trillion-Dollar Elon in 2026.