Mayor Zohran Mamdani listens as comptroller Mark Levine speaks during the annual New York State Financial Control Board meeting, Aug. 12, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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What you need to know today

• Mark Levine will not reinvest in Israel bonds, breaking a campaign promise. City comptroller Mark Levine pledged to buy Israel bonds during his 2025 campaign after his predecessor, Brad Lander, chose to disinvest from them. Levine, who is Jewish and has family in Israel, told The New York Times that his decision was “based on financial considerations only, not politics.” Levine has repeatedly criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s fierce opposition to Israel. Mamdani praised Levine’s decision on Wednesday, saying, “We don’t purchase the bonds of any other sovereign nation. I don’t think that we should make an exception when it comes to Israel.” 
• Blakeman called Mamdani “an antisemite” in his debate with Hochul. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman invoked Mamdani as a cudgel against Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, in their only televised debate on Tuesday. “Antisemitism is on the rise and it’s occurred under your watch, and Zohran Mamdani is fueling it,” Blakeman, who is Jewish, told Hochul. He also accused Hochul of “campaigning around the state with a guy who doesn’t believe in American values.” Mamdani responded on Wednesday to Blakeman’s recent claim that the mayor would not stop antisemitic riots and rapists. “It’s not even a dog whistle,” said Mamdani. “It’s just directly racist to say that I would not respond to Jewish New Yorkers being killed and raped.”
• Mamdani is standing by Tisch despite calls from his leftist allies. Growing voices in Mamdani’s leftist base have called for him to fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch after a man was shot last week by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in New York’s Marble Hill neighborhood. Tisch and Mamdani have maintained a rapport despite her moderate, pro-Israel views. Mamdani told reporters on Tuesday, “Jessica Tisch is the police commissioner. I have no plans to change that.” The NYPD by law does not cooperate with ICE; activists believe the men and women in blue can do more to stop arrests by immigration cops.
• Can Jewish non-Zionists build new institutions? Our reporter Joseph Strauss has the scoop on a gathering of left-wing Jews organized by the Jewish Diaspora Movement on Monday. The event focused on boosting fledgling groups of “anti-Zionist,” “non-Zionist” and “diasporist” Jews who seek to build new institutions that have no attachment to Israel.