The dog that didn’t bark this week may have marked a silent milestone for American Jewry.
On December 2, Marc Rowan made a speech at the 50th annual Wall Street Dinner of the UJA-Federation of New York, of which Rowan is currently board chairman. Rowan is also CEO of the Apollo Global Management investment firm and one of the most influential figures in the fight against anti-Semitism in American higher education. Immediately after October 7, he was critical of the University of Pennsylvania, where he chairs the prestigious Wharton School. “Why is UPenn repeating tragic mistakes of the past? Words of hate and violence must be met with clear, reasoned condemnation, rooted in morality from those in positions of authority,” he wrote.
But last Tuesday’s UJA address was arguably just as significant—both because of what Rowan said about incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani and because of what others didn’t say in the wake of the event.
“I don’t think we have to wait to know, someone who uses antisemitism in their campaign, and normalizes antisemitism, is our enemy,” Rowan said. “We need to be the ones to call him out, we need to say it.”
That was the comment that caused by far the most controversy, as Mamdani’s progressive supporters pouted and took to their fainting couches. Brad Lander, the New York political scene’s foremost enabler of Mamdani, raged at Rowan on social media, as did others in the progressive camp.
It certainly was newsworthy but probably more for the line that Rowan delivered next:
“And I know that UJA, as it relates to the Jewish community, is going to do that.”
UJA’s direction since October 7 has been the object of some confusion, having chosen to organize a massive fundraiser for Gaza during the war, citing the “Jewish imperative to act.” If Rowan is right about the UJA’s willingness to speak unfiltered truth to power and hold officeholders like Mamdani accountable even in the face of the manufactured outrage by people who defend calls for a global intifada, that is deeply heartening.
Rowan had still more to say worth hearing:
“Angela Buchdahl is not your enemy. Mort Klein is not your enemy. Presidents Biden and Trump are not your enemy. We have plenty of enemies. We have to, at the same time, elevate those people who have taken personal risks.”
Surely a reasonable assertion, as well.
So what’s the dog that didn’t bark? That would be the legion of personalities connected to the UJA who ignored the haters and celebrated the gala and refused to consider a groveling apology in the days after the event. No apology was necessary or even appropriate, of course. But it is crucial that the organized Jewish community recognizes this.
Meanwhile Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president and a scion of the Labor left, was in New York last night and delivered an equally unapologetic speech to Yeshiva University.
In New York City, Herzog said, “We see the rise of a new mayor-elect who makes no effort to conceal his contempt for the Jewish democratic state of Israel, the only nation state of the Jewish people.”
Notice the word “Jewish” twice in that one sentence. The attempts by anti-Zionist groups to shame Jews into severing their history and heritage from their modern identity must fail.
Herzog slammed Mamdani’s justification for an anti-Semitic mob that descended on a Manhattan synagogue that was hosting an event about making aliyah. The incoming mayor had suggested the shul was facilitating the violation of international law by talking to prospective emigrants to a sovereign state. Herzog pulled no punches:
“Delegitimizing the Jewish people’s right to their ancient homeland and their age-old dream of Jerusalem legitimizes violence and undermines freedom of religion. This is both anti-Jewish and anti-American.”
Well said. Mamdani, let’s remember, is still vowing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which would be a truly lawless act. Herzog and Netanyahu were once political rivals, but that could not possibly matter less at the moment. Herzog’s message to American Jewry was to be steadfast, unapologetic, and to be able to recognize those who seek its harm. That message is, thankfully, catching on.
