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Israeli comedian’s show canceled

  • Israeli comedian and former combat soldier Guy Hochman said his performance at Broadway Comedy Club was canceled when protesters blocked the entrance on Tuesday night.

  • Pro-Palestinian groups including Jewish Voice for Peace NYC, Palestinian Youth Movement, Writers Against the War on Gaza and MAS Youth Center celebrated the cancellation on Instagram. “New Yorkers are making it clear: Genocidaires are not welcome in our city,” they said in a joint post.

  • On Monday, Hochman was detained for six hours at the Toronto Pearson International Airport after the Hind Rajab Foundation, a pro-Palestinian legal group, filed a complaint accusing him of war crimes and “incitement to genocide.” (The group has filed complaints accusing Israeli soldiers of war crimes in multiple countries, and its efforts have recently gained traction in Canada.) According to the Canadian Jewish News, Hochman’s release followed a personal appeal from the Israeli ambassador.

  • The Hind Rajab Foundation said Hochman — who was tapped by the Israeli army’s spokesperson’s unit during the war in Gaza because of his social media prowess — called for the “mass killing and extermination” of Palestinians and the destruction of their religious sites, including a statement that “not a single mosque will remain in Gaza.”

  • The group also initially accused Hochman of participating in the destruction of a Rafah mosque in September 2024. An updated version of its dossier on Hochman published on Tuesday retracts this claim. “HRF initially identified the soldier visible in the footage as Guy Hochman, based on preliminary information received,” the dossier concludes. “Subsequent information has raised questions regarding this identification. Verification of the individual’s identity is ongoing.

  • Hochman said despite the cancellation in “Mamdani city,” he performed for his audience outside the venue. “They won’t wipe the smile off our faces,” he said on Instagram. “The people of Israel live.”

  • Hochman initially said “police decided to not allow the show.” The NYPD denied the allegation, telling The Times of Israel that police instead “separated two groups of protesters and put them in designated areas away from the front door of the venue so patrons could enter.” They said it was the venue that canceled the show.

Israel on the campaign trail

  • Israel looms over political contests across New York City. But in the race to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler, whose district covers heavily Jewish neighborhoods on the Upper West and Upper East Sides, top candidates agree on some questions about the Middle East.

  • Politico saw responses from Nadler’s Jewish protégé Micah Lasher, John F. Kennedy’s “100% half Jewish” grandson Jack Schlossberg and Assemblymember Alex Bores to a questionnaire from the Working Families Party about Israel. They are all seeking the WFP’s endorsement.

  • All three candidates said they did not support a House resolution that would recognize Israel’s campaign in Gaza as a genocide. All of them also withheld support from a bill that aims to bar the United States from sending bombs to Israel, with Bores and Lasher saying “no” while Schlossberg said “unsure.”

  • The candidates diverged on a bill that would cut off U.S. funding connected to the Israeli military occupation in the West Bank. Schlossberg backed the bill, Lasher was “unsure” and Bores said “no.”

  • Cameron Kasky, a Jewish progressive who centered criticism of Israel in his bid for Nadler’s seat, dropped out last week to focus on activism for human rights in the West Bank.

ADL accuses anti-Zionists of using ‘terror propaganda’

  • The Anti-Defamation League has accused several local anti-Zionist groups of “amplifying propaganda” that promotes Hamas, according to a report released on Tuesday.

  • The ADL said that New York-based groups like the Bronx Anti-War Coalition and StrikeMOMA have shared posters originally published by Hamas on Telegram, including quotes from a Hamas spokesperson and celebration of violence against Israelis.

  • The report also investigated college campus activists. It said that CUNY students shared a Hamas-created graphic on Instagram; Barnard College students distributed a document circulated by Hamas; and Columbia students shared a poster made by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the United States has designated a terrorist group.

  • The ADL has taken an increasingly hard line against critics of Israel while adopting a more conciliatory approach toward conservatives. The group initially applauded President Trump’s deportation of pro-Palestinian students, though it shifted that position after backlash.

Mamdani meets Bondi Beach hero

  • Mamdani hosted Ahmed al Ahmed, the Muslim man who tackled and disarmed the mass shooter at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, at City Hall on Saturday.

  • Al Ahmed traveled to the United States for medical treatment and also visited a Chabad holy site during his trip. He posted about his Mamdani meeting on Instagram, saying of the mayor, “From the very first moment, he was kind, attentive, and sincerely caring, especially in the way he checked on my health and wellbeing.”

Ad wars

  • Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is running for reelection to his Hudson Valley seat, said an ad that targeted his support for Israel was antisemitic.

  • The ad from the Institute for Middle East Understanding attacked Lawler for supporting U.S. aid to Israel, saying that he “voted to give Israel billions of dollars paid for by your taxes” and “Israelis enjoy universal healthcare while Americans go bankrupt from medical bills.”

  • In a statement, Lawler called on other candidates in the race to “publicly and unequivocally denounce this ad immediately.”

  • He added, “The IMEU attacks anyone who stands with Israel, opposes terrorism, refuses to bow to their radical agenda, and traffics antisemitic tropes.” Lawler is not Jewish.

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The post Israeli comedian Guy Hochman’s NYC show canceled amid protests, one day after he was detained in Canada appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.