{"id":1004798,"date":"2026-08-16T17:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1004798\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T17:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:08:16","slug":"ex-mamdani-campaign-staffer-makes-outrageous-nyc-synagogue-attack-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1004798\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Mamdani campaign staffer makes outrageous NYC synagogue attack claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of a major lefty video agency who shot digital video ads for Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s successful campaign made an outrageous false claim about the unhinged attacker who terrorized Jewish New Yorkers during Shabbat services<\/a> at a Manhattan synagogue, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently this guy was an orthodox jew who was lashing out at jews. I wouldn\u2019t call that an \u2018antisemitic attack,’\u201d Debbie Saslaw claimed on X, linking to a Post story on the arrest with a headline calling it an \u201cantisemitic attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office charged the accused attacker, Larry Montes with two counts of assault as a hate crime<\/a>, two counts of aggravated harassment and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime for his Friday night rampage at the Central Synagogue on the Upper East Side.<\/p>\n

Debbie Saslaw, a former campaign member for Zohran Mamdani in a now-deleted X post, claimed the disturbing attack at a New York City synagogue was not an \u201cantisemitic attack.\u201d X\/@butlikesrsly<\/p>\n

Mamdani and Debbie Saslaw (far right) pictured together in a photo posted to Instagram on June 25, 2025. Instagram\/@butlikesrsly<\/p>\n

The firm Saslaw co-founded, Melted Solids, prominently features its work for the Mamdani campaign.<\/p>\n

The agency has also worked on the campaigns of Vermont Sen. and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, House Democratic nominees Brad Lander and Claire Valdez and former Congressman Jamaal Bowman, among others.<\/p>\n

Saslaw, who was a \u201csenior producer\u201d for the campaign, said she is no longer associated with Mamdani or his campaign.<\/p>\n

Montes, a Bronx resident, allegedly admitted to cops that his actions were religiously motivated, and called those worshiping inside the synagogue \u201cswine\u201d and \u201cfake Jews,\u201d<\/a> Assistant District Attorney Ali Fazal said in court Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Larry Montes is taken into custody at Central Synagogue after reportedly assaulting someone. Central Synagogue<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old assailant \u201cintentionally struck a 63-year-old worshipper\u2019s face, causing her to sustain the laceration on her lip and fall to the ground,\u201d Fazal said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Montes then \u201cgrabbed and threw two religious candles and candle holders, causing them to break,\u201d valued at around $10,000 each.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to having animus towards Jewish individuals, the defendant admitted to having racial animus towards black people,\u201d the ADA said during Montes\u2019 arraignment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore exiting the building, the defendant turned his attention away from the worshippers onto the security guard\u2026 a 65-year-old African American man,\u201d the ADA added.<\/p>\n

He also allegedly yelled \u201cf\u2013k the Jews,\u201d sources said.<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old assailant \u201cintentionally struck a 63-year-old worshipper\u2019s face, causing her to sustain the laceration on her lip and fall to the ground,\u201d Fazal said. Michele Anenberg-Poma \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

Saslaw deleted her statement from X, but not before someone screengrabbed it \u2014 and she later acknowledged it was a hate crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly it\u2019s a hate crime and i was obviously panicked when i heard early reports but saw nothing on twitter for 4 hours or so,\u201d Saslaw said in a reply on her X account.<\/p>\n

Someone responding to her post said he thought Montes might be a \u201cJews for Jesus\u201d adherent.<\/p>\n

Saslaw (left) and Mamdani are pictured in a photo posted to Instagram on June 24, 2025. Instagram\/@butlikesrsly<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cYeah perhaps that is what i mixed this up with,\u201d Saslaw said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2026 do not think that guy is Orthodox. Look at him! I have seen zero reporting he is Orthodox. The Sephardic community in the Bronx is super small. Where are you getting this?\u201d another user, Nick Rizzo, then asked Saslaw.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily member was there but i could have been confused. will delete if so,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

Contacted by the Post on Sunday, Saslaw said, \u201cI was obviously mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saslaw admitted she was \u201cmixed up\u201d about Montes being \u201can Orthodox Jew.\u201d She later added that she was \u201cextremely upset\u201d by the \u201chate crime.\u201d Facebook\/Larry Montes<\/p>\n

She said she was \u201cmixed up\u201d about whether Montes himself was Jewish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never questioned whether it was a hate crime,\u201d Saslaw claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely disturbed. I was extremely upset by the whole thing,\u201d she added, noting that a family member attended the Central Synagogue Shabbat service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of a major lefty video agency who shot digital video ads for Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s successful…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1004799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,12648,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,188711,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":["post-1004798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-antisemitism","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-synagogues","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}