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New York City���s Jewish community ��� the largest in the United States ��� is abounding with anxiety and friction a day ahead of an election that could give the city its first Muslim mayor. That candidate, Zohran Mamdani, has won over many progressive Jewish voters with vows to make the city more affordable and equitable. Yet he has alarmed many other Jews ��� in New York and across the U.S. ��� with harsh criticism of Israeli policies, including assertions that its military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide.

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, is pledging to embrace his Muslim identity amid growing attacks in the final days of the campaign. In an emotional address outside a Bronx mosque Friday, Mamdani said recent comments by Cuomo and his supporters had crossed a line into ���racist and baseless��� fear-mongering. He said he would embrace his faith in response in the hopes of sending a message to fellow Muslims living in fear. Despite skepticism from some Democrats, Mamdani earned the endorsement of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday.

If Zohran Mamdani wins New York City���s mayor���s race next month, he would become the city���s first Muslim mayor and its youngest in a century. But his election would also shatter another long-standing norm ��� that New York politicians��remain fiercely supportive of Israel. Mamdani, a democratic socialist and staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, has described himself��as an anti-Zionist and accused Israel of genocide. But as his opponent, Andrew Cuomo, has seized on those views as evidence of antisemitism, polls show the broader electorate is increasingly sympathetic to Mamdani���s position. That has caused consternation among pro-Israel supporters.

President Donald Trump repeatedly touted the ���Abraham Accords��� in his high-profile Middle East trip. That���s the name for a set of 2020 diplomatic agreements between Arab states and Israel. Trump, who spoke Monday, is hoping to expand that number. The term ���Abrahamic��� is filled with religious and cultural meaning. The biblical patriarch Abraham is revered as a foundational figure in three major religions whose adherents encompass more than half the world���s population ��� Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Anyone trying to build bridges between the faiths is liable to invoke Abraham. At the same time, Abraham���s legacy can be a source of division, because some faith groups portray themselves as his only true heirs.

Statistically, attending a weekly worship service is a remarkably safe thing to do. Global annual attendance totals many billions; the number of people killed in attacks on individual houses of worship in any given year is generally less than a few hundred. Yet recent high-profile deadly attacks have intensified anxiety and outright fear among clergy and worshippers worldwide. Just in the past six weeks there have been attacks on a synagogue in Manchester, England; a Michigan congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and a Catholic church in the United States hosting a Mass for school children.

Early on Sunday mornings, tolling bells call the faithful to worship at the three churches in Taybeh. It���s a hilltop village that the Gospel says Jesus visited and is now the last entirely Christian town in the occupied West Bank. As proud Palestinians, Taybeh���s Christians long most for independence and peace for this part of the Holy Land. But that hope feels increasingly remote as they struggle with the threats of violence from Jewish settlers, the mounting restrictions on movement imposed by Israel, as well as the fear that Islamist radicalization will grow. Even news of a peace deal over the war in Gaza didn't assuage those urgent concerns.