The co-founder of the video agency behind Mayor Zohran Mamdani's campaign ads falsely claimed on social media that a violent attack on Jewish worshippers at a Manhattan synagogue was not antisemitic, even after prosecutors charged the attacker with hate crimes.
Debbie Saslaw, who runs the progressive digital firm Melted Solids and served as a senior producer on Mamdani's mayoral campaign, took to X after a 46-year-old Bronx man allegedly stormed into Central Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side during Friday night Shabbat services, struck a 63-year-old worshipper in the face, and yelled "f*** the Jews." Saslaw linked to a New York Post story on the arrest, then told her followers the attack did not qualify as antisemitic.
Her claim was baseless. Manhattan prosecutors had already charged the suspect, Larry Montes, with two counts of assault as a hate crime, two counts of aggravated harassment, and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime. At Montes' Saturday night arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Ali Fazal told the court that the defendant had admitted his actions were religiously motivated and that he harbored animus toward Jewish people.
Saslaw eventually deleted her post and acknowledged the attack was a hate crime. But the episode raises a pointed question: why was the instinct of a well-connected Democratic campaign operative to downplay a violent assault on Jewish worshippers, and on what basis?
Montes entered Central Synagogue during Shabbat services on Friday night. The New York Post reported that he called worshippers "swine" and "fake Jews" before striking the 63-year-old congregant, causing a laceration to her lip and knocking her to the ground.
ADA Fazal told the court that Montes then grabbed and threw two religious candles and candle holders, destroying them. Prosecutors valued the items at roughly $10,000 each.
Before leaving the building, Montes turned on a 65-year-old African American security guard. Fazal said the defendant admitted to harboring racial animus toward Black people in addition to his stated hatred of Jews. Fox News reported that an NYPD sergeant working paid security detail at the synagogue intervened and took Montes into custody. No serious injuries were reported.
At arraignment, Fazal laid out the prosecution's case:
"Intentionally struck a 63-year-old worshipper's face, causing her to sustain the laceration on her lip and fall to the ground."
Fazal added that Montes "grabbed and threw two religious candles and candle holders, causing them to break," and that "in addition to having animus towards Jewish individuals, the defendant admitted to having racial animus towards black people." A judge held Montes on bail.
After the arrest, Saslaw posted on X, linking to the Post's coverage and writing:
"Apparently this guy was an orthodox jew who was lashing out at jews. I wouldn't call that an 'antisemitic attack.'"
Nothing in the public record supported that characterization of Montes. An X user named Nick Rizzo challenged her directly:
"I... 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?"
Saslaw did not produce a source. When another user suggested Montes might be a "Jews for Jesus" adherent, Saslaw replied: "Yeah perhaps that is what i mixed this up with." She also wrote that a family member had attended the Shabbat service and added: "Family member was there but i could have been confused. will delete if so."
She did eventually delete the post. In a follow-up reply, she acknowledged the reality prosecutors had already established in court:
"Sadly it's a hate crime and i was obviously panicked when i heard early reports but saw nothing on twitter for 4 hours or so."
When the Post contacted Saslaw on Sunday, she offered a different framing. "I was obviously mistaken," she said. She insisted, "I never questioned whether it was a hate crime," and added, "I'm extremely disturbed. I was extremely upset by the whole thing."
That claim, that she never questioned whether the attack was a hate crime, contradicts her own words. Her original post explicitly argued against calling it antisemitic.
Saslaw co-founded Melted Solids, a video agency that has produced digital campaign ads for a roster of prominent progressive politicians. The firm worked on Mayor Mamdani's campaign, where Saslaw served as senior producer. Melted Solids also produced content for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns, former Congressman Jamaal Bowman, and House Democratic nominees Brad Lander and Claire Valdez.
The client list situates Saslaw squarely in the professional infrastructure of the Democratic left, the same political orbit that has faced persistent criticism for being slow to condemn antisemitic incidents, particularly when they complicate progressive coalition politics.
Mayor Mamdani himself condemned the synagogue attack. "Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence," he said, as reported by the Associated Press. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch added: "A place of worship should never be a crime scene." Additional police security was deployed to allow services to continue the following day.
Central Synagogue's Rabbi Rebecca Thau captured the weight of the moment for the congregation. "We might want to be focusing on the beauty of our liturgy and the sanctity of Shabbat," she said, "and somehow the feeling of the imperfect and cruel world keeps flooding in."
Montes faces five criminal counts. Prosecutors say he admitted his motivation. He allegedly screamed anti-Jewish slurs inside a house of worship during services. He assaulted a woman old enough to be his mother and targeted a security guard because of his race. The Manhattan DA's office charged every relevant act as a hate crime.
And yet a Democratic campaign operative's first public reaction was to tell her followers it wasn't really antisemitic, based on a claim about the attacker's religion that she could not substantiate and later retracted. Saslaw never explained where she got the idea Montes was Orthodox Jewish. She offered shifting explanations, panic, confusion, a mix-up with "Jews for Jesus", before settling on "obviously mistaken."
The sequence matters. Saslaw did not simply get a detail wrong. She used a fabricated detail to reach a specific conclusion: that a violent attack on Jews, during Jewish worship, by a man yelling anti-Jewish slurs, was not antisemitic. She published that conclusion to her followers. Only after being challenged publicly did she walk it back.
Several questions remain unanswered. What prompted Saslaw to believe Montes was Orthodox? Did anyone on Mamdani's team or in his political circle share that false claim privately before Saslaw posted it? And why, in the hours after a hate crime against Jewish worshippers, was the reflexive move from a figure in the progressive political class to minimize it?
When the facts are this clear and the first instinct is still to look for a reason it doesn't count, the problem isn't confusion. It's a reflex, and it tells you more about the political culture that produced it than any campaign ad ever could.
