Alex Wojcik, deputy mayor of New Paltz’s village, has been asked to resign by leaders of the Ulster County Jewish Federation due to posting content that they feel “lend[s] voice to these outrageous attacks on Jews.”
Building on a statement that was earlier released through the Jewish Congregation of New Paltz, those writing the UCJF statement included a clear position: “We support the Jewish people of Ulster County and everywhere in the face of threats and attacks. We will not tolerate anyone who advocates violence against our people, including Alexandra Wojcik.”
What Wojcik purportedly shared has been described as a repost of a “dissertation” about the protest on campus, participants in which were forcibly ejected or arrested the night of May 2. No longer publicly visible, the content caught the attention of someone at that local Jewish congregation, prompting a May 28 open letter to Wojcik objecting to phrases such as “geopolitical interests of Zionism,” which members say feeds into a centuries-old conspiracy theory about Jewish world domination that “have no foundation in reality,” and “intifada,” which is “frequently invoked to encourage violent uprisings against Jews and Jewish institutions in Israel and elsewhere.”
It was members of the county federation who called for Wojcik’s resignation on May 31, writing in part, “Those who support Hamas, who [are] the ones who have vowed to kill all Jews everywhere and end the existence of Israel should not be allowed to hold public office. Alexandra Wojcik should resign immediately in shame and disgrace.”
On October 11, 2023, Wojcik was among the village trustees who unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Hamas attacks on October 7 of that year. That resolution included the sentence, “We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate, both in intent and effect, and any individual or groups who support such vile rhetoric or violence.” In a further resolution on December 20, those same trustees called for the replacement of the Hamas regime in Gaza, as well as the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli prime minister for failing to anticipate and prevent those attacks.
Wojcik was deep in the midst of preparing for the pride parade and festival when the first of these statements came out, and declined to provide an immediate comment when reached on June 1. The deputy mayor did confirm that a response quoted in other media outlets was in fact a brief response written to the members of the Jewish Congregation of New Paltz. In that response, Wojcik thanked congregation members for raising the issue, and requested the opportunity for a conversation at some point after June 1.
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