Minneapolis mayor drew closer to his Jewish identity after Oct. 7, rise in antisemitism; 'I have to be more out front'

Before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks last year, Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, had never identified first and foremost as a Jew, even as he had always been mindful of his heritage.

But in the wake of the attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza, Frey’s personal investment in confronting a surge in antisemitic activity, he said, has forced him to reconsider how he has connected to his Judaism. “My ethnicity has risen greatly over the last year in the way that I think of myself and how others think of me,” he said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Monday, echoing many Jews who have also felt a deeper attachment to their faith amid the ongoing conflict. 

“There was a moment where I thought to myself, ‘Oh my gosh, there are all these people coming out against Jews, should I not be as out in front? Should I not be as vocal about my identity as a Jew?’” Frey, a two-term Democrat, explained. “And as soon as I thought that, it was almost a slap in the face: ‘No, I have to be more out front. I have to be more vocal.’”

The level of antisemitism he has witnessed during the past year, including in Minneapolis, “has never been something that I’ve experienced in my life,” he said. “People are saying it very clearly, their hatred for Jews,” he added. “It is problematic, and I’m not going to back down.”

Last month, Frey — who is already facing a handful of emerging challengers as he prepares to seek reelection next year — spoke out against a local teachers’ union for inviting an anti-Israel activist with a history of antisemitic remarks to join one of its seminars, urging the group to cancel its event with a participant who “hates Jews,” as he put it in a widely viewed social media post. 

More recently, Frey vetoed a City Council resolution supporting students at the University of Minnesota facing disciplinary action and at least one criminal charge for occupying a school building during an October protest calling for divestment from Israel.

In a letter on Monday blocking the resolution, he called the protest “neither peaceful nor protected speech” and suggested that the Council had “taken a position simply because it aligns with a cause they support, rather than the basic principles of law.”

The 43-year-old mayor has also clashed with the City Council over a cease-fire resolution he viewed as “one-sided,” releasing his own proclamation on the conflict after the legislative body had rejected his veto — a tool he has frequently used during his time as the city’s chief executive.

Even as he reiterated that he has long been in favor of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Frey said that the resolution, which was denounced by Jewish leaders for demonizing Israel, underscored what he described as “a desire” among some far-left Council members to “find where the fault line exists — and then push a little further.”

“I supported a cease-fire, then and now. I support the return of the hostages, then and now. I’ve been oppositional to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, then and now,” he told JI. “At the same time, I’m not going to sign on to a completely one-sided resolution that reduces the entire existence of the State of Israel to illegality.”

In addition, he said he was “not going to allow for teachers to get taught by someone who has quite literally said Jews should not be our friends and they’re enemy No. 1,” alluding to Taher Herzallah, the extremist speaker who was set to be featured at the recent teachers’ union event. “Obviously, that’s problematic,” Frey said. “Everybody should be acknowledging the problem there.”

Frey, who is the second Jewish mayor to represent Minneapolis, confirmed that he intends to run for a third term next year, but did not share a timeline for announcing his campaign. Last week, he drew two new challengers, including Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist in the state Senate, and Emily Koski, a relatively moderate Democrat on the City Council who has nevertheless differed with the mayor over some progressive policies. 

Both challengers have argued that Frey’s repeated divisions with the City Council — where he served before he was elected mayor — are an impediment to productive governance.

But speaking with JI, Frey, who fended off several challengers in a hotly contested election three years ago, said he is confident about his prospects in the upcoming mayoral race — claiming he has “a lot of momentum right now.”

“At this point in time, experience matters, and people are very much recognizing that,” he argued. “There’s also a dynamic that is happening federally, and we need to make sure that we respond correctly to it. The election at the federal level did not go the way that I had hoped, obviously, and I’m hearing from some that they need to counter Donald Trump by going further to the extreme on the left. That is not the right approach, and it is counterproductive.”

Highlighting comments he expressed in an opinion piece for The Minneapolis Star Tribune last week, Frey insisted that “the opposite of extremism is not the opposite extreme” but is instead what he called “good, thoughtful government” backed by data and evidence. “It’s a willingness to listen to experts and to do right by the city, loving the city more than you love your ideology,” said Frey, who has prominently feuded with the hard left over efforts to defund the police. “I think we need to base our progressivism in reality, not in belief.”

“We also need to have the guts to tell our own side, at times, what they don’t want to hear,” Frey told JI. “I’ve seen more than a few Council members cave to support something they don’t think is right because of the pressure. They’ll tell me privately, ‘Oh, I know what you’re doing is the right thing to do, but I can’t support it.’”

His efforts to speak out against antisemitism after the Oct. 7 attacks are a part of his broader approach, he suggested, particularly amid rising antisemitism he himself has experienced personally “many times” as mayor. “I tell the truth and I stand by my values,” he said. 

“Judaism is very much based more in law than it is belief,” Frey elaborated. “There’s a fairness and an objectivity I deeply appreciate and that I certainly incorporate into my leadership as mayor. There’s also not just a beautiful acceptance — but a kind of hospitality of inclusivity that is entrenched in the fabric of being a Jew, and that’s something I also believe in.”

As he vows to continue fighting antisemitism, Frey stressed the value of education to counter prejudice and said “we also need to make sure that both Jews and their allies have the courage to stand up to hate in all forms” — including “hate against Palestinians and Arabs.”

“We’ve got a history as a people and we should be talking about it,” he told JI, noting that the “reason I’m alive” and “in America right now” is because his great-grandparents chose to leave their small town in Ukraine before World War II. “Years later,” he said,” they checked back in to see how the rest of the family was doing, and they were all slaughtered in either the pogroms or the Holocaust.”

“Jews are resilient. We are tough. We’re strong,” he said, while reflecting on how recent events have strengthened his sense of Jewish identity. “We stand up for what’s right — and we should be proud of that. We should also be proud of the way that we stand up for other people.”