Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over their views on Israel Thursday, calling their positions "wrong" and saying they did not reflect congressional Democrats.

The two progressive Democrats were mentioned by "On Brand" podcast host Donny Deutsch, who asked Pelosi how he, as a Jewish man, could reconcile his support for the Democratic Party with politicians whose statements he considered antisemitic.

"When you say Israel doesn't have the right to be a Jewish state, that's antisemitic as far as I'm concerned with all that," Deutsch said.

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When Pelosi asked for examples, Deutsch named Mamdani and El-Sayed, calling their comments "concerning."

"No, it's more than concerning," Pelosi responded. "It's wrong. It's wrong. And it isn't a reflection of the Democrats in the Congress of the United States. This new person in Michigan, we'll see if he gets elected to the Congress. But the mayor, bless his heart, I hope he succeeds as mayor, but I don't agree with some of the things he has said. But in terms of our people in the House of Representatives, if somebody says that, the other members disassociate themselves from it."

Before he was elected New York City mayor, Mamdani repeatedly dodged questions when asked if Israel should be a Jewish state. In a June 28 interview with ABC News, however, Mamdani said he supported Israel as a state with equal rights but declined to endorse it as a Jewish state. 

"I think any state that privileges one religion over the other is one that I can’t tell you I support, whether it be Israel or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else," Mamdani said.

El-Sayed has repeatedly declined to affirm whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. In a May appearance with Jewish supporters, the candidate said he "struggled" to answer this question and suggested the idea of a Jewish state wasn't consistent with the liberal values "we say we believe in here in the United States."

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Earlier in the interview with Deutsch, Pelosi initially denied that anyone in the Democratic Party was antisemitic.

"The fact is that I really do not know of anybody there on our side who is engaged in antisemitism. That may be what it appears to be or what they're charged to be. But if they are, it's only a few. If there are, I think sometimes they say things that they shouldn't and can be interpreted that way," Pelosi said.

Despite her concerns about Mamdani and El-Sayed's comments, she dismissed their impact on the party as a whole.

"People represent their districts, and we have to respect that. The job description, job title is representative, but that doesn't mean it has an impact on the consensus of the Democratic Party, and [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries has been very clear on that," Pelosi said.

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Pelosi, Mamdani and El-Sayed for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, acknowledged Pelosi "as one of the Jewish community's best friends among House Democrats" but said it was alarming that she did not seem to recognize antisemitism among her colleagues.

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"Pelosi claims she wants for those voices to be marginalized within her party, yet she demonstrates that she has turned a deaf ear, both to antisemitic expression from her colleagues and to the rabbis anxious to set her straight on the magnitude of the problem. If she is indeed one of our best friends, should we not be scared by that?" Menken told Fox News Digital.

The British government’s decision to embrace sweeping measures addressing antisemitism in schools is drawing a sharp contrast with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recently unveiled strategy, raising questions about why Britain’s plan appears more specific than the one proposed in America’s most Jewish city.

The U.K. government accepted all 27 recommendations from an independent review into antisemitism in schools and colleges in England. The measures include encouraging adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, specialized training for educators, strengthened reporting procedures and independent oversight.

Mamdani’s 33-page strategy — while not only focused on education — by comparison, does not adopt a single definition of antisemitism, explicitly address the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism or establish numerical benchmarks for measuring whether its initiatives succeed.

British Jewish author and Holocaust educator Dov Forman, who recently graduated from university, said Mamdani could learn from Britain’s targeted approach to addressing antisemitism in schools.  

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The British review followed a BBC report from Yavneh College, a Jewish secondary school near London, where students described how antisemitism has affected their daily lives. Their accounts offered a window into the urgency behind the government’s recommendations.

Education provides one of the clearest points of comparison between the two strategies. Mamdani's plan calls for expanding Holocaust education, including opportunities for students to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage, while also addressing how public schools respond to antisemitic discrimination. The U.K. government's recommendations address many of those same concerns, placing greater emphasis on how educators recognize antisemitism, how schools respond when incidents occur and what protections are in place for Jewish students.

The review, led by former senior education official Sir David Bell, found that nearly three in five Jewish people between the ages of 16 and 19 had experienced or witnessed antisemitism. It concluded that antisemitism is a distinct form of racism requiring a specific response and called for clearer guidance to distinguish legitimate political debate from harassment, intimidation and antisemitic rhetoric.

British Jewish author and Holocaust educator Dov Forman, who recently graduated from university, called the recommendations "the bare minimum," while acknowledging that the government is attempting to confront the problem directly.

"The least [Mamdani] could do is look at what has happened in the U.K. and adopt similar measures, such as adopting the IHRA definition, which is the agreed definition across the world and where there is a consensus of what antisemitism actually is," Forman told Fox News Digital.

"The basic way to solve antisemitism is to actually agree on what it is and to understand that targeting a Jew deliberately because of what is going on in Israel, for example, is antisemitic, as the IHRA definition says," he added.

Forman cautioned that the British recommendations remain largely optional and that their effectiveness will depend on whether institutions act.

"I do think some of them will be enforced and listened to. I do worry, though, that the government says things and does not actually take it seriously enough."

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the government would establish an implementation group, while Bell was commissioned to conduct an independent assessment of its progress after one year.

Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, welcomed Britain’s decision while emphasizing that adopting recommendations is only the beginning.

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"I welcome the U.K.’s announcement that it has accepted all 27 recommendations," Kaploun wrote on X. "Now, the challenge lies in implementation and enforcement."

Forman also said that British officials must examine whether their rhetoric about Israel contradicts their stated commitment to protecting Jewish communities.

"It is very rich of the government to say that schools should adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and that Jews should not be demonized for what is going on in the Middle East, and then for them to get up in the dispatch box in the House of Commons every week and blame Israel," he said.

"Stop talking and start acting," Forman added, calling on the government to confront Islamist extremism and the Muslim Brotherhood and identify more directly where antisemitism is originating.

The U.K. has faced criticism for being slow in combating antisemitism. Jewish residents have faced physical attacks, threats and harassment, making the specificity of its new plan and its contrast with New York City’s approach particularly notable.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, called Mamdani’s strategy a "paper tiger," arguing that its announced $36 million price tag obscures how little would go directly toward physical security.

"It’s a million dollars in security in a city with a million Jews. It’s a dollar a Jew," Steinmetz told Fox News Digital.

The strategy includes $1 million to support physical security for vulnerable nonprofit organizations, including synagogues and other houses of worship, and $6.4 million for grants through the city’s Partners Against the Hate initiative.

Steinmetz claimed that much of the money would support cultural centers and broadly defined community initiatives rather than immediate security needs.

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UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the American Jewish Committee’s New York office and the New York Board of Rabbis issued a joint statement warning that Mamdani’s plan fails to address a central source of contemporary antisemitism.

The organizations said rhetoric demonizing or delegitimizing Israel contributes to Jewish New Yorkers being treated as suspect, excluded or unsafe, and argued that any serious strategy must acknowledge that connection.

"How can you have a strategy to keep New York Jews safe when you can’t even name what the danger is?" Steinmetz asked.

One of Mamdani’s early actions as mayor was to revoke an executive order issued by former Mayor Eric Adams adopting the IHRA definition for city agencies. The definition provides examples of when criticism of Israel may cross into antisemitism while making clear that criticism comparable to that directed at any other country is not inherently antisemitic.

Fox News Digital asked Mamdani’s office why the city’s strategy omits the IHRA definition and measurable benchmarks, and whether the administration would consider safeguards similar to those adopted by Britain. The mayor’s office did not respond by the time of publication.

Britain’s measures have also only recently been accepted, and their impact remains untested.

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Britain has defined the problem, outlined specific recommendations and established a process for reviewing its progress. New York City’s Jewish leaders are still asking whether City Hall has accurately identified the threat it claims it intends to confront.

Fox News Digital's Sydney Finver contributed to this report.