Antisemites understand power: Soviet childhood shapes a politician's Jew-hate fight

Growing up in Moscow in the 1980s, Michael Novakhov was harassed by an older student who learned he was Jewish. He turned to his uncle, who dispatched a large man to confront the bully.

“I learned that antisemites only understand power,” Novakhov, now a member of the New York state Assembly, told JNS. “When we have power, we are strong. We need to be strong.”

Decades later, Novakhov, whose 45th District includes parts of southern Brooklyn, still carries that lesson from the former Soviet Union.

“I never felt so Jewish as after Oct. 7,” he said.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Novakhov was raised in Moscow in what he described as an artistic family. His aunt was a singer, his grandmother and great-grandfather worked in theater, and his mother was an editor at the Russian edition of Harper’s Bazaar.

He first came to the United States as a teenager, spending about a year with his father, who had immigrated in 1979, before returning to his mother in Moscow. He settled in New York permanently around 2000.

His path to state office was far from conventional.

A journalist by profession, he founded Freedom FM, a Russian-language radio station broadcasting from New York City’s Freedom Tower, in 2019. He sold his shares to his business partner after his election to the Assembly in 2022 but still hosts programs on the station.

After he backed the campaign of Republican City Council member Inna Vernikov, the chairman of the Kings County Republican Party encouraged him to run for the Assembly.

He went on to unseat Democrat Steven Cymbrowitz, who had represented the district for 22 years.

“What I love the most about the job is helping the people,” Novakhov said.

He knew he was Jewish growing up but didn’t have a religious upbringing. After moving to Brooklyn, he began learning more about Jewish culture and traditions. Oct. 7 was the turning point.

Watching the aftermath of the attacks, and seeing people tear down posters of Israeli hostages in New York, made the issue deeply personal, he said. He responded by putting up hostage posters in the large glass storefront of his district office.

He received anonymous notes criticizing the display, including some accusing him of responsibility for the deaths of Palestinian children. He also drew support from people of different backgrounds, he said.

“It’s not about politics,” he said. “People were taken hostage by terrorists.”

Novakhov’s experience with Jew-hatred also shaped his response when a constituent contacted him about alleged harassment at Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood.

He visited the school and met with the principal and a representative of the city’s Department of Education. When officials disputed that there was a problem, he shared his own childhood experience of being targeted for being Jewish.

“I never thought that in America, in the 21st century, a kid would experience something that I experienced in the Soviet Union in the ’80s,” he said.

Novakhov urged officials to take action. He didn’t hear back from the constituent, which he takes as a sign the matter was resolved.

As a Republican in a Democratic-controlled legislature, Novakhov can’t advance legislation on his own, so he sometimes asks Democratic colleagues to sponsor bills he develops. His approach to public service, he said, is shaped by his journalism background and his desire to help constituents.

He cited a news conference he organized outside James Madison High School in Brooklyn after parents complained that students had been displaced while migrants were housed at the school. The event drew national media attention, he said.

“Sometimes, a small guy could do something,” he said.

He also described himself as a creative person who sings, plays guitar and has written songs — a side of him that he said also shapes his approach to politics.

“I don’t want to be that official politician, who’s always serious or has a fake smile on the photograph,” he said. “I want to be natural. I want to be truthful and honest with people.”

Novakhov said he enjoys meeting constituents on the street and hearing directly about the issues affecting their lives.

“Politics means more humans and not just machines,” he said. “If we will have more humans in city politics, in state politics and federal politics, we can achieve much more.”

Supporters have compared his advocacy for Jewish constituents to that of former Assemblyman Dov Hikind, known for his work fighting Jew-hatred.

Novakhov said he did not set out to become known for combating antisemitism; it was a natural response to Oct. 7 and to concerns he heard from constituents.

“I just became someone who people see that is fighting for them,” he said.

He hopes those who disagree with him politically will see that he is more than his positions.

“I’m a good man, and I’m an honest man,” he said. “I’m just fighting for my people, for my constituents and for my people.” —JNS