NEW YORK — Jewish communal leaders and elected officials demanded that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani turn down his anti-Zionist rhetoric on Friday at the scene of a stabbing against a Jewish man the day before.
“When the mayor of New York repeatedly uses his platform to relentlessly single out and demonize Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, and calls those who support it ‘monsters,’ he contributes to a climate in which Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly targeted,” said Eric Goldstein, the head of the UJA-Federation of New York.
“Mayor Mamdani, stop fanning the flames of hatred and division. The consequences are not abstract. They’re playing out on our streets,” Goldstein said.
A Jewish man wearing a kippah, Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, 50, was stabbed with a screwdriver after leaving Tisha B’av services on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Thursday afternoon.
Shortly before, the assailant allegedly stabbed a non-Jewish Asian man, Chok Sung, 57. Both victims are in stable condition.
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The alleged attacker, Raul Morales, 51, shouted “allahu akbar” during the incident, the NYPD said. Police took Morales into custody immediately after the attacks.
Police said the incidents are being investigated as potential hate crimes and that mental health issues may have been a factor.
Video showed the Jewish victim, sitting on the ground and clutching his chest, immediately after the attack.
The stabbings took place a day after Mamdani issued a statement acknowledging that he could not fulfill his promise to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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In Mamdani’s video statement, before announcing the city could not arrest Netanyahu, he made a series of incendiary claims against Israel. The video has been viewed more than 242 million times.
Some Jews fear that escalating hostility to Israel will spill over into violence against US Jewish communities.
Assailants motivated by conflict in the Middle East have carried out a series of violent attacks against Jews in the US and other areas of the Diaspora in recent years.
The statement came after other incendiary anti-Israel rhetoric from Mamdani, such as a speech last month in which he likened the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC to “monsters” fomenting “genocide” and societal division.
“The man accused of yesterday’s attacks may have been struggling with mental health challenges, but people in crisis can be especially susceptible to the hatred and conspiracy theories around them,” Goldstein said. “That makes dehumanizing public rhetoric more dangerous, not less.”
Friday’s press conference took place outside The Jewish Center, a Modern Orthodox synagogue where Grunhaus had been praying before he was stabbed down the street.
The scene of a stabbing incident on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, July 23, 2026. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
Speakers recounted discussing antisemitism with their children, debating about whether children should wear a Star of David, security guards at synagogues and parents fretting about security at summer camps.
“When I was growing up, the only time we saw security outside of my synagogue or outside of my Jewish day school was when the mayor came to speak. The police were there to protect him,” said Rabbi Yosie Levine of The Jewish Center. “Today, every time the mayor speaks, we need the police to protect us.”
Jews are targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined in New York City; there have been at least 178 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes in the city this year.
Mamdani said in a statement after the stabbings, “The NYPD’s initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor. They are also evaluating these stabbings as potential hate crimes.”
“These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city,” he said.
The stabbing was the second potential antisemitic attack in the city in two days. On Wednesday, a man shouting antisemitic slurs allegedly shoved a Jewish man in Brooklyn, causing injuries that required hospital treatment.
Also at Friday’s press conference were New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, representatives of Chinese-American and Muslim communities, and Micah Lasher, who is Jewish, represents the area in the New York State Assembly and won a Congressional primary last month.
“I beseech all those in a position of power, including our mayor, to hear our cry from the heart to please help take the temperature down and provide leadership that makes every New Yorker feel safe,” Lasher said.
New York State Assemblymember Micah Lasher on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, July 24, 2026. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
The speakers repeatedly voiced solidarity with the Asian-American community and praised the NYPD for its response to the stabbings.
Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, declined to say whether Mamdani had been invited to the press conference.
“I’ll leave it to the mayor and his office to answer their scheduling questions,” he said.
“Responsible leadership requires lowering the temperature, not raising it,” Treyger said. “What might seem to be an effective comms strategy that could generate tons of clicks and views might not be a good governing strategy because it has day-to-day implications on the people that you serve and represent.”
Stickers on lampposts at the scene of the stabbing said, “Antizionist violence happened here.”
A sticker says, “Antizionist violence happened here,” at the scene of a stabbing, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, July 24, 2026. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
“His words have profound real-world consequences on us, and shame on him, shame on him for doing this for perceived political benefit when it has real-world consequences for the Jews of New York. He must stop,” Goldstein said.
Police representatives have also voiced alarm about Mamdani’s statement.
In the video, Mamdani encouraged New Yorkers to protest Netanyahu’s expected visit to the UN General Assembly in September.
“The mayor’s activist posturing puts police officers on the street in a terrible position,” NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry told The New York Post. “Protests during the UN General Assembly are nothing new, but when the mayor of the city is actively calling for demonstrations, violent agitators will assume they have permission to cause as much havoc as possible.”
“The mayor’s heated rhetoric could be enough to push demonstrations over the edge into chaos,” he said.
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