Mayor Zohran Mamdani is trying to repair a troubled relationship with some Jewish New Yorkers without backing away from the positions on Israel and Palestine that have long been central to his politics — a balancing act that came into sharp focus during a private meeting with 10 rabbis earlier this week.

Four participants who took part in the closed-door, no-camera meeting, in speaking with amNewYork, described broad agreement among them that many Jewish New Yorkers do not feel the safety and belonging that Mamdani says he wants for them, but sharply different ideas about what the mayor should change.

Some urged him to temper the way he talks about Israel; another cautioned against asking him to retreat from those positions. Most agreed that Mamdani was listening carefully and engaging in good faith. 

Mamdani, during a Thursday press conference, called the meeting “candid and productive.” With no new commitments publicly announced following the meeting, his forthcoming antisemitism strategy, which City Hall says will be released for Rosh Hashanah, will offer an early test of what comes from the listening session.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism delivered one of the bluntest messages at Monday’s roundtable, telling Mamdani that the way he talks about Israel “endangers the Jewish community writ large.”

“I’m happy to work in partnership with your administration, but Mr. Mayor, you are 90% of what could be different here — if instead of vilifying Israel, you spoke constructively, in measured tones — that would move the needle more than anything else, and I’m hopeful you’ll use that power,” Jacobs said.

Speaking Thursday, Mamdani said he appreciated hearing from rabbis representing “a wide swath of New York’s Jewish communities and affiliations.” He pointed to increased funding for hate-crime prevention, the expansion of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, and its work developing what he called a “first in the nation municipal response to combating antisemitism.”

Monday’s hour-long meeting was organized by the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism and brought together rabbis from Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Modern Orthodox Judaism, as well as unaffiliated groups.

Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the office, said the discussion focused on “strategies to strengthen Jewish safety and belonging,” maintaining candid lines of communication and collaborating on issues where City Hall and Jewish leaders share values and goals.

“It was an open, positive and constructive conversation,” Wisdom said in a statement.

Rabbis to Mamdani: Choice of words harm, not help

Rabbi Michelle Dardashti of Kane Street Synagogue said she told Mamdani that his approach had consequences beyond disagreements over foreign policy.

“I conveyed to the Mayor that his approach and tone in critiquing Israel and its government make it harder for us to be at the table with our neighbors on issues we jointly care about,” Dardashti told amNewYork.

“The Mayor expressed a desire to build bridges and we shared where we feel he is doing the opposite,” she added.

Dardashti, who is Iranian Jewish, also asked Mamdani to “work harder to understand and platform Jewish diversity and complexity.” She said the hour did not provide enough time for the rabbis to fully convey what they were hearing from their communities or for Mamdani to respond in depth.

Rabbi Jon Leener of Prospect Heights Shul said he warned Mamdani that his “inflammatory rhetoric around Israel can have real consequences for Jewish New Yorkers” and advocated for increased police presence around synagogues and other Jewish institutions.

Still, Leener described the meeting as “productive, thoughtful, and at times quite raw.”

“My impression was that the mayor was primarily there to listen,” he said. “I felt that he was genuinely engaging with us, acting in good faith, and listening carefully to our concerns, particularly our plea to help turn down the temperature.”

Different prescriptions for Mamdani

Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, executive director of New York Jewish Agenda, offered a different prescription from her seat at the table. 

“I think everybody was actually clear on what the issue was, and the diversity of views was actually around the action steps they were asking the mayor to take,” Hughes-Robinson told amNewYork.

She rejected the idea that Mamdani should simply stop discussing Israel or abandon his longstanding positions. Instead, she said she wants him to pair those positions more explicitly with recognition of the anxiety and pain felt by Jewish New Yorkers.

“We don’t think that criticism of Israel or the Israeli government is inherently anti-Semitic,” Hughes-Robinson said.

But when people feel permission to direct legitimate anger over human rights violations at “their Jewish neighbors,” Hughes-Robinson said, “that permission structure is a function of anti-Semitism.”

Hughes-Robinson also cautioned against laying the broader problem of antisemitism in the city at Mamdani’s feet.

“I don’t think this problem began with the mayor, and is so much bigger than any single politician,” she said.

She pointed to Mamdani’s handling of an Israel-related question at a Bronx transportation press conference on Wednesday as an encouraging example.

Asked about potential NYPD and City Council trips to Israel and whether his recent comments about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could affect their reception, Mamdani said he would follow up about the NYPD and noted that the Council is an independent body before returning to the event’s subject.

“Most of my focus today is Tremont Avenue busway,” Mamdani said. Hughes-Robinson called the response “a really public, good faith first step,” saying several colleagues had suggested that kind of approach during Monday’s meeting.

A complicated relationship with Jewish New Yorkers

Mamdani’s relationship with parts of the Jewish community has been strained by his positions on Israel, against a backdrop of rising hate crimes. NYPD data shows hate crimes increased 9.4% year to date through July, with antisemitic incidents accounting for 56.9% of all hate crimes.

In May, Mamdani drew criticism after City Hall published a video marking Nakba Day and later declined to attend the Israel Day on Fifth parade, while stressing that his administration would provide extensive security for the event.

In July, Mamdani said a city legal review found he lacked independent authority to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu, despite having said during his campaign that he would seek to arrest the Israeli prime minister if he came to the city, provided doing so complied with the law. Mamdani nevertheless declared Netanyahu “not welcome in New York City.”

But a national AP-NORC poll conducted in June found Jewish adults viewed Mamdani more favorably than Netanyahu. Forty-four percent viewed Mamdani favorably and 39% unfavorably, while roughly six in 10 viewed Netanyahu unfavorably and about one-third viewed him favorably.

Hughes-Robinson said that debates over antisemitism can sometimes become stand-ins for wider political disagreements.

“A lot of the Jewish New Yorkers I’m speaking with are really just wanting to get to a place where it doesn’t feel like we are a political football,” she said.

Mamdani, meanwhile, remains broadly popular among New York City voters. In an August Siena College poll, 69% of city respondents viewed him favorably and 24% unfavorably. In March, those figures were 56% and 26%, respectively. The August survey polled likely voters, while the March survey polled registered voters.

Polling specifically of Jewish voters in the city has painted a more difficult picture. A poll released in May by The Jewish Majority, based on a February survey conducted by Mercury Public Affairs of 665 Jewish New York City voters who voted in the 2025 mayoral election, found 32% rated Mamdani’s performance as mayor excellent or good, while 58% rated it only fair or poor. The poll had a reported margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

The same survey found 82% of Jewish New Yorkers polled were worried about rising antisemitism, including nearly two-thirds of respondents who said they had voted for Mamdani.

Siena’s statewide polling has also shown Mamdani struggling with Jewish respondents. In March, 40% viewed him favorably and 52% unfavorably. In August, 26% viewed him favorably and 66% unfavorably. Jewish respondents made up only a small portion of each poll’s overall sample.

Strategy due for Rosh Hashanah

City Hall confirmed Wednesday that the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism will release its broader strategy for Rosh Hashanah. The press office declined to address whether Monday’s meeting would shape that strategy or whether Mamdani had agreed to increased NYPD presence around Jewish institutions.

Leener said increased police presence around synagogues and other Jewish institutions was a follow-up from the meeting. City Hall did not confirm that characterization.

Dardashti said Mamdani explicitly stated that he wants every New Yorker, regardless of how they vote or their politics on Israel, to feel equally safe and at home in the city. But she said he made no commitment to change his rhetoric.

“I very much hope that our feedback and input will help prompt a shift in the mayor’s rhetoric, but he made no such commitments,” Dardashti said. “Time will tell.”