{"id":360930,"date":"2026-09-30T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360930\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:46:09","slug":"what-mamdanis-plan-to-fight-anti-semitism-misses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360930\/","title":{"rendered":"What Mamdani\u2019s Plan to Fight Anti-Semitism Misses"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his strategic report<\/a> on combating anti-Semitism in New York City. It was accompanied by a video<\/a> in which Mamdani acknowledged the disproportionate level of violence targeting Jewish New Yorkers, who account for just 12 percent of the city\u2019s population yet make up 57 percent<\/a> of all hate-crime victims.<\/p>\n

The mayor admitted that \u201canti-Semitism is real, and it is growing.\u201d But his administration\u2019s report inexplicably downplays rising anti-Semitism, especially its surge following October 7, in favor of more generic concerns about bigotry. This flawed analysis results in outdated and insufficient solutions.<\/p>\n

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The report was produced under the direction of Phylisa Wisdom, Mamdani\u2019s executive director of the Office to Combat Antisemitism. Wisdom previously served as the executive director<\/a> of the New York Jewish Agenda<\/a>, which \u201cpromote[s] the values of liberal Jewish New Yorkers to influence state and local policies, politics, and the communal discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many progressive Jewish organizations<\/a>, NYJA sees anti-Semitism as in substantial part the fault of generic bigotry, and especially of white supremacists. \u201cWe stand resolute against the increasingly bold and violent forces of white supremacy,\u201d NYJA\u2019s section on anti-Semitism reads<\/a>; it lacks a similar mention of other potential causes. NYJA also resists the idea that anti-Semitism should be a unique concern for Jews, asserting that \u201cwe can only dismantle the machinery of antisemitism as part of the larger movement to fight other forms of racism, bigotry, and oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom brings this same outlook to her governmental role. The report, ostensibly prompted by the alarming rates of hate crimes against Jews, includes among its core values the claim that \u201cone form of hatred cannot be combatted in a vacuum. Antisemitism can, and must, be addressed hand in hand with all other forms of hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

That anti-Semitism is treated simply as one \u201chatred\u201d among a group of biases helps explain why the report downplays the impact of October 7. The report\u2019s discussion of the recent history of anti-Semitism highlights incidents like the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting. By contrast it omits, among other incidents, Elias Rodriguez\u2019s 2025 murder<\/a> of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C., while allegedly shouting \u201cFree Palestine\u201d; Mohamed Sabry Soliman\u2019s 2025 firebombing<\/a> of a group advocating for Israeli hostages while shouting the same phrase; excessive harassment and violence<\/a> outside synagogues and on college campuses; and Raul Morales\u2019s recent stabbing<\/a> of two men near Upper West Side synagogues while allegedly shouting \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d and \u201cJustice for Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n

In place of these incidents, the report cites surveys showing that Jews have felt increasingly unsafe for years, noting that this was \u201ca result [we] found again in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.\u201d. There is no discussion of how these data may have changed after October 7.<\/p>\n

The report cites a United Jewish Appeal (UJA) poll finding that \u201cin more recent years, public opinion research has suggested that an overwhelming majority of Jewish New Yorkers in New York City and the surrounding counties of Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk, as well as Jewish Americans overall, have felt a rise in antisemitic incidents and attitudes.\u201d Yet this omits the critical information the UJA itself reportedly<\/a> found: \u201cthe vast majority of Jews in the eight-county area believed that antisemitism had increased from pre-October 7 levels and that Jewish adults expressed heightened concern for their personal safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report mentions October 7 just twice: once in Wisdom\u2019s introductory remarks, and once in the admission that \u201cFBI and NYPD data show [that] there was a notable increase in anti-Jewish crimes following October 7, 2023.\u201d One would think the report\u2019s solutions would contend with that finding. Instead, this insight is largely ignored in favor of pages of public-opinion data and paragraphs placing anti-Semitism within the broader context of other biases.<\/p>\n

From this foundational error\u2014an attempt to ignore a specific anti-Semitic event in favor of an overarching leftist narrative\u2014flows everything else wrong with the report.<\/p>\n

The first such issue is the Office to Combat Antisemitism\u2019s preferred solution. It does not endorse investments in policing or new security initiatives<\/a>. Instead, the administration\u2019s idea is funding Partners Against the Hate (PATH), which<\/a> \u201cstrengthen[s] relations among diverse communities through programming and restorative practices\u201d that address bias and discrimination. The administration plans to invest $7.4 million in PATH, which will be directed to community-based organizations and synagogues.<\/p>\n

Complementary investments in actual security are scant. The report devotes just one page, at the end, to discussing measures the NYPD already undertakes, and proposes no new ones. A mere $1 million is earmarked for the \u201csecurity of vulnerable nonprofit organizations, including synagogues.\u201d An average Jewish communal institution spends<\/a> $225,000 a year on security\u2014a figure that doesn\u2019t include the security costs faced by Jewish camps, grocery stores, restaurants, and Judaica shops.<\/p>\n

For schools, the administration proposes more Holocaust education and lessons on prominent Jewish figures like Leonard Bernstein. The report cites programs like New York City\u2019s \u201cUnderstanding Respect for All<\/a>\u201d or \u201cUnderstanding Jewish Experiences<\/a>\u201d as ways to curb anti-Semitic attacks. These programs have been in place for years. They did not prevent more than 250 anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist incidents in public schools since 2023, many involving teachers themselves allegedly making such statements in the classroom, as a recent report<\/a> documented.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting, lastly, what the report\u2019s understanding of anti-Semitism implies. While it largely shies away from defining the relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, the report states that \u201cAntisemitism has long functioned as a conspiracy theory that blames the Jewish people for the problems of the day.\u201d Later, its formal definition describes anti-Semitism as \u201ca pernicious conspiracy theory that often features myths about Jewish power and control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against that definition, consider Mamdani\u2019s own rhetoric. At a primary rally over the summer, he infamously told<\/a> the crowd that \u201cNow is the time of monsters. These monsters take many forms today . . . in AIPAC for whom the only thing more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and Netanyahu\u2019s wars. They move millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal: to preserve their power so that they can turn us against one another.\u201d It\u2019s hard not to see in such words a \u201cconspiracy theory that blames the Jewish people for the problems of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

This irony is difficult to miss. A report devoted to combating anti-Semitism defines the problem in terms that seem uncomfortably close to the mayor\u2019s own words. The implication is key: because Mamdani does not understand anti-Semitism today, what he proposes to do about it is wholly inadequate.<\/p>\n

Josh Appel<\/a> is a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute.<\/p>\n

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