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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) speaking with the press in the Bronx, New York City, May 18, 2026. Photo: Michael Brochstein\/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a wave of outrage from Jewish leaders and Israeli officials<\/a> over his new \u201cwhole-of-government\u201d strategy to combat antisemitism, with critics warning that its failure to address anti-Zionism and hatred of Israel leaves the city\u2019s response dangerously detached from the realities driving Jew-hatred.<\/p>\n In a joint statement, UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council-NY, the American Jewish Committee, and the New York Board of Rabbis voiced serious concerns over the new strategy, warning that it does not go far enough in confronting the growing threat of anti-Jewish hatred in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cAny effort to confront antisemitism in New York City must fully address the realities Jewish New Yorkers face today<\/a>,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWhile the mayor\u2019s plan has a number of positive elements \u2026 it fails to address a central issue that the mayor himself has perpetrated: rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani announced the initiative on Tuesday in a two-minute social media video, calling it a \u201chistoric\u201d first-of-its-kind municipal strategy to combat antisemitism while promising that Jewish New Yorkers \u201cshould feel cherished and celebrated in the most Jewish city in America.\u201d<\/p>\n New York City has the world\u2019s largest Jewish community outside of Israel.<\/p>\n The newly unveiled strategy allocates $7.4 million for antisemitism prevention, Jewish community infrastructure and the revival of an interagency security working group designed to help city agencies identify threats facing Jewish New Yorkers.<\/p>\n As part of the initiative, $6.4 million will go toward hate-prevention efforts and survivor support, while $1 million will bolster security at synagogues<\/a> and other houses of worship, with additional measures expanding Holocaust education, strengthening Jewish cultural institutions, and promoting awareness of the city\u2019s human rights law.<\/p>\n \u201cMy administration has zero tolerance for antisemitism. Not on our subways. Not in our workplaces. Not online. Not anywhere,\u201d Mamdani said in remarks unveiling the new strategy. \u201cAs mayor, I will use every power entrusted in me to protect Jewish New Yorkers and ensure that Jewish life flourishes for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Mamdani\u2019s initiative has already triggered mounting criticism from Jewish leaders, political figures, and Israeli officials, who have raised concerns over key gaps in the plan and questioned whether it adequately addresses the rhetoric and ideological currents surrounding rising antisemitism.<\/p>\n Ofir Akunis, Israel\u2019s consul general in New York, sharply criticized the initiative, arguing that financial investments alone cannot address the rhetoric driving hostility toward Jews<\/a> and Israel, adding that \u201cmoney can\u2019t buy values.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUntil you recognize that your language against the Jewish state, which you don\u2019t recognize as the homeland of the Jewish people, is the fundamental reason for the rise of antisemitism in New York City, it will continue to increase,\u201d the Israeli diplomat said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cTo truly fight antisemitism would be to call for your supporters to stop shouting \u2018from the river to the sea\u2019 and \u2018globalize the intifada,\u2019 have them condemn the Oct. 7 massacre and instead of supporting Hamas, declare that they are a terror organization,\u201d Akunis continued.<\/p>\n Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University, went even further, describing Mamdani as \u201can arsonist posing as a firefighter\u201d who appears to be combating antisemitism while actually promoting it by \u201cadvancing an anti-Zionist agenda\u201d that denies Israel\u2019s right to exist as a Jewish state<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the plan includes positive steps, those measures amount to window dressing unless he addresses his own role in fueling the hatred he claims to oppose,\u201d Berman said in a statement. \u201cThe mayor cannot falsely accuse the world\u2019s only Jewish state of humanity\u2019s gravest crimes and then claim to protect Jewish New Yorkers from the hatred such rhetoric inflames.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the main concerns surrounding the strategy is that the 33-page plan largely sidesteps Israel and Zionism while declining to adopt a formal definition of antisemitism, leaving critics questioning how the city intends to confront some of the most contentious forms of anti-Jewish hostility.<\/p>\n Inna Vernikov, a member of the New York City Council, posted on social media that she was told by the Mayor\u2019s Office to Combat Antisemitism that the new plan didn\u2019t include the word \u201cZionism\u201d because it\u2019s a \u201cpolitical ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n Zionism, the movement that supports the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and statehood in their ancestral homeland, has consistently been a core aspect of Jewish identity \u2014 including for most American Jews.<\/p>\n As one of his first acts as mayor, Mamdani revoked an executive order issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, that had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism<\/a> as city policy.<\/p>\n Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, also criticized the strategy, warning that protecting Jewish New Yorkers means confronting antisemitism and the rhetoric behind it before it escalates into harassment or violence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe administration\u2019s strategy discusses several prominent definitions of antisemitism but explicitly declines to adopt one. A strategy to combat antisemitism has to be able to state plainly what is being combatted,\u201d Berk said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout that clarity, an important question remains: What standard will New York City use to determine when rhetoric or conduct crosses into antisemitism, particularly when \u2018Zionist\u2019 becomes a proxy for Jew or when Jewish New Yorkers are targeted because of their connection to Israel?\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Manhattan\u2019s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and president of the New York Board of Rabbis, called the strategy\u2019s failure to address anti-Israel hostility and anti-Zionism a \u201cglaring omission,\u201d warning that both have played a significant role in the rise of antisemitism in New York<\/a> and across the West.<\/p>\n \u201cThat [the new] strategy to combat antisemitism ignores this basic fact is disappointing and unserious \u2014 and unbecoming of NYC Mayor\u2019s Office,\u201d Hirsch wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n \u201cMamdani has made it clear that he is opposed to the existence of the Jewish state, and he has repeatedly failed to acknowledge the role that anti-Israel animosity plays in fomenting hatred against Jews,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n