{"id":366314,"date":"2026-10-06T22:50:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/366314\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T22:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:50:29","slug":"why-are-some-skeptical-about-new-york-city-mayor-zohran-mamdanis-plan-to-fight-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/366314\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are some skeptical about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s plan to fight antisemitism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo collage illustration of NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, Central Synagogue and text from the mayor's strategy to combat antisemitism.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/the_week_574\/0be2d0f08f902c47ea7d8122de6f1579.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The mayor &#8216;recommends continuing and expanding many existing city policies&#8217;. | Credit: Illustration by Stephen P. Kelly \/ Getty Images \/ AP Photo<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While some have accused Zohran Mamdani of antisemitism for his criticism of Israeli government policies, the Democratic New York City mayor recently unveiled a massive new plan to counter Jewish hatred in the Big Apple. It has been both lauded and scoffed at.<\/p>\n<p>What did the commentators say?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <a data-ylk=\"slk:35-page plan;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/content\/dam\/nycgov\/mayors-office\/downloads\/pdf\/press-releases\/2026\/2026-09-25-moca-report-interactive-5.pdf?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_name=&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">35-page plan<\/a>, titled &#8220;Tackling Hate: The Mamdani Administration&#8217;s Strategy to Combat Antisemitism,&#8221; is part of a $7.4 million &#8220;citywide commitment to confront antisemitism and to build a New York where Jewish New Yorkers can live their lives authentically on every block, in every neighborhood and across every borough,&#8221; Mamdani said in the plan&#8217;s introduction. While Jews make up only 12% of New York&#8217;s population, the city has the highest <a data-ylk=\"slk:concentration of Jews;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/american-antisemitism-rising\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">concentration of Jews<\/a> in the world outside Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mamdani has been accused of antisemitism because he is a &#8220;longtime critic of Israel,&#8221; said <a data-ylk=\"slk:The New York Times;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/29\/nyregion\/mamdani-antisemitism-report-nyc.html\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">The New York Times<\/a>. But this report never expressly mentions the ongoing war in the Middle East. Rather, it &#8220;recommends continuing and expanding many existing city policies, such as teaching public school students about the Holocaust and providing training to city workers&#8221; about Jewish customs. The report&#8217;s &#8220;omission of any discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reflects the sensitive and fraught politics around the issue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What next?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Since the report&#8217;s unveiling, some have &#8220;welcomed the additional security and education funding but said the strategy glaringly omits the role that anti-Israel hostility plays in fueling anti-Jewish hostility,&#8221; said <a data-ylk=\"slk:The Wall Street Journal;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/us-news\/mamdani-unveils-strategy-to-combat-antisemitism-amid-criticism-of-his-anti-israel-views-088f011a\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a>. Others have praised <a data-ylk=\"slk:Mamdani&#039;s;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/mamdani-rent-control-new-york-city-massachusetts-california\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Mamdani&#8217;s<\/a> effort. At a &#8220;moment of real and rising antisemitism, extremism and violence across the ideological spectrum, our communities deserve a whole-of-government response,&#8221; Amy Spitalnick, the chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said to the Journal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Antisemitism remains an ongoing issue in <a data-ylk=\"slk:New York City;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/environment\/new-documents-nyc-9-11-air-quality-health-problems\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">New York City<\/a>. In 2026 so far, there have been about &#8220;223 antisemitic hate crimes, making up more than half of all hate crimes in the city,&#8221; said <a data-ylk=\"slk:Politico;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/29\/with-tensions-high-mamdani-releases-plan-to-combat-rising-antisemitism-in-nyc-01096696\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Politico<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Still, while Mamdani&#8217;s report does not specifically define &#8220;antisemitism,&#8221; that may not ultimately be its purpose. It is not the city&#8217;s &#8220;role to settle a debate over how to define&#8221; this, and governments that have &#8220;adopted the definition have not seen a reduction in antisemitism,&#8221; Phylisa Wisdom, the executive director of the Mayor&#8217;s Office to Combat Antisemitism, said in a statement. &#8220;No other hate crime category is formally defined by the city.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-366314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}