{"id":87243,"date":"2026-01-02T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87243\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:35:09","slug":"israel-accuses-new-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-of-antisemitism-on-first-day-in-office-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87243\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel accuses new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani of antisemitism on first day in office \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOn his very first day as New York City Mayor Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn\u2019t leadership. It\u2019s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,\u201d Israel\u2019s foreign ministry said in a post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mamdani became mayor<\/a> just after midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve, beginning a term that Democrats hope will energize the party ahead of the 2026 midterms. The 34-year-old democratic socialist campaigned on an ambitious but costly agenda, including universal free childcare and free buses, financed in part by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s public rebuke from Israel\u2019s government adds an international dimension to a controversy already unfolding at home. On Thursday, Jewish civil rights groups criticized the removal<\/a> of posts related to combating antisemitism from the official @NYCMayor X account shortly after Mamdani assumed office, warning that the move risked sending the wrong signal at a particularly sensitive moment.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has repeatedly rejected accusations<\/a> of antisemitism, arguing his criticism<\/a> of Israel is rooted in human rights concerns. He has pledged <\/a>to protect New York\u2019s Jewish community, while maintaining his outspoken views on Middle East policy.<\/p>\n

That solidarity with New York\u2019s Jewish community was repeated in his swearing-in ceremony<\/a>, where celebrated the city\u2019s diversity by quipping: \u201cWhere else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani does, however, support bond disinvestment to pressure Israel<\/a>, and says he does not believe Israel should exist as a \u201cJewish state.\u201d <\/p>\n

Israeli officials have long viewed Mamdani with suspicion. Following his election victory in November Israel\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel described<\/a> the outcome as \u201cdeeply concerning,\u201d pointing to Mamdani\u2019s past activism and rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu slammed Mamdani\u2019s Jewish supporters, accusing them of having \u201craised their hands in support of antisemitism in the heart of America.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOn his very first day as New York City Mayor Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3862,3339,60,2597,1442,9,56,63,65,64,663,901],"class_list":["post-87243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-antisemitism","tag-cities","tag-israel","tag-israeli-palestinian-conflict","tag-mayors","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-palestine","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87243","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=87243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}