After a controversial campaign trail, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office on Jan. 1 and on his first day revoked all of the executive orders that his predecessor, Eric Adams, had issued since his indictment on corruption charges on Sept. 26, 2024, which included several designed to protect the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
Mamdani, 34, the city\u2019s first Muslim mayor, ran for office as a democratic socialist and, while on the campaign trail in which he promised to make the city more affordable, drew much attention for his critiques of Israel and public support of Palestine.<\/p>\n
Under the guise of slashing all executive orders since Sept. 26, 2024, to free the city of any corruption by Adams, Mamdani specified at a Jan. 2 press conference that protecting Jewish New Yorkers will be a focus of his administration and that his axing of executive orders had given him a clean slate to get to work on delivering a \u201cnew era\u201d for New Yorkers.<\/p>\n
Jewish leaders, however, have not been easily convinced on Mamdani\u2019s motive, who has previously said that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested in New York City.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn his very first day as @NYCMayor, Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel,\u201d Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry, @IsraelMFA, wrote on X on Jan. 2. \u201cThis isn\u2019t leadership. It\u2019s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the executive orders terminated by Mamdani were No. 60, which barred city entities and personnel from boycotting or divesting from Israel, and No. 61, which directed the New York City Police Department to look into creating zones around houses of worship in which protesting would be prohibited.<\/p>\n
William Daroff, CEO of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the Cleveland Jewish News that perhaps the most significant executive order that was slashed was the recognition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s definition of antisemitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IHRA definition of antisemitism is the gold standard of definitions,\u201d Daroff, a former resident of Shaker Heights, Ohio, said. \u201cIt\u2019s been accepted by and adopted by literally two-thirds of the United States, hundreds of universities and sports teams, and over 30 countries around the world. What it does is it ensures that there is a commonly accepted definition of antisemitism, because in order to combat antisemitism, you need to be able to define it.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the IHRA, antisemitism is defined as \u201ca certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews\u201d \u2013 something that Israel has publicly accused Mamdani of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a definition that has been previously adopted by New York City, and for the mayor, on his first day as mayor, to rescind that executive order is incredibly troubling and is a sign towards where Mayor Mamdani\u2019s administration will be headed,\u201d Daroff said. \u201cWe have a lot of concerns about what\u2019s motivating the mayor\u2019s actions, and the Jewish community in New York City is feeling particularly insecure.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a time when Jews across the world, whether in New York City or across the world in Sydney, Australia, are being victimized in acts of antisemitism, Daroff said it\u2019s important for elected officials to \u201cunderstand that insecurity\u201d and \u201cgive us an embrace.\u201d The mayor\u2019s actions on day one of his administration send the opposite signal, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor Mamdani is definitely the flavor of the month for progressive Americans, and we are certainly concerned there will be copycat Mamdanis that will seek office throughout the country, and that Mamdanism will take off \u2013 and a key component of that, beyond free rent and free bus fare, is targeting key Jewish communal agenda items,\u201d Daroff said. \u201cWe think it\u2019s important for other elected officials and allies in the Jew community to stand up and say that Mamdanism does not work for them and that the components of that should be condemned by all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although political fears linger amongst the Jewish community, Daroff said that all hope is not lost, as he commends those elected officials who are standing in solidarity with the community at their time of need.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical leaders and civic leaders should stand up and express their solidarity with the Jewish community, they should express their concern for the Jewish community, and they should be standing with us,\u201d Daroff told the CJN. \u201cThat is what many across the country have been doing, including Cleveland\u2019s own Mayor (Justin) Bibb who has stood strongly with the Jewish community, Gov. Mike Dewine who has stood strongly with the Jewish community, and Ohio\u2019s two senators. That is precisely the sort of action that we demand and that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani, who said he wishes to usher New York City into a \u201cnew era,\u201d will aim to address housing insecurity and affordability of transportation at the start of his term.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist,\u201d Mamdani said in his inaugural address on Jan. 1. \u201cI will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Jewish leaders will continue to keep a close eye on Mamdani\u2019s administration, Daroff offered a word of support for those with concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American Jewish community (and the) Ohio Jewish community are unified today in a way that we have not been prior to Oct. 7,\u201d Daroff said. \u201cCertainly, Oct. 7 has focused the community on the issues that are important to us and on the need for us to stand together, and so despite what some politicians or elected officials may say, we as a community are stronger than we were and we will continue to be strong. It is through that unity that we make sure that we don\u2019t just survive as a people, but that we thrive as a people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a controversial campaign trail, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office on Jan. 1 and on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[40099,3862,17460,43677,32395,81,43678,43676,42045,42115,60,2597,9113,2601,7702,40100,1445,9,24,56,63,65,64,87,2593,2596,2602,43679,2600,16854,9498],"class_list":["post-92441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-anti-judaism","tag-antisemitism","tag-boycott","tag-daroff","tag-divestment-and-sanctions","tag-eric-adams","tag-government-of-israel","tag-ihra","tag-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism","tag-international-holocaust-remembrance-alliance","tag-israel","tag-israeli-palestinian-conflict","tag-jewish","tag-jews-and-judaism","tag-judaism","tag-judaism-related-controversies","tag-mamdani","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-politics","tag-politics-of-israel","tag-politics-of-palestine","tag-politics-of-palestine-region","tag-politics-of-the-arab-israeli-conflict","tag-politics-of-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict","tag-xenophobia","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92441","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=92441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}