New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani released what he calls the nation’s first-ever municipal strategy to combat antisemitism on Tuesday as Jewish leaders accuse him of contributing to the problem with his anti-Israel rhetoric.
The 33-page blueprint seeks to address the rapid rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes across New York City, home to the largest Jewish population of any major U.S. city. Though Jews make up 12% of the city’s population, New York Police Department statistics show antisemitic acts account for over 50% of all reported hate crimes.
That is why the Mamdani administration unveiled its plan to combat antisemitism and hate crimes against Jewish residents.
“Today, we hold a responsibility to sustain and protect our Jewish neighbors — a responsibility that belongs to each of us,” Mamdani said in a video. “That is the work we are undertaking at City Hall, and I am asking every New Yorker to join us.”
The newly released document reveals the city is investing $26 million in hate crime prevention funding, including $6.4 million to be designated toward community-based organizations preventing hate violence and $1 million set aside for the physical security of synagogues and other houses of worship.
The city government is also restarting the interagency Security Infrastructure Working Group, which Mamdani said was disbanded in 2024. Though his predecessor dissolved the working group, former Mayor Eric Adams subsequently launched an antisemitism task force and the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
The Mamdani administration is also making investments in Jewish cultural centers, including $2 million for the Queens Holocaust Memorial Garden and $2.5 million for Brooklyn’s Center for New Jewish Culture.
Mamdani’s plan is in part based on the Biden administration’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which adopted the antisemitism definition put forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. But the mayor’s office said a “singular definition” was not “necessary or useful” for its work in fighting antisemitism.
Major Jewish advocacy organizations in New York City criticized Mamdani over his continued anti-Israel rhetoric.
“Rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers,” the UJA-Federation of New York said in a joint statement with similar groups. “Those who truly seek to address antisemitism must unequivocally reject such rhetoric and help ensure that Jewish New Yorkers are never made to feel suspect, excluded, or unsafe in their own city.”
Mamdani, a devout Muslim, is known for his statements against Israeli military actions in the Middle East. He has also been a vocal critic of the Israeli government, primarily Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Over the summer, Mamdani called for Netanyahu’s arrest while the Israeli leader was in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly, which took place last week. The city could not enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu, so no arrest was made.
NETANYAHU RIPS MAMDANI AND CALLS HAMAS TERRORISTS MAYOR’S ‘BUDDIES’
During his U.N. speech, Netanyahu took direct aim at the socialist mayor for claiming that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza since the Jewish state’s war with Hamas started in October 2023.
“Here’s the simple truth: Israel didn’t commit genocide,” Netanyahu said. “Israel prevented genocide. And that’s exactly what Mr. Mamdani’s Hamas buddies would have done to us, had we not stopped them.”
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
