Mamdani’s plan to fight antisemitism includes PSAs, funding for synagogues

One million dollars to upgrade security at synagogues and other houses of worship, and $6.4 million for community organizations working to fight discrimination. A new campaign to educate the public on the city’s Human Rights Law and processes for reporting discrimination. Increasing uptake of free school trips to the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration released its Strategy to Combat Antisemitism on Tuesday – the mayor’s most concrete delineation of how he will fight antisemitism as he continues to face criticism that he isn’t doing enough. 

Published just after the Jewish High Holidays and during Sukkot, includes all of the above as well as a set of “core values” in that strategy. 

“The Jewish people and their contributions to New York City are inextricably woven into the fabric of this city, and they must remain an enduring part of its future,” the first of those core values reads. “New York City has long had one of the most significant Jewish populations out of any city in the world. The way to ensure that it remains that way is to maintain their safety.”

The report was informed in large part by a months-long listening tour conducted by Mamdani’s director of the Office to Combat Antisemitism Phylisa Wisdom and her two deputies in the office. In a press briefing on Monday ahead of its release, Wisdom described the outreach in that listening tour as wide-ranging across the political spectrum. Mamdani’s mayoral campaign split Jewish voters along ideological lines, earning strong support from more progressive Jews and condemnation in some Orthodox Jewish communities.

One thing the strategy does not include is a precise definition of antisemitism. “New York City can and will leverage all of the tools at its disposal to combat antisemitism effectively without needing to adopt a definition for this specific form of hate,” the report reads. 

Just a day into his first term, Mamdani came under harsh criticism from some Jewish groups for doing away with an executive order from former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration that adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. Mamdani noted at the time that some Jewish organizations don’t abide by it because it includes references to criticism of the state of Israel.

The report cites a description laid out by former President Joe Biden’s administration as a “useful framework” but notes that federal hate crimes statutes don’t adopt a single definition of discrimination.

Mamdani has consistently come under criticism during his campaign and over his first year in office for his condemnations of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza, which some Jewish organizations and leaders say stokes antisemitism.  

“The rise in antisemitic rhetoric and violence has taken a real and painful toll,” an introduction attributed to Mamdani in the report reads. “Our Jewish neighbors have been attacked for wearing a yarmulke or a Star of David. They have encountered slurs on the street and swastikas on their sidewalks. Synagogues and community centers that once kept their doors open have been forced to take extraordinary security precautions because the threat of violence is real.”