It took less than 24 hours for Zohran Mamdani to prove he is the worst possible nightmare for already nervous New York Jews. Mere hours after becoming New York’s new mayor on Thursday, the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist began enacting the strident anti-Israel (and, many insist, antisemitic) ideological agenda that fuelled his election victory.
Two key executive orders implemented by outgoing mayor Eric Adams
since Mamdani took office. The first barred municipal agencies from boycotting or divesting from Israel. This is a tactic that Mamdani has championed since his college days as essential to his quest to dismantle Zionism.
The second revoked the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which equates elements of anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
Mamdani has long been opposed to Israel’s status as a Jewish state. And revoking both Adams-era orders so early in his tenure signals a no-holds barred approach to Israel.
Make no mistake: Zohran Mamdani knows exactly what he is doing. Rather than ban the two initiatives on their own, for instance, Mamdani ordered an end to all executive orders issued by Adams since he was indicted on federal corruption charges in September 2024.
This provided him with the cover of a “fresh start” — as his office described it in
— for his administration from Day 1. This is true. But what is equally true is that Mamdani insists that any “fresh start” must include placing Israel directly in his cross-hairs.
The reaction to Mamdani’s moves was swift and predictable — yet impressively strident. Israel’s Foreign Ministry
as pouring “antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” while former mayor
that Mandani’s “new era … isn’t new … and isn’t (the) unity” he promised to deliver as a candidate.
Coun. Inna Vernikov, meanwhile,
on social media that, “the pro-Hamas antisemites emboldened by” the mayor “are coming,” in the wake of Mamdani’s dubiousness on Day 1.
In many ways, the “pro-Hamas” antisemites are already here and, as evidenced by
Mamdani so poorly failed to condemn in November, they’re already bolder than ever. The question is: what happened next?
Mamdani showed unanticipated restraint in his decision to spare New York’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, which Adams established in May. This makes sense: retaining the office allows Mamdani to claim a Jewish safety “win” — one that appears leadership-like but avoids direct engagement with Israel.
This, ultimately, is the new mayor’s main goal: to decouple Israel from Judaism — along with antisemitism from anti-Zionism. An Office of Antisemitism operating within an administration that separates Israel-hate from Jew-hate does just that.
The executive order roll-back wasn’t the only move Mamdani has made that has raised the ire of already suspicious New York Jews. The first was Mamdani’s appointment of
as his chief counsel on Wednesday.
Kassem rose to fame last year for defending detained Columbia University campus organizer Mahmoud Khalil during his extradition battle with the Trump administration. Kassem will now help develop legal strategy for New York City.
Then, on Thursday, Mamdani’s office deleted posts from the mayor of New York’s official X account about combating antisemitism.
The posts were originally made by Mayor Adams as part of his effort to calm Jewish New Yorkers enduring high levels of antisemitic hate crimes — prompting questions about Mamdani’s motivations for removing them. A suitable explanation has yet to be delivered.
Finally, there was Mamdani’s
, in which he promised that, “Palestinian New Yorkers … will no longer have to contend with a politics that speaks of universalism and then makes them the exception.” Most would be hard-pressed to encounter these supposedly silenced Palestinians, but such sentiments are certain to sit well with Mamdani’s pro-Gaza base.
The scrubbing of executive orders and social media posts further added to the feeling many New York Jews have that Mamdani in oblivious — if not outright indifferent — to their concerns. Many, of course, had anticipated a Mamdani attack on the overtly pro-Jewish agenda that anchored Mayor Adams’ four years in office.
Indeed, while Mamdani has made clear that he will never visit Israel — and has threatened to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to step foot in New York City, home of the United Nations General Assembly — Adams has made repeated trips to Israel, including in November, when he met with Netanyahu .
But even the most cynical skeptics could not have anticipated such severe Mamdani measures so early in his mayorship. Packed with dozens of functionaries so hostile to Israel that the Anti-Defamation League launched a dedicated “
” to keep tabs on them, the new administration has taken its first shots — and Israel and the Jews who support it now clearly understand there is nowhere to hide.
National Post
David Christopher Kaufman is a New York-based journalist and former New York Post editor and columnist. Sign up for his Substack newsletter, Counterintuitive.
