Mamdani’s Antisemitism Strategy: No Zionism, No Hamas, No Definition

Mayor Mamdani’s strategy to combat antisemitism never once uses the word Zionism, and erases the connection to Israel that is central to Jewish identity for so many New Yorkers – the connection that Jews in the city are targeted for.

“Zionist” has become the predominant word used to exclude Jewish students, harass Jewish workers, and justify mobs outside synagogues. Mamdani’s report addresses none of this.

In 2024, the Department of Education assessed a scenario in which protesters announce that “no Zionists can pass through,” and concluded that blocking students and accusing them of supporting genocide “solely on the basis that the students are perceived to be Jewish” were “offensive actions grounded in the perceived national origin and shared ancestry of these students.” Mamdani’s report addresses none of this – and, in fact, he vetoed a New York City Council bill that would have required an NYPD plan to keep access open and prevent harassment outside schools.

The report names the white supremacist attacks in Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, and Poway, and it names the “Great Replacement” and “white genocide” beliefs behind them. But October 7 appears only as a date stamp on a crime wave. Hamas is never named.

The murders outside the Capital Jewish Museum are never mentioned. According to the Justice Department, the accused said, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.” The firebombing in Boulder is never mentioned. According to the Justice Department, the attacker shouted “Free Palestine” while throwing a Molotov cocktail, and a document recovered from his car contained a statement that “Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land.” Israel is described as a “cancer entity.” The “globalize the intifada” chants outside Park East Synagogue are never mentioned. Neither are the clashes outside Young Israel of Midwood, where four people were arrested.

The report finds room for Donald Trump – in an endnote in the history section, citing a Forward essay titled, “Why Trump’s New ‘Red Scare’ Tactics Could Spell Trouble for Jews.” But it finds no room for Hamas.

The report celebrates Jewish food and holidays – forms of the word “celebrate” appear 27 times. It promises a campaign on LinkNYC kiosks to celebrate the contributions of Jewish New Yorkers, and more holiday posts on social media. But it refuses to say that Jewish belonging in this city must not depend on passing an ideological loyalty test.

Its only word on protest is a footnote affirming the First Amendment right to demonstrate. It says nothing about the right of Jews to worship in peace. It never mentions the law the City Council passed requiring an NYPD plan to protect houses of worship from obstruction and intimidation – a law the mayor let take effect without his signature.

The report adopts no definition of antisemitism, declaring one is not “necessary or useful,” and that the city will fight antisemitism “without needing to adopt a definition for this specific form of hate.” While claiming to follow the Biden administration’s 2023 national strategy, Mamdani’s report leaves out the sentence in which the United States “has embraced” the IHRA working definition. It also leaves out the line that “when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism.”

The U.S. government requires Title VI enforcement to consider IHRA. New York Governor Kathy Hochul directedCUNY to use it as a guide. New York City used IHRA, too, but Mamdani’s first act in office was to revoke it.

The report has no force of law. It creates no enforceable rights. It is issued “for informational purposes only.” And the $26 million in hate crime prevention funding was announced in May, for every category of hate crime.

A strategy that does not even identify the problem is no strategy at all, and an insult to the Jews it claims to protect.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes are more than half of all hate crimes in the city this year. This is why so many Jewish New Yorkers see Mayor Mamdani as a Jew-hater: when Jews are targeted as Zionists, he will not even say the word.