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Herzog blasts Mamdani’s ‘outrageous’ rhetoric on Israel
Recent developments in New York City had ‘raised a red flag’, the Israeli president said
December 9, 2025 11:00
Recent developments in New York City had ‘raised a red flag’, the Israeli president said
December 9, 2025 11:00Israeli President Isaac Herzog took aim at New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in a scathing speech in the city on Sunday night.
Speaking at a gala to celebrate Yeshiva University’s 101st anniversary, Herzog said that Mamdani did not hide his “contempt” for Israel, labelling his rhetoric “outrageous” and later adding it was “anti-Jewish and anti-American”.
According to a statement from his office, the president – who received an honorary doctorate at the event – told those present: “Recent developments in New York City have raised a red flag… Here, we see the rise of a new mayor-elect who makes no effort to conceal his contempt for the Jewish, democratic State of Israel, the only nation state of the Jewish people.”
Herzog also spoke about the protest which took place outside New York’s Park East Synagogue in late November – in which around 200 anti-Israel protesters blocked the entrance and called for “intifada” – after it emerged they were hosting an event by Nefesh B’nefesh.
“Delegitimising the Jewish people’s right to their ancient homeland and their age-old dream of Jerusalem legitimises violence and undermines freedom of religion,” Herzog said, adding: “This is both anti-Jewish and anti-American.”
Attacking Mamdani’s response to the protest – the mayor’s spokesperson had said that while the 34-year-old “discouraged the language used,” he believed “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law” – Herzog said: “The incoming mayor’s response was to suggest that Jews who consider fulfilling the ultimate Zionist dream of making aliyah are violating international law and the sanctity of the synagogue.”
On Thursday evening, just days before Herzog’s speech, more than 1,000 people gathered at a “solidarity rally” in support of Park East Synagogue.
Addressing the crowd, the synagogue’s rabbi, Arthur Schneier, said: “What Park East synagogue has experienced, I’m so shaken,” adding: “It was not just an attack on Park East Synagogue; this was an attack against the Jewish community, to intimidate us, but we’re not afraid. United we prevail, divided we fail. Be strong and let us strengthen one another.”
Speaking more broadly about the rise of antisemitism on Sunday evening, Herzog said: “Here in New York, and all across America, the turbulence is unnerving, and the challenges facing our people, the Jewish people, are growing.
“Institutional antisemitism, Holocaust inversion, conspiracies left and right, Jew-hatred platformed on social media, and moral bankruptcy masquerading as social justice have all disturbingly increased.”
Ending with a rallying cry to the audience, he said: “We must use any legal means at our disposal – advocacy, education, leadership, civic engagement, media, social networks – to combat this surge of hate and antisemitism.”
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