New York Jewish groups have been left divided over a first-of-its-kind municipal strategy to combat antisemitism put forward by the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani’s.
The 35-page plan, released on Tuesday, represents the Mamdani administration’s first citywide framework for combating antisemitism and includes $6.4 million for hate-crime prevention and support programmes, alongside $1 million for security at synagogues and other houses of worship.
The initiative also calls for expanded Holocaust education and greater recognition of Jewish history and cultural institutions.
The plan has largely been welcomed by progressive Jewish organisations, but several major mainstream Jewish groups said it leaves out whether rhetoric targeting Israel and Zionism can contribute to antisemitic hostility against Jews in New York.
The UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the American Jewish Committee’s New York office and the New York Board of Rabbis jointly praised elements of the strategy, particularly additional security resources and the expansion of programmes that have already demonstrated results.
Their statement said the plan “has a number of positive elements, including some increased security funding for Jewish institutions and expanding proven programmes.”
But they added that it “fails to address a central issue that the mayor himself has perpetuated: rhetoric that demonises and delegitimises Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers.”
Moshe Davis, who previously led City Hall’s Office to Combat Antisemitism under former Mayor Eric Adams, also welcomed the security provisions while criticising the strategy’s treatment of anti-Israel activism.
Davis said the security measures “will greatly help safeguard Jewish New Yorkers against attempted terror attacks carried out by those seeking to ‘globalise the intifada’.
“[But] the latest report seems to ignore anti-Israel protesters targeting synagogues and the hate being taught in our educational spaces.
“In doing this, it seems to make a conscious effort to erase the connection between the violence against Jews we are seeing in our city and the anti-Israel propaganda clearly fuelling it.”
City Council member Eric Dinowitz, a co-chair of the council’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, similarly pointed to areas of the strategy he supports while arguing that it does not go far enough.
“There is much to welcome in the Mayor’s strategy, particularly its focus on education, prevention, and ensuring Jewish New Yorkers can live openly and proudly in our city,” Dinowitz said.
“This strategy, however, misses an opportunity to confront the reality of the intersection between antizionism and antisemitism.
“We cannot ignore that attacking or excluding ‘Zionists’ can and has become a convenient way to disguise antisemitism as political disagreement.”
On the other hand, some Progressive Jewish organisations have argued that the strategy’s focus on practical measures is more important than resolving the broader debate over definitions.
Jonathan Jacoby, president of the Nexus Project, praised the initiative and its emphasis on protecting Jewish New Yorkers alongside other communities facing discrimination.
“Mayor Mamdani’s strategy is rooted in an important recognition that confronting antisemitism is a critical part of the wider struggle against bigotry,” Jacoby said.
“Jews have always thrived in pluralistic democracies. When we defend one another and build a society where no group can be singled out for discrimination, we’re all safer and more secure.”
The Nexus Project separately said it welcomed the strategy and encouraged its implementation.
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