NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces citywide strategy to combat antisemitism.
The plan includes $6.4 million for the Partners Against the Hate grant programme and $1 million to improve the physical security of synagogues and other houses of worship. The funding package includes $2 million for the Queens Holocaust Memorial Garden and $2.5 million for the Center for New Jewish Culture in Brooklyn. The announcement comes as antisemitic hate crimes in New York City have risen 8% so far this year, according to NYPD figures released earlier this month.
“Antisemitism is real, and it is growing,” Mamdani said, describing the initiative as “a road map for how our administration will confront the scourge of antisemitism”. He also said during the campaign that, as mayor, he could arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes. At a rally this summer, Mamdani compared the organisation and its spending to “monsters”. Four Jewish organisations, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, American Jewish Committee and New York Board of Rabbis, said the new strategy contained some positive measures but did not address what they considered a key concern. “Rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers,” the groups said in a joint statement. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said the city needed a government-wide response to antisemitism, extremism and violence. “At a moment of real and rising antisemitism, extremism and violence across the ideological spectrum, our communities deserve a whole-of-government response,” Spitalnick said. “Jewish New Yorkers, and everyone in our city, deserve to be safe,” Menin said.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled a citywide strategy to combat antisemitism, including new funding for hate-crime prevention, security at Jewish institutions and programmes focused on Jewish history and culture. The administration will also restart an interagency Security Infrastructure Working Group to help Jewish institutions assess threats and strengthen their security. The administration is also directing money towards hate crime prevention and security initiatives. Anti-Jewish incidents account for more than half of all hate incidents recorded in the city. Mamdani has faced criticism from some Jewish organisations over his past comments on Israel and his handling of protests outside synagogues. During his mayoral campaign, his criticism of Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war was a prominent part of his platform. Mamdani later acknowledged that he would not have the legal authority to make such an arrest. His remarks about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its spending in US elections have also drawn criticism. Other Jewish leaders welcomed the initiative. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin also backed the additional funding for security and Holocaust education. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
Menin previously proposed legislation requiring police to publish plans for establishing buffer zones around schools and houses of worship during protests. Mamdani announced the strategy in a two-minute video posted on X on Tuesday, saying he had spent the past year meeting Jewish residents across New York’s five boroughs.