Dear Mayor Mamdani,
You and I have met twice: once during your campaign and once following your election. On both occasions, I and the rabbinic colleagues who joined me conveyed to you our concerns for New York City’s Jewish community given the sharp rise in antisemitic expression and violence before and since October 7, 2023. While we were grateful for your commitment to maintaining a strong security presence around Jewish institutions, and you have done so, we expressed our fervent hope that as Mayor you would turn from your anti-Israel campaign messaging to focus on the needs of our city and all those in your care, and recognize what has become painfully evident: hatred of Israel generates hatred of Jews.
Rhetoric that may not be antisemitic in intent can still be antisemitic in effect, as yours has been. Your recent video attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom many who love Israel also disagree, is the latest example. I will not claim the stabbing of a visibly Jewish man on the Upper West Side shortly after the video’s release to be a direct result. (A second victim was Asian. Thankfully both are expected to recover.) But your constant stoking of the fires of resentment toward Israel, and by extension those who support it as the overwhelming majority of Jews do, has further jeopardized the Jewish community’s security you have sworn to protect.
Mr. Mayor, you are a politician of great talent with a bully pulpit of unique moral authority. For the sake not just of your Jewish community, but of your city, once more I implore you to direct it toward the many worthy ends for which you were elected, chief among them the safety and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, including Jews.
Joshua M. Davidson
Peter and Mary Kalikow Senior Rabbinic Chair
