Will anyone speak up for Jewish New Yorkers against brazen antisemitism and hatred in our midst?
Where is the anger and revulsion over the rhetoric used in Wednesday night’s demonstration outside the historic Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side, where pro-Palestine protesters converged to rally against a presentation from Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that assists with Jewish immigration to Israel.
The protesters, as others have so often chanted since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks and the war in Gaza that followed, chanted “Globalize the intifada,” “Death to the IDF” and “Resistance … take another settler out.”
Such vile language — the antithesis of a peaceful protest — is unacceptable. It promotes death and harm to Israelis and Jewish people as a whole. And it ought to be universally condemned, regardless of one’s geopolitical beliefs.
And while the current mayor, Eric Adams, rightly denounced the sickening rhetoric and those who uttered it, his successor, Zohran Mamdani, did not.
Instead, his spokesperson, Dora Pekec, issued a milquetoast statement that, while the incoming mayor “discouraged the language used,” he believes that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
That is a stunningly gross mischaracterization of the Nefesh B’Nefesh event, and it diminishes the significance of the language used, the hatred displayed, and the greater danger of antisemitism Jewish New Yorkers continue to face every day.
Two days later, in front of the press and President Trump at their apparently cordial White House meeting, Mamdani said that he cared “very deeply about Jewish safety,” and that he looked “forward to rooting out antisemitism across the five boroughs and protecting Jewish New Yorkers.”
Looked forward? Sorry, Mr. Mayor-elect, but that’s not good enough.
Mamdani is on the clock now to, at the very least, stand with Jewish New Yorkers when they’re attacked and roundly condemn it. He does not need to wait to be sworn in on Jan. 1 to be on the right side in the fight against antisemitism.
The open season of hatred in this city has gone on for too long. We need the city’s most vocal representative to stand up and denounce it, not excuse it or merely “discourage” the use of certain hateful phrases.
If Mayor-elect Mamdani doesn’t meet this crucial moment and take a far tougher stand against antisemites in this city, then Jewish New Yorkers will need to find ways to protect themselves and their synagogues. A breakdown in the basic responsibility of the mayor to protect all citizens and their places of worship will lead to a city in chaos.
