Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch apologized to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s team after her brother called the long-time pro-Palestine advocate an “enemy of the Jewish people,” Mamdani said Thursday.
Mamdani said Tisch, who will serve as his top cop, conveyed the apology directly to his staff after reports surfaced that her brother, Benjamin Tisch, made the remark during a charity event earlier in the week.
The Daily News first reported that Benjamin Tisch, CEO of Loews Corp., leveled the criticism at Mamdani while speaking at the Met Council’s yearly gala, which supports the group’s work addressing Jewish poverty. Mamdani has faced a torrent of criticism for his pro-Palestinian positions as well as previous rhetoric deemed anti-Israel or antisemitic, though in recent months, he has sought to dissuade the use of terms such as “globalize the intifada.”
During a Dec. 4 event at Stuyvesant Square Park, the incoming mayor said that Commissioner Tisch had apologized to him for her brother’s remarks, and he was grateful to receive the mea culpa.
“I appreciated it,” Mamdani said Thursday afternoon in Stuyvesant Square Park of the apology, adding that he intends to serve “each and every New Yorker, including Jewish New Yorkers,” when he takes office next month.
The NYPD confirmed to amNewYork that an apology had been issued to the Mamdani team. In a follow-up statement, Tisch acknowledged the fear in the Jewish community about the new mayor but expressed confidence that he would live up to his word about protecting Jewish New Yorkers.
“I understand the fear in the Jewish community,” Tisch said. “My sincere belief is that the mayor-elect will live up to the commitment he’s made to be a mayor for all New Yorkers, including the Jewish community.”
The remarks come just weeks after the city’s top cop agreed to remain in charge of the NYPD as the new administration takes office on Jan. 1. Mamdani had expressed repeated interest in retaining Tisch prior to an agreement being struck, despite members of the Tisch family contributing more than $1.3 million to Fix the City, a super PAC that opposed his candidacy.
Mamdani had previously dismissed the extended family’s political affiliation, saying, “I am not hiring the family.”
