Mamdani again under fire for excluding Jews from judicial advisory committee

The administration has defended the appointments by saying the committee was assembled to represent a broad range of legal backgrounds and perspectives while making the judicial-selection process more transparent.

By Corey Walker, The Algemeiner

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism from prominent Jewish legal organizations after appointing an 18-member judicial advisory committee without a single Jewish member, an omission critics say reflects a broader pattern of marginalizing the city’s Jewish community.

The Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary screens and recommends candidates for appointment to New York City courts.

Jewish attorneys served on the panel under previous administrations, but none were included in Mamdani’s newly constituted committee.

A coalition of Jewish legal organizations condemned the appointments, arguing that the omission excludes one of New York’s largest religious and ethnic communities from an influential body responsible for shaping the city’s judiciary.

“Your recent announcement of appointees to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary has left us deeply disappointed,” the groups wrote.

“Not a single Jewish attorney, former judge, or legal professional was appointed to a committee your administration described as one that would be ‘truly reflective of New York City.’”

The coalition said the appointments were part of “a troubling pattern” that has left many Jewish New Yorkers feeling increasingly marginalized, citing Mamdani’s rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and the omission of Jewish neighborhoods from an administration map highlighting immigrant enclaves.

The groups argued that Jewish representation on the committee is particularly important amid elevated levels of antisemitic violence in the city.

They pointed to a recent attack on the Upper West Side in which two people, one visibly Jewish, were stabbed without apparent provocation.

Police are investigating claims that the assailant shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.

Anti-Jewish offenses continued to dominate New York City’s hate-crime statistics during the first half of 2026.

The NYPD recorded 178 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes, accounting for 55.3 percent of all confirmed hate crimes citywide, even though Jews comprise roughly 10 percent of the city’s population.

By comparison, police recorded 21 anti-Muslim hate crimes and 33 targeting people on the basis of sexual orientation. Anti-Jewish incidents therefore outnumbered anti-Muslim incidents by more than eight to one.

City Hall has not suggested that Jewish candidates were excluded because of their religion.

The administration has defended the appointments by saying the committee was assembled to represent a broad range of legal backgrounds and perspectives while making the judicial-selection process more transparent.

The dispute is likely to intensify scrutiny of Mamdani’s relationship with New York’s Jewish community.

Throughout his political career, he has drawn criticism from pro-Israel organizations over his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and his repeated accusations that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.

Mamdani has also declined to affirm that Israel should continue to exist as a Jewish state.

During his mayoral campaign, he initially resisted condemning the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” which many Jews regard as an incitement to violence, before later saying he would discourage activists from using it.

The absence of Jewish legal professionals from the committee could further complicate Mamdani’s efforts to improve his standing among Jewish voters.

Seventy-two percent of Jewish New Yorkers disapproved of his performance in a Honan Strategy Group poll conducted in June.

For the legal organizations challenging the appointments, the issue extends beyond politics.

They argue that meaningful diversity must include religious diversity and that excluding Jewish attorneys from a committee evaluating judicial candidates undermines confidence that the city’s institutions reflect the communities they serve.