Rabbis urge Mamdani to moderate anti-Israel outbursts as antisemitic hate crimes rise

10 New York rabbis meet with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, urging him to tone down his anti-Israel rhetoric – or avoid talking about the Jewish state entirely.

By World Israel News Staff

A group of prominent New York rabbis urged Mayor Zohran Mamdani to change the way he speaks about Israel, warning during a private City Hall meeting that his rhetoric risks intensifying an already hostile atmosphere for Jewish New Yorkers.

The hourlong meeting Monday brought Mamdani together with 10 Reform, Conservative and modern Orthodox rabbis under the auspices of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

The participants represented a range of political and religious views and did not present the mayor with a unified position on Israel, but several said they shared concerns over Jewish security and the effect of his public comments.

“There was no tiptoeing around the elephant in the room,” Rabbi Jonathan Leener, who leads the liberal modern Orthodox Prospect Heights Shul in Brooklyn, said of the discussion.

Some of the rabbis reportedly urged Mamdani to moderate his attacks on Israel, while others argued he should spend less time discussing the country altogether and focus instead on issues directly under the jurisdiction of New York’s mayor.

Several participants said they did not object to criticism of the Israeli government or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but wanted Mamdani to speak with greater nuance, condemn Hamas more consistently and make clearer that Jewish New Yorkers are not responsible for decisions made by Israel’s government.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, told Mamdani that the mayor had unusual power to change the atmosphere surrounding the issue.

“Mr. Mayor, you are 90 percent of what could be different here,” Jacobs recalled telling him.

Jacobs said he urged Mamdani to replace rhetoric that Jews perceive as vilifying Israel with more measured language, arguing that such a change from the mayor himself could have a greater impact than other efforts to ease tensions.

Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, who herself regularly advocates for the Palestinian cause, similarly argued that criticism of Israel needs to be accompanied by an explicit distinction between the Israeli government and American Jews.

She told the mayor that Jewish New Yorkers have little ability to affect Israeli policy but can nevertheless become targets of hostility generated by anger at Israel.

The concerns come amid a measurable increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city.

NYPD figures released August 3 showed that police confirmed 205 anti-Jewish hate crimes during the first seven months of 2026, up 8.5% from 189 during the same period last year.

Anti-Jewish incidents accounted for 56.9% of all confirmed hate crimes in New York City during that period, despite Jews making up roughly 10% of the city’s population.

The rabbis also raised security at synagogues and other Jewish institutions, with Leener arguing that protecting Jewish New Yorkers should be a higher priority for the mayor than commenting repeatedly on the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, entered office with an already fraught relationship with parts of the city’s Jewish community after years of pro-Palestinian activism and unusually sharp criticism of Israel for a major New York political figure.

He supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel and founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter while attending Bowdoin College.

His election in November exposed significant divisions among Jewish Democrats, with younger and more progressive Jews considerably more receptive to his candidacy than many older and more traditionally pro-Israel voters.

Those tensions intensified again in July when Mamdani described Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and said the Israeli leader was unwelcome in New York.

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani had repeatedly pledged to have Netanyahu arrested if he came to the city, citing the International Criminal Court warrant issued against the Israeli prime minister in 2024.

After taking office and reviewing the issue with city lawyers, Mamdani acknowledged on July 21 that New York City had no authority to enforce the ICC warrant.

“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” Mamdani said at the time, although he called on the federal government to join the ICC and carry it out instead.

The US is not a member of the ICC and New York City cannot independently execute the court’s warrant because of federal law, jurisdictional limitations and the immunities afforded foreign leaders and representatives attending the United Nations.

Netanyahu responded days later by accusing Mamdani of “fomenting hate,” arguing that the mayor had an obligation to represent Jewish New Yorkers along with every other religious community in the city. Netanyahu has said he plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

AntisemitismNew York CityZohran Mamdani