US Department of Justice launches antisemitism investigation of Mamdani

Federal authorities are pressing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over “unequal treatment” of Jews in the city amid a massive spike in antisemitism.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The US Justice Department is investigating a dramatic rise in the number of antisemitic crimes in New York City and has reportedly demanded answers from Mayor Zohran Mamdani over allegations that Jewish residents have received “unequal treatment” from his administration.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, discussed complaints about antisemitism in the city with former New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind last week, according to the New York Post. Hikind, the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, said Dhillon told him that the department had sent Mamdani a letter seeking a response to the allegations.

“The Justice Department is taking antisemitism very seriously,” Hikind told the Post, while sharply criticizing Mamdani’s handling of the issue.

The Justice Department separately confirmed that its Civil Rights Division is “actively investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, including antisemitism, in New York City and nationwide.”

The department said it has an active national enforcement portfolio involving antisemitism, including investigations, prosecutions, indictments and civil settlements.

The precise nature of the federal action remains unclear, however. The Justice Department has not publicly released the reported letter to Mamdani or disclosed what incidents, city policies or legal provisions it addresses. Its statement confirmed ongoing hate-crime work in New York but did not explicitly say that Mamdani personally, or his administration as a whole, is the subject of a formal civil rights investigation.

The scrutiny comes as official statistics show that Jewish New Yorkers continue to be targeted in a majority of the city’s confirmed hate crimes.

The NYPD recorded 360 confirmed hate crimes during the first seven months of 2026, a 9.4% increase from the same period last year. Of those incidents, 205—or 56.9%—were classified as anti-Jewish, up from 189 during the first seven months of 2025. Jewish residents make up approximately 10% of the city’s population, according to the department.

The trend contrasts with a broader decline in serious crime. Major crime fell 6.6% during the first seven months of the year, while murders declined by 22.8% and shooting incidents fell by 7.5%, the NYPD said.

Concern intensified following a pair of July 23 stabbings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Prosecutors allege that Raul Morales, 51, stabbed a 57-year-old Asian man in the back and later attacked Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, a 50-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah, with a screwdriver.

Witnesses said Morales shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attacks. He has been charged with attempted murder, assault and related offenses as hate crimes in connection with both victims.

Many Jewish leaders have blamed Mamdani’s repeated denunciations of Israel for contributing to an increasingly hostile atmosphere.

Mamdani has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and recently released a video describing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal. During his mayoral campaign, he promised to seek Netanyahu’s arrest should the Israeli leader visit New York, but later acknowledged that the city did not have the legal authority to carry out that pledge.

He refused to condemn the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” which has widely been perceived as an antisemitic slogan calling for violence against Jews around the world. Mamdani has also taken heat over his mixed response to a raucous demonstration held by anti-Israel activists outside of a Manhattan synagogue.

The debate over Mamdani’s rhetoric escalated again after a Florida man was accused of throwing a brick through a window at a Chabad synagogue in Sarasota. Police said the suspect admitted selecting the building because it was a Jewish house of worship and blamed social-media propaganda for making him angry.

The suspect had reposted Mamdani’s anti-Netanyahu video on his Instagram account days before the incident.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt nevertheless accused the mayor of using language that could encourage violence.

“Words have consequences. Your inflammatory rhetoric can lead to violence,” Greenblatt wrote, urging Mamdani to confront antisemitism rather than “fan the flames of hate.”

Mamdani’s office did not respond to the Post’s request for comment about the reported Justice Department letter. The mayor has previously rejected accusations that he is hostile toward Jews and has said that criticism of the Israeli government should not be equated with antisemitism.

AntisemitismDepartment of JusticeZohran Mamdani