Watchdog reveals antisemitic conspiracies ran wild during NYC mayor’s race

Beyond direct accusations of political control, CyberWell identified a surge in Israel-related rhetoric that quickly spilled into outright hate toward Jews.

By Jewish Breaking News

New monitoring data shows New York City’s mayoral election was a hotbed for antisemitic conspiracy theories and targeted attacks on Jewish influence.

According to researchers at CyberWell, the bulk of the hate circulated on X and TikTok, where loose election-speech rules allowed conspiracy posts targeting both Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo to rack up tens of thousands of views with almost no intervention.

CyberWell’s team examined dozens of verified posts — out of hundreds flagged — and found that more than 90% hinged on one core trope: alleging that Jews, or “Zionists,” control the government, the candidates, or the election itself.

One X post with nearly 53,000 views framed Jews as puppeteers “directing” Mamdani’s campaign, casting them as enemies of White Christians.

Another claimed “the entire government at every level bows to Zionists,” presenting the NYC election as further proof of a “Zionist apparatus” running the United States.

Some accounts depicted Jews as malevolent forces scheming to “destroy Christians,” while others insisted that Mamdani was working for “Zionist handlers” or that Cuomo was beholden to Jewish donors.

Beyond direct accusations of political control, CyberWell identified a surge in Israel-related rhetoric that quickly spilled into outright hate toward Jews.

Posts responding to Cuomo’s pro-Israel statements that labeled Israelis “mass murderers,” “child killers,” and “psychopaths” drew more than 203,000 views.

“Accusations portraying Jews as controlling political figures transcend both party lines and national borders,” said CyberWell Founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.

“Our research consistently shows that antisemitic conspiracies targeting minority groups surge during politically sensitive periods, demonstrating the global scale and alignment of conspiracies against a common target and scapegoat during free elections—the Jewish people.”