How Mamdani can rebuild trust with the Jews

“Free Palestine! You are all genocidal baby killers. You all need to get the f*** out of Israel!”
This was shouted at me, by a stranger, as I was walking on the Upper East Side last month.

Why? That’s both a complicated and a simple question. The complicated answer, I’ll get to. The simple one: I was wearing a yarmulke.

Yet, I consider myself lucky – this encounter ended with words. Earlier this month, an Israeli Jew was beaten so severely outside a Manhattan kosher restaurant that he suffered a brain bleed.

It is instances like these – not all covered by the news, some just passed along friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor – that have left many New York City Jews beginning to question their sense of safety in the city with the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora.

A question we should never have to ask is, should I wear my yarmulke? Is it safe to do so?

According to American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, 56 percent of American Jews across the country have changed their behavior out of a fear of antisemitism.

This fear did not emerge in a vacuum. How did we get to a place where Jews in the city are targeted through rhetoric and violence for a conflict thousands of miles away? Since October 7, 2023, antisemitism has skyrocketed globally, and local Jewish communities have become the punching bag for anger directed at Israel.

The violence starts with the normalization of hateful rhetoric – including that which holds Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. When demonization of Israel occurs – including through the spurious claim of “genocide” – individuals like me are targeted.

This also feeds into protest chants that call for or celebrate violence – like “Globalize the Intifada” and “glory to our martyrs.” Tragically, Mayor-elect Mamdani has not been forceful in condemning this rhetoric. As a result, he has played a role in allowing this toxic language to enter the political mainstream.
This sense of insecurity is reflected in the numbers. More than 70% of American Jews tend to identify with the Democratic party. In this election, only 33% of New York City Jews voted for Mamdani, though he was the Democratic party’s nominee. That nearly 40-point difference speaks volumes.

When the city’s leading Jewish organizations express their concerns, along with major Manhattan synagogues of each of the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox denominations, it is clear that resetting the relationship and building trust with the mainstream Jewish community must be one of the Mayor-elect’s top priorities.

Building trust, however, takes concrete action. Mamdani’s pledge of an 800% increase in funding for hate crimes reporting and prevention is a critical step in addressing the concerns of the Jewish community. In 2024, hate crimes against Jews made up 54% of all hate crimes in the city, with that number rising to 62% last month. Bolstering hate crimes reporting and prevention would inevitably protect the Jewish community.

To help prevent hate crimes, Mamdani can invest in integral educational training, so people understand more about American Jews and what antisemitism is– its tropes, codewords, and –perhaps most pointedly– when anti-Israel animus can become a form of antisemitism.

Even if there is profound disagreement, Mamdani must listen to and meet with mainstream Jewish leaders to better understand our community’s concerns. One example could be continuing the “Breaking Bread: Building Bonds:” program, which worked to bring diverse communities together over a government-funded shared meal.

Expanding these efforts would strengthen the diversity that defines New York. Mamdani, as the city’s first-ever Muslim mayor, embodies that diversity.

Mamdani must now heal his fractured relationship with the mainstream New York Jewish community. Words alone will not suffice. Action is required to make New York the city where no Jew fears walking down the street wearing a yarmulke or displaying their Jewish identity.

For Mamdani, that test begins now. Jewish New Yorkers – and all New Yorkers committed to safety and security– are watching.

BRANDON PINSKER
Brandon Pinsker is the Associate Director of American Jewish Committee (AJC) New York.