Mamdani Knew on Election Night He Would Nix Exec Orders on Antisemitism, Was Worried About Jewish Backlash: Report

On the night he was elected, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was already planning to revoke a series of executive orders enacted by his soon-to-be predecessor to combat antisemitism, although he was concerned how to pitch the move to the city’s Jewish community without facing widespread backlash, according to a new report.

Mamdani used his first day in office on Thursday to wipe away all executive orders issued by Eric Adams since Sept. 26, 2024, when the now-former mayor was indicted for corruption, charges of which have since been dismissed. Mamdani’s office framed the move as an administrative reset rather than a targeted policy shift, saying the new mayor sought to begin his term with a clean slate.

However, the New York Times reported on Sunday that Mamdani, a democratic socialist and avowed anti-Zionist, “knew from the moment he won the election” in November that he would revoke two measures related to Israel and antisemitism but believed rescinding them would upset Jewish groups whose concerns he spent months trying to allay.

Therefore, the report continued, Mamdani’s team laid out a few options, and he chose to rescind every order that Adams issued after his indictment, “allowing him to frame the choice as a matter of good governance.”

The broad revocation, rather than a targeted repeal, fueled debate over whether Mamdani sought to avoid direct political accountability for undoing policies that had been championed by local Jewish organizations.

“I made that decision because that was the date for the first time in our city’s history that the mayor of this city was indicted,” Mamdani explained to reporters. “It was a day at which many New Yorkers began to doubt, even more than they did, the motivations behind any executive order or executive action that was going to be taken.”

According to Dora Pekec, a Mamdani spokesperson, the decision was discussed well before Inauguration Day, with advisers weighing how to eliminate the policies without issuing a standalone order that could draw immediate national scrutiny.

“This was not a decision that was made last-minute,” she said, according to the New York Times. “This work was being done throughout the fall, throughout the transition, and communicated directly to the public that this was our intention, even before they cast ballots for us.”

Among the most controversial actions was Mamdani’s decision to revoke New York City’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, a framework widely used by governments and law enforcement around the world to identify contemporary antisemitic behavior, including some forms of anti-Zionist rhetoric.

According to the definition, antisemitism “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” It provides 11 specific, contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere. Beyond classic antisemitic behavior associated with the likes of the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the examples include denial of the Holocaust and newer forms of antisemitism targeting Israel such as demonizing the Jewish state, denying its right to exist, and holding it to standards not expected of any other democratic state.

The definition could have been problematic for Mamdani, who has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career. A supporter of boycotting all entities tied to Israel, he has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state; routinely accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide”; and refused to clearly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been used to call for violence against Jews and Israelis worldwide.

Leading members of the Jewish community in New York have expressed alarm about Mamdani’s electoral victory, fearing what may come in a city already experiencing a surge in antisemitic hate crimes.

Beyond the IHRA definition, Mamdani also nullified an order that opposed the campaign to boycott Israel. The boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which Mamdani openly supports, seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.

Leading US Jewish groups, including the two main community organizations in New York, rebuked Mamdani for his first steps as mayor. The Israeli government expressed similarly sharp criticism.

Mamdani assumed office amid an alarming surge in antisemitic hate crimes across New York City over the last two years, following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

Jews were targeted in the majority (54 percent) of all hate crimes perpetrated in New York City in 2024, according to data issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). A new report released last Wednesday by the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism noted that figure rose to a staggering 62 percent in the first quarter of this year, despite Jewish New Yorkers comprising just 11 percent of the city’s population.

A Sienna Research Institute poll released in early November revealed that a whopping 72 percent of Jewish New Yorkers believe that Mamdani will be “bad” for the city. A mere 18 percent hold a favorable view of Mamdani. Conversely, 67 percent view him unfavorably.