Manhattan Stabbings And Mamdani’s Words Inflame A Deep Rift Between The Mayor And Jews

NEW YORK — Elected officials and Jewish leaders demanded Friday that politicians be more mindful about their rhetoric around Israel. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s name came up several times.

The collective call to action came a day after two men — an Asian man and an observant Jew — were stabbed by an assailant who yelled "Allahu Akbar” before attacking them. The NYPD has ruled the attacks hate crimes.

Three days earlier, on Tuesday, Mamdani released a video in which he described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack as a “genocide” — a term he used publicly on Oct. 20, 2023, days after the attack, and has since employed frequently.

Mamdani’s ostensible rationale for releasing the video was to explain why as mayor he cannot arrest Netanyahu when he comes to New York in September — despite having vowed to do so while on the campaign trail last year.

“We want the mayor to stop demonizing the only Jewish state using the most vilifying rhetoric focused solely on the only Jewish state and the supporters of it,” said Eric Goldstein, chief executive of UJA-Federation of New York. “Using language like ‘monsters,’ using the most horrible, difficult language that inflames and terrorizes that causes people to do terrible things and creates in the community against whom it's being said feelings of really being targeted, isolated and unsafe. His video message about the prime minister was political grandstanding.”

Standing alongside Goldstein were several prominent New York elected officials including State Attorney General Letitia James, City Council Speaker Julie Menin, City Comptroller Mark Levine and Micah Lasher, a state lawmaker who is expected to win a Manhattan congressional seat covering upper Manhattan in November. And while most of the elected officials gathered at the event didn’t specifically refer to Mamdani, the mayor and his Tuesday evening video address loomed large.

“We have to change the rhetoric,” Menin said, noting she is the Council’s first Jewish speaker. “Words matter, and we all have a responsibility to bring that temperature down.”

While Mamdani’s opinions on Israel are widely shared by his base, Jewish leaders have been calling on him to tone down his rhetoric since last year’s campaign. They’ve contended that conflicts in the Middle East remain far outside his purview as mayor and that his remarks have contributed to a tense climate for Jews in the city. Elected Democrats have also privately expressed concerns about Mamdani’s public statements, but Friday’s event marked the first time since January, when he ascended to City Hall, that such a large contingent of politicians stood with a group so clearly critical of the mayor, even if everyone present did not explicitly name him.

Lasher, who stands to represent a large Jewish community in the seat currently held by Rep. Jerry Nadler, did call out Mamdani.

“I beseech all those in a position of power, including our mayor, to hear our cry from the heart to please help take the temperature down,” he said.

At the time of the press conference Friday afternoon, the motivations for the attack remained unclear. In a statement shortly after the stabbings, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that “while the perpetrator has no known mental health history with the NYPD, the initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor.”

Several of the officials gathered Friday characterized the incident as an antisemitic attack. And Friday evening, the NYPD concluded that each of the stabbings constituted a hate crime, though the eventual charges will be up to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Organizations like the Jewish Community Relations Council drew a direct line between the mayor’s rhetoric and the stabbing.

“What might seem to be an effective comms strategy that could generate tons of clicks and views might not be a good governing strategy,” said Mark Treyger, head of the organization, referring to Mamdani’s video address.
”Because it has day-to-day implications on the people that you serve and represent.”

Shortly afterward, Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of Netanyahu in an interview with NY1 and argued that his critiques of the Israeli government and its military campaign in Gaza should not be taken as a broader criticism of the Jewish people.

“When it comes to my comments about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they are critiques not based on my personal analysis but rather on objective facts,” he said. “They are critiques of a political leader, not of people of a specific faith or a religion or a background, and my responsibility as the mayor of this city is to keep every New Yorker safe, no matter where they come from, what they believe in, or frankly, even if they agree with my politics.”

Once a standard position in the Democratic Party, support for Israel is on the decline both in New York and nationally. Polling has shown more New Yorkers sympathize with Palestinians than the Israeli government. A group of more than 100 congressional Democrats voted to end all military aid to the Middle Eastern nation. And the mayor’s Tuesday video denouncing Netanyahu was viewed nearly 100 million times on X alone.

Commenting on the stabbings, the mayor said the NYPD was continuing to look into the suspect’s motivations and noted there has been a rise in hate crimes over the last year.

“There's no tolerance for antisemitism or hatred of any kind in this city. This is a city that believes in the beauty and the breadth of all of its five boroughs and everyone who calls it home,” he said, noting that he has boosted funding for a mayoral office to prevent hate crimes. “If anyone is perpetrating this kind of bigotry, that kind of hatred, they will be held fully accountable.”