Not so coincidentally, a steep rise in antisemitism comes on the heels of Zohran Mamdani being elected as Mayor of New York City – home to about 1.3 million Jewish people. NYPD’s April 2026 report revealed that first quarter hate crimes are up 11% from last year and anti-Jewish hate makes up 55% of that total (but these already high numbers may be even worse in reality).
Mamdani wears his disdain for the Jewish residents of this city on his sleeve. He parrots the usual tropes which encourage and exacerbate hostility towards Judaism. He winks and nods at the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” a call to violence against Jewish people. He has repeatedly falsely accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, home to the terrorists who murdered, raped and maimed 1,200 innocent people in Israel on October 7, 2023. In October 2025, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue predicted that Mamdani “poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community.” How right he was.
Instead of taking steps to stop the hate, Mamdani would rather skew the reality so he doesn’t look so bad.
For example, while in the midst of rising antisemitism, the city created a system that reduces the number of reported hate crimes. The system no longer counts a report from a police officer who records a hate crime has having occurred. Rather, an investigation must be done to confirm that was the case using specific criteria found in the New York State penal law. Not only will this process significantly reduce the numbers, but it will delay the reporting of otherwise confirmed hate crimes.
Another factor affecting the reporting is Mamdani’s revocation of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism. By scrapping the definition, Mamdani has narrowed the acts which are defined as antisemitic. For example, it is no longer considered antisemitic to refer to Zionism as a “colonial enterprise” or comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. Anti-Israel mobs descending on synagogues hosting real estate events, which under the IHRA definition would have been considered antisemitic intimidation, have been transformed by Mamdani’s pixie dust into benign exercises of free speech.
Some symbols are no longer considered antisemitic due to Mamdani’s actions, such as images of blood libels to portray Israelis. The swastika, however, is and will always be a symbol antisemitism. Translated loosely, the swastika was considered to be a lucky charm in Sanskrit but was coopted by fascists in Germany in the twentieth century as the logo of hate against the Jewish people. It is the symbol of intolerance and has been scrawled throughout New York City at alarming rates. Rev. Dr. Julius Mark, former senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El once stated that the swastika “is contempt for the forces of freedom, justice and decency in the world.”
Swastikas are everywhere in Mamdani’s City. Shortly after the November 2025 election, a Gravesend yeshiva in Brooklyn was painted in red swastikas. At the end of November vandals scrawled swastikas on playground equipment in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Heights. In December 2025, just before Mamdani took office, a large swastika was carved into the sidewalk on Roosevelt Avenue at 84th Street in Jackson Heights. A swastika was also scrawled on a wall inside the NYU library.
In Mamdani’s first month of office, dozens of swastikas were spray painted in a playground frequented by Jewish children in Borough Park. In March, a swastika was scrawled on the side of vacant building in Brooklyn Heights. In April, swastikas were drawn on a children’s playground in Staten Island. A swastika was recently discovered carved into a window at a Long Island Railroad Station.
In May, there were swastikas painted underneath an underpass at 72nd Road and Union Turnpike. Swastikas appeared in chalk near a synagogue at Avenue F and East 2nd Street in Brooklyn. Swastikas were also painted on synagogues, homes, a car and a school in Forest Hills. On May 10, swastikas appeared painted on the ground and on objects near the Ridgewood Reservoir.
It is hard to know when it will end with Mamdani in power. Mamdani has never hidden his feelings about the Jewish people. In fact, it is estimated that 20% of Mamdani’s appointments have supported organizations tied to antisemitism, like Students for Justice in Palestine. The fear among Jewish New Yorkers is palpable. A survey by the Jewish People Policy institute in late 2025, found that 67% of Jewish people had concerns about Mamdani making the city less safe for them. Fears have become facts.
Kathryn Donnelly is an attorney and co-founder of the Kew Forest Republican Club based in Forest Hills.
By Kathryn Donnelly
