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Mamdani's NYC Antisemitism Strategy Sparks Debate · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch. I'm Rachel Adler. We're also
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  Speaker 1: launching Antisemitism Watch, Mid-Atlantic, for focused coverage from New York,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region. Find us at clockworkmedia.org
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  Speaker 1: slash MA in New York City. Mayor Zoran Mamdani's administration
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  Speaker 1: has released a new strategy to combat antisemitism. According to tipinsights.com,
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  Speaker 1: the 33-page plan, released September 29th, increases annual hate crime
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  Speaker 1: prevention funding from $ 3 million to $ 29 million, and allocates
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  Speaker 1: $ 1 million for synagogue security. However, reporting from NIMAG.com and TipInsights.com
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  Speaker 1: highlights a significant omission. The strategy deliberately refuses to define antisemitism,
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  Speaker 1: stating New York City can combat it without needing to
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  Speaker 1: adopt a definition for this specific form of hate. This
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  Speaker 1: refusal is particularly striking. As anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for
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  Speaker 1: over 52% of all confirmed hate crimes in the city
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  Speaker 1: during the first nine months of 2026, the strategy also
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  Speaker 1: omits any substantive discussion of Zionism or anti-Zionism. The refusal
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  Speaker 1: to define anti-Semitism stands in contrast to Mayor Mamdani's own
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  Speaker 1: recent rhetoric. On the third anniversary of the October 7th
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  Speaker 1: Hamas massacre, Mamdani acknowledged the victims but stated the suffering
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  Speaker 1: did not begin nor end that day. and went on
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  Speaker 1: to accuse Israel of ongoing genocide, apartheid, and war crimes,
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  Speaker 1: even on that solemn anniversary, according to tipinsights.com. NIMAG.com further
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  Speaker 1: notes that 10 months into his first term, Mamdani's administration
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  Speaker 1: is still developing its agenda for the city's schools, with
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  Speaker 1: advocates describing him as strikingly devoid of an agenda and
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  Speaker 1: showing very few deeds despite words. Mamdani's past actions include
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  Speaker 1: revoking executive orders, that embrace the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition,
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  Speaker 1: and sponsoring legislation targeting charities that support Israeli settlements. Across
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  Speaker 1: the Atlantic, the Green Party of England and Wales has
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  Speaker 1: passed a controversial motion, equating Zionism with racism. According to
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  Speaker 1: the jpost.com report, by a vote of 1,022 to 813,
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  Speaker 1: the party declared that Zionism, the national liberation movement of
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people, should be treated as any other form
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  Speaker 1: of racism. The motion also endorsed the establishment of a
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  Speaker 1: single Palestinian state across all territory currently held by Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Israel's foreign ministry called the decision a stain on the
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  Speaker 1: history of the United Kingdom. The jpost.com report frames this
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  Speaker 1: as an ominous shift in the Overton window, moving the
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  Speaker 1: idea that Zionism is racism from a fringe protest slogan
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  Speaker 1: to official party policy. Jonathan Friedland, writing in The Guardian,
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  Speaker 1: exposed the conceit that non-Jews are deciding what Zionism means
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  Speaker 1: for Jews. While four of the Green's five MPs opposed
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  Speaker 1: the motion, and other parties like the Liberal Democrats condemned it,
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  Speaker 1: the crossing of this boundary is seen as significant. The
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  Speaker 1: report links this to a broader political climate in the UK,
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  Speaker 1: where actions and rhetoric concerning Israel are increasingly framed in
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  Speaker 1: ways that can embolden antisemites. In analysis of how antisemitism manifests,
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  Speaker 1: or is amplified in public discourse, reporting by washingtonxaminer.com details
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  Speaker 1: a concerning tactic. The author, owner of the professional protest
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  Speaker 1: company Crowds on Demand, described a request he received in
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  Speaker 1: 2015 from a Jewish advocacy organization to stage a fake
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  Speaker 1: Nazi rally on a college campus. The goal, he wrote,
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  Speaker 1: was to generate viral media coverage and congressional attention on antisemitism.
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  Speaker 1: Although he refused the request, he stated the tactic was
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  Speaker 1: effective and not uncommon. He noted that such requests come
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  Speaker 1: from various political spectrums and that he has also been
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  Speaker 1: approached to stage counter-protests designed to make opponents look unhinged
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  Speaker 1: or to have inflammatory speakers blamed on others. The author
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  Speaker 1: cannot determine the authenticity of most viral incidents, but stated
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  Speaker 1: he knows, some people try to stage them because they
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  Speaker 1: call me for pricing, raising questions about the manufactured nature
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  Speaker 1: of certain public displays related to antisemitism. Turning to community resilience, thejpost.com
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  Speaker 1: reports on a significant renewal of the Black Jewish Alliance
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  Speaker 1: at the 2026 Atlanta Summit for Black Pastors and Rabbis.
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  Speaker 1: According to the report, over 100 rabbis, Black American clergy,
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  Speaker 1: Black Jewish leaders, and community figures signed a sacred covenant,
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  Speaker 1: affirming a renewed national commitment to unite against antisemitism and
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  Speaker 1: racism and to defend democracy. The summit included prominent leaders
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  Speaker 1: such as Georgia Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock, Am, Andrew Young,
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  Speaker 1: and journalist Van Jones. The author, director of the Religious
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  Speaker 1: Action Center of Reform Judaism, emphasized that this partnership is
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  Speaker 1: a living commitment, not mere nostalgia. The report acknowledges ongoing friction,
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  Speaker 1: particularly over disagreements concerning Israel and Gaza and differing views
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  Speaker 1: on antisemitism, but stresses the alliance's deep historical roots, and
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  Speaker 1: continued relevance, citing its role in the civil rights movement
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  Speaker 1: and ongoing efforts in protecting voting rights and combating hate.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Rachel Adler, thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch.
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  Speaker 1: For focused coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and
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  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia region, listen to Antisemitism Watch, midatlantic at clockworkmedia.org
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  Speaker 1: slash m-a. Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so
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  Speaker 1: you don't miss the next update. This report was generated
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  Speaker 1: with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important
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  Speaker 1: details with primary sources.