Hours after his inauguration, Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani took a series of steps that marked a sharp break from the legacy of his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams. His actions drew harsh criticism, particularly from Jewish community leaders in the city.
Within a short time after his swearing-in, tweets were deleted from the official mayoral X account from the Adams era that dealt with combating antisemitism and defending Jews in New York. Simultaneously, Mamdani signed a sweeping executive order that canceled a long list of municipal executive orders issued after September 26, 2024, including orders dealing with combating antisemitism and the city's relations with Israel.
Two tweets from an official three-tweet thread, published hours before the transfer of power and highlighting the city's steps to combat antisemitism and protect the Jewish community, were deleted from the New York City mayor's X account.
Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) Mark Goldfeder claimed that the very deletion of the tweets, which constitute an official record of municipal activity, raises legal questions and could constitute a breach of public trust, especially against the backdrop of the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in the city since October 7. In a scathing letter sent to the mayor's office, it was claimed that "it is hard to overstate how disturbing it is that one of the first acts of the new administration was to delete official statements about the safety of New York Jews."
In parallel with the deletion of tweets, Mamdani issued his first mayoral executive order, canceling all orders issued by Adams starting on September 26, 2024 – the day a federal indictment was filed against Adams on corruption charges, which the US Justice Department later dismissed. Mamdani stated that some of the orders would be reviewed and reinstated, but at this stage, all were canceled wholesale.
Among the canceled orders were sensitive orders relating to the Jewish community and its safety. One of them is Executive Order 51 from May of this year, which established the unprecedented Mayor's Office for Combating Antisemitism. Another order is Executive Order 52 from June of this year, which adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism that recognizes demonization of Israel and discrimination against it as expressions of modern antisemitism.
Additionally, two orders signed last month were canceled: Executive Order 60, which banned boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel in the context of municipal contracts, and Executive Order 61, which was designed to regulate protest activity near synagogues and houses of worship – this after a violent anti-Israel protest that occurred near a synagogue on the Upper East Side, which hosted a Nefesh B'Nefesh event.
Mamdani's office rejected the criticism of the tweet deletions and claimed it was a technical move to archive posts from the previous administration, unrelated to the content of the tweets. The city spokesperson emphasized that the mayor is "committed to fighting antisemitism" and that he intends to renew the activity of the municipal Office for Combating Antisemitism and even increase the budget of the office for preventing hate crimes. Mamdani himself spoke on the matter and stated that the issue would be addressed in a second executive order he would sign.
Regarding the mayoral executive order that canceled his predecessor's orders, the move was intended, according to him, to allow "opening a new page" for the incoming administration, while conducting a fresh review of recent period policies.
World Zionist Organization Chairman Yaakov Hagoel, on the cancellation of the ban on boycotting Israel, said, "A very dangerous trend. The choice of New York City Mayor Mamdani to open his term by canceling the ban on boycotting Israel is very worrying. Jews around the world have been persecuted in campaigns of relentless antisemitism since October 7, 2023. Just two weeks ago, 15 were murdered in a brutal antisemitic attack in Sydney, Australia."
"The Jewish communities in New York must live in security, and I very much hope that Mayor Mamdani will not continue the trend that intensifies antisemitism against the Jews living in his city. This is the time for zero tolerance toward antisemitism. The World Zionist Organization is in contact with the communities and will do everything it can to protect Jews in New York and throughout the entire world."
