New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended his administration’s strategy to battle spiking antisemitic offenses by spending heavily on nonprofit-based “hate crime prevention” and lower outlays for security — all while keeping up his fierce criticism of Israel on official government channels.

On Tuesday, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism released its weeks-delayed “strategy to combat antisemitism,” which touted $1 million in security grants for houses of worship and “other sensitive locations” and $26 million in already announced funding for the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. 

Questioned by Jewish Insider at a press conference on Wednesday about evidence that the hate crimes office funding has made a meaningful difference, given that the increased funding has coincided with more and more bias incidents targeting Jews, Mamdani instead talked about his experience learning about the Holocaust as a teenager, and pointed to declining public awareness of the Nazi genocide.

Asked by JI's @WillBredderman about evidence that increased funding for the city’s hate crimes office has mitigated antisemitism, Mamdani instead spoke of learning about the Holocaust as a teenager and pointed to its declining public awareness.

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— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) September 30, 2026

“You know, I myself, I went to Bronx Science [High School], and we were lucky to have resources of Holocaust education. I remember going recently to a number of museums where we could see what that actually meant,” the mayor said, as his staff sought to talk over a JI reporter and turned his microphone off. “And that’s something I want to provide for every New Yorker.”

The plan faced immediate criticism from leading Jewish groups for omitting any reference to Israel, including cases of violence and vandalism against New York’s Jews and their institutions inspired by opposition to the Jewish state. But on Wednesday the mayor maintained the program was the product of discussions with “more than 100 Jewish leaders,” and rejected calls that he tone down his own fervent denunciations of Israeli leadership and the military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

“When it comes to criticism of the Israeli prime minister or the Israeli government, that has no bearing on our responsibility to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe,” he asserted. “The responsibility for the Israeli government’s actions lies with the Israeli government. It does not lie with Jewish New Yorkers.”

A list of the Office to Prevent Hate Crimes’ subvendors from 2025 lists a wide array of traditional Jewish and non-Jewish social service providers, many politically connected, as well as explicitly anti-Zionist nonprofits such as Jews for Racial & Economic Justice and the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. Agudath Israel of America particularly critiqued the administration’s emphasis on secular expressions of Jewish identity, and $2.5 million in city financing for a facility for the Center for New Jewish Culture, which has hosted and supported Jewish critics of Zionism and Israel.

The mayor brushed off questions about Jewish New Yorkers who consider him an antisemite, while noting his continuing celebration of Sukkot with prominent Jewish supporters.

“I think my job as the mayor is not to get bothered by other people’s opinion,” he said. “My job is to deliver for them, no matter what their opinion is.”