New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration on Tuesday released what it calls the country’s first municipal strategy to combat antisemitism, a 30-page plan that provides $7.4 million for security and prevention grants, but declines to adopt a definition of antisemitism and does not address Israel-related hate. 

The report, titled “Tackling Hate: The Mamdani Administration’s Strategy to Combat Antisemitism,” features a photo of New York City’s oldest Jewish congregation, Congregation Shearith Israel, on its cover. 

The plan, developed by the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, splits the $7.4 million in immediate hate-prevention funding — part of a $26 million increase for the Office for Prevention of Hate Crimes that was announced in May — into $1 million grants for physical security at synagogues and other vulnerable nonprofits, including lights, cameras, locks, risk assessments and bystander training. It also includes $6.4 million to double Partners Against Hate grants to community-based organizations that focus on data collection and countering online hate. 

Other commitments include embedding Jewish history in public school education; launching a city-wide public campaign on how to report discrimination; initiating a campaign on Jewish New Yorkers’ contributions to be featured on LinkNYC kiosks; and providing $2 million towards finishing the Queens Holocaust Memorial at Queens Borough Hall, as well as $2.5 million to the Center for New Jewish Culture, a new cultural and community space in Central Brooklyn.

Mamdani said in a video accompanying the report’s release on Tuesday that the goal of the initiative is to “confront the scourge of antisemitism now and in the future,” noting that Jews make up only 12% of the city’s population but are the victims of around half the city’s reported hate crimes. “This is not only unacceptable, it’s something we all have an obligation to change. And City Hall will lead the way,” he said. 

The strategy comes as Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has faced sustained criticism from Jewish leaders over his rhetoric and policies on Israel and antisemitism, straining his relationship with parts of New York’s Jewish community. On his first day as mayor, Mamdani revoked an executive order from former Mayor Eric Adams adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which is widely accepted by mainstream Jewish organizations and defines many forms of anti-Zionism as antisemitic. 

Jewish leaders offered a mixed response to the mayor’s new strategy, with some welcoming increased security funding and other measures while also arguing that the plan fails to address what they see as a key driver of anti-Jewish hostility — rhetoric targeting Israel and its supporters. 

In a joint statement to Jewish Insider, UJA-Federation of New York, JCRC-NY, AJC New York and New York Board of Rabbis said that “any effort to confront antisemitism in New York City must fully address the realities Jewish New Yorkers face today.” 

The groups praised Mamdani’s plan for featuring “a number of positive elements, including some increased security funding for Jewish institutions and expanding proven programs,” but noted that “it fails to address a central issue that the mayor himself has perpetuated: rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers.” 

“Those who truly seek to address antisemitism must unequivocally reject such rhetoric and help ensure that Jewish New Yorkers are never made to feel suspect, excluded, or unsafe in their own city,” the statement continued. 

Moshe Davis, founding executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism under the Adams administration, told JI he applauds the plan for its “protective measures [that] will greatly help safeguard Jewish New Yorkers against attempted terror attacks carried out by those seeking to ‘globalize the intifada.’”

“But the latest report seems to ignore anti-Israel protesters targeting synagogues and the hate being taught in our educational spaces,” said Davis. “In doing this, it seems to make a conscious effort to erase the connection between the violence against Jews we are seeing in our city and the anti-Israel propaganda clearly fueling it. A report on antisemitism that ignores what is driving much of the hate and violence against Jews is tone-deaf and dangerous.”

The Anti-Defamation League criticized the strategy, arguing that it fails to adequately address the threats facing Jewish New Yorkers — particularly condemning the mayor for not adopting a formal working definition of antisemitism. ADL said it has recorded hundreds of antisemitic incidents in New York City since Mamdani took office in January, nearly 40% of which were related to Israel.

“[Mamdani] has looked the other way as flags glorifying terror groups have been flown outside synagogues, a deliberate act meant to intimidate families walking in to pray, and as crowds gathered outside houses of worship voicing support for the same groups. At the same time, he continues prioritizing his anti-Israel agenda over the basic promises he made to Jewish New Yorkers,” the ADL wrote on X. 

“Our expectations have not changed: zero tolerance for antisemitism and extremism in city government, real protection for Jewish institutions, a clear and formal definition of antisemitism that the city actually uses, and city contracts, pensions and procurement kept free of ideological boycotts.”