Two of New York’s largest Jewish community groups voiced consternation Tuesday night over New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent fraternizing with activists who had defended and even advocated violence against Israel.

The criticism from the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the UJA-Federation of New York came after Mamdani shared a photo on social media Monday night of himself and his wife hosting Columbia University campus activist Mahmoud Khalil at Gracie Mansion — and after reports that Abdullah Akl, the stridently anti-Israel political director of the Muslim American Society of New York, had introduced the mayor at an event in Staten Island. 

JCRC CEO Mark Treyger highlighted federal findings that the protests that Khalil helped lead created a hostile environment for Jewish students at Columbia. He acknowledged Khalil’s legal fight to avoid deportation, but urged the mayor to also open Gracie Mansion to those subjected to harassment on the Ivy League campus.

“If our democracy affords Mahmoud Khalil due process rights, as it should, then those same democratic principles must also extend to the civil rights of students and staff to study and work in an environment free from hate, intimidation, and harassment. We cannot be selective about whose rights we defend,” Treyger, a former city councilmember, wrote on X. “Their stories deserve to be heard so that no student, in any educational setting, is ever forced to endure hate and intimidation again.”

The UJA-Federation statement noted that Khalil had rationalized the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks as a means of preventing Israeli-Saudi normalization, and that Akl had led a chant in 2024 calling for attacks on Tel Aviv and lauding now-deceased Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida.

“His decision in the last few days alone to share a stage on Staten Island with an individual who publicly called to ‘strike, strike Tel Aviv,’ and then host an Iftar meal at Gracie Mansion with a man who justified the Oct. 7 atrocities, raises deep concerns in our community,” the UJA-Federation statement said, contrasting the actions with the mayor’s pledges of inclusivity when he entered office. 

“This is an important moment for Mayor Mamdani to live up to his own rhetoric and reaffirm his commitment to confronting antisemitism and keeping every New Yorker safe.”

Akl’s organization had its funding from the City Council frozen earlier this year after it held a craft fair hawking merchandise celebrating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and featuring the slogans “Let’s go bomb Tel Aviv” and “Death to the IDF.”

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and did not answer questions from Jewish Insider about how his team vets the people he participates in events with.  

Major New York Jewish groups criticized former Assemblyman Michael Blake, who is running in the Democratic primary against Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), for featuring a clip of an influencer who supported the shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in his campaign launch video.

Blake’s video features a short clip from a social media video posted by Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel activist, accusing Torres of “investing in genocide,” one of the first clips in the video. 

Christensen praised the alleged D.C. shooter, Elias Rodriguez, urging his followers to support Rodriguez and describing his “act of resistance” as “justified” and to respond with “greater resistance and escalation” in the face of a potential crackdown against the anti-Israel movement.

“I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials,” Christensen said on social media at the time of the shooting. “[Rodriguez] is not a terrorist. He’s a resistance fighter. And the fact is that the fight against Israel’s war machine, against their genocide machine, against their criminality, includes their foreign diplomats in this country and internationally.”

Christensen was expelled from The Ohio State University for the video, which was taken down by TikTok.

In a statement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York condemned Blake’s video, both for featuring Christensen and for its use of other antisemitic tropes.

“Hurling a bus load of antisemitic tropes and platforming bigots who cheer antisemitic violence in a launch video is not the pro-humanity flex one thinks it is. In the backdrop of rising hate, this only deepens division, further inflames an already inflammatory climate in New York, and makes us all less safe,” the group said in a statement.

The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey focused its criticism specifically on the Christensen clip.

“No matter what your views are on the candidates or the issues, we can all agree that Michael Blake’s platforming of anti-Zionist influencer Guy Christensen should be roundly condemned,” the group said. “Christensen is an activist who regularly touts Hamas and promotes antisemitic ideas, and he defended the shooter that left two dead at the Jewish Museum this past spring.”

UJA-Federation of New York said in a statement, “We strongly condemn any use of antisemitic vitriol and those who promote it to attack opponents.”

“Regardless of beliefs, actively platforming Guy Christensen, who regularly shares antisemitic ideas and pro-Hamas rhetoric — in addition to defending the heinous antisemitic shooting in Washington, DC, this spring — is absolutely unacceptable,” UJA continued.

Blake apologized in a statement, issued late Monday after a group of local rabbis also joined the chorus of criticism.

“I unequivocally denounce the murder and celebration of the two young Israeli embassy staffers, as stated in my May 22nd, 2025 post on X, and I apologize for any pain our campaign video caused any member of the Jewish community by including someone who condoned this horrific event,” Blake said. “Just as I would for anyone targeted for the color of their skin, faith, or identity, I stand firmly against all acts of hate and violence. I am focused on the Cost of Living and Affordability crisis impacting all of the district, where Ritchie Torres’ actions have failed, along with continuing to address Antisemitism, Anti-Muslim hate, Housing and Immigration. We deserve better than Ritchie Torres.”