New York City’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is back in the spotlight again following an anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue late last week.
Critics of the mayor accused the anti-Zionist mayor of helping create the climate of hostility toward Jews he was now promising to combat following the attack on Manhattan’s Central Synagogue.
“I am horrified by the assault at Central Synagogue during services today,” Mamdani wrote on social media after the attack, saying his administration would do “everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.”
The criticism spread quickly online following Mamdani’s statement.
Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, responded by reminding the mayor of his own previous words, “When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”
He made those remarks while claiming that activists should turn the Palestinian cause “hyper-local” by linking it to political struggles within the U.S., i24News reported.
Israel’s consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, criticized Mamdani following the assault as well, calling the incident “a direct result of Mayor Mamdani’s sustained campaign of incitement.”
Akunis also accused the mayor of failing to adequately protect New York City’s Jewish community.
According to the NYPD, 46-year-old Larry Montes disrupted Shabbat services before allegedly striking a 63-year-old congregant. Authorities said he also damaged synagogue property and spat at and headbutted a security guard while being escorted from the building.
Montes was arrested at the scene and charged with multiple offenses, including two counts of assault as a hate crime and criminal mischief as a hate crime. Police said no serious injuries were reported.
The latest controversy follows an incident at Central Synagogue on Friday evening.
When asked about those allegations during an event in Queens on Saturday, Mamdani did not directly respond to the criticism.
Instead, he said his administration remains focused on serving Jewish residents throughout the city’s five boroughs and highlighted the work of the Office to Combat Antisemitism as evidence of that commitment.
The criticism drew additional attention because it followed warnings from prominent Jewish leaders who had previously expressed concerns about Mamdani’s public statements.
Less than a month before the attack, Central Synagogue Senior Rabbi Angela Buchdahl issued a statement urging the mayor to reconsider rhetoric that she said “demonizes Jews and the Jewish state” and contributes to an environment in which threats and violence can increase.
Days before the incident, a group of 10 New York rabbis met with Mamdani at City Hall to discuss concerns about his comments regarding Israel and their potential impact on Jewish residents.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner later told NBC New York that she cautioned the mayor against portraying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a simplified narrative that casts Jews as the primary antagonists, arguing that such characterizations could have unintended consequences, i24News reported.
Several prominent figures critical of Mayor Zohran Mamdani argued that his rhetoric had contributed to rising tensions surrounding the conflict in the Middle East.
Former Defense Department official Ezra Cohen compared the mayor to an “arsonist,” accusing him of promoting rhetoric associated with the phrase “globalize the intifada” before attempting to distance himself from acts of violence.
Pro-Israel activist Aviva Klompas also criticized Mamdani, arguing that expressions of concern following the incident came after months of public criticism directed at Israel.
Actor and activist Yuval David similarly questioned the effectiveness of public condemnations of antisemitism when they are accompanied by political positions and associations that critics believe contribute to divisions within the city.
A longtime supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, Mamdani faced scrutiny during his mayoral campaign after initially declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” He later said he would discourage the slogan’s use.
More recently, Mamdani described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide” and said he would examine possible legal avenues related to the prime minister’s next visit to New York before later backing away from the proposal.
