In response to an increase in antisemitic incidents in New York City and around the world, Mayor Eric Adams is creating an Office to Combat Antisemitism.
The new mayoral office, announced Tuesday, “will immediately establish an inter-agency taskforce dedicated to fighting antisemitism in all its forms,” according to a press release. The statement said the office will monitor court cases, advise Adams on steps he can take and legislation he can propose, and work across city agencies to “to ensure New Yorkers feel protected against antisemitism and address incidents of antisemitism.”
“Combating antisemitism requires a sledgehammer approach: coordinated, unapologetic, and immediate,” Moshe Davis, a rabbi who is Adams’ Jewish liaison for community affairs, who will be the new office’s executive director, said in the press release.
Adams, who is running for reelection this November on an independent ballot, is one of two mayoral candidates who are aiming to make antisemitism a central issue in their campaign.
Adams — whose federal corruption case was dropped by the Trump administration — is gathering signatures to run in the general election in November on two ballot lines: “EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe&Affordable.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic frontrunner, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has called antisemitism is “the most serious and most important issue” this election cycle.
Both candidates have been accused by liberal Jewish groups of exploiting antisemitism for political gain.
“Antisemitism is an attack not only on Jewish New Yorkers, but on the very idea of New York City as a place where people from all backgrounds can live together,” Adams said in a statement about the new office.
The statement said that Davis’ first action will be to form a commission of “Jewish leaders from across New York City” who will “oversee and advise” the office’s work.
“Mayor Adams has been a modern-day Maccabee,” Davis said in the statement, echoing a phrase Adams himself used at a Gracie Mansion Hanukkah party last year, “standing up for the Jewish community, and, with the establishment of this office, he is strengthening his resolve to ensure Jewish New Yorkers thrive in our city.”
Though the mayor faces record-low approval ratings among voters, he has a close relationship with the haredi Orthodox Jewish community of New York City, going back to his days as Brooklyn borough president. That community’s support played a role in his electoral win in 2021.
Throughout his term as mayor, Adams has repeatedly condemned acts of antisemitism and been vocally supportive of Israel since it was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, initiating a war in Gaza.
Hate crimes against Jews in New York City increased in the wake of Oct. 7, and Jews are targeted far more than any other group, NYPD data shows.
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