January 5, 2026
Dear Friends,
I am writing out of serious concern regarding actions taken by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on his first day in office and what they signal for New York City’s Jewish community in particular and the world in general.
As a Holocaust historian, I have spent decades studying how antisemitism takes hold—not only through violence, but through policy decisions, legal reversals, and the systematic removal of protections for Jews. History teaches us that danger rarely begins with overt brutality. It begins when leaders normalize hostility and dismantle safeguards, often under ideological pretexts.
On his very first day as mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, Mayor Mamdani took the following actions:
- Revoked New York City’s use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, eliminating the city’s primary tool for identifying modern antisemitism, including when it targets Jews under the guise of “anti-Zionism.”
- Eliminated the city’s anti-BDS executive order, signaling that economic warfare against the world’s only Jewish state is now acceptable city policy. Israel, again, is the only functioning democracy in the Middle East, one that embraces religious freedom, gay rights and women’s rights. No Muslim run state embraces these freedoms. Moreover, Israel is an ally of the United States.
- Rolled back NYPD guidance limiting protests outside synagogues, protections implemented after Jewish institutions were directly targeted.
- Dissolved NYC–Israel economic cooperation initiatives, severing formal ties between the city and Israeli-American businesses and communities.
As journalist Amy Albertson noted, when a mayor’s first executive actions dismantle measures specifically designed to protect the Jewish population, it is reasonable to draw conclusions about intent or, at the very least, indifference. History shows that such indifference is never benign.
These are not symbolic gestures. They are concrete policy decisions that weaken Jewish protections, legitimize antisemitic activism, and isolate Jewish communities socially and economically. This is how antisemitism is laundered into respectability—through bureaucratic language, ideological framing, and the erosion of safeguards.
Europe has seen this pattern before. Jews have seen this pattern before. And history teaches us that when Jewish protections are the first to go, Jews are never the last to suffer.
I urge those receiving this message to take these developments seriously, to speak out, and to demand accountability. Silence has never protected Jewish communities. Awareness and action sometimes do. We see Mamdani, a practicing Muslim, once again taking political actions that raise serious concerns about tolerance and respect for minority rights, which the vast majority of Muslims worldwide do not embrace—in other words, his antisemitic and intolerant actions should not be a surprise because he was raised to have them. His recent moves restricting protections for Jewish communities echo a disturbing historical pattern illustrated dramatically by Adolf Hitler: the Führer began by undermining civil rights of Jews, and then years later, he ended it by killing them in Auschwitz. While Mamdani is not committing violence, the effect of eroding legal protections that can and will lead to violent behavior is reminiscent of the early steps Hitler took upon assuming power—first stripping Jews of their rights, and only later escalating to mass violence. Hitler, like Mamdani, styled himself a socialist and revoked Jewish rights; the lesson is clear: Limiting the rights of any community sets a dangerous precedent. Mamdani would have been far wiser to avoid this path. Time and again, he—and countless other Islamic leaders across the globe—demonstrate that most Muslims are not our allies or friends, particularly toward Jews. It reminds me of two catchphrases that contain a lot of truth: 1) Maybe not all terrorists are Muslims, but the vast majority of terrorists are Muslims. 2) There are two types of Muslims in the world—there is the radical Muslim who wants to cut off your infidel head, and then there is the moderate Muslim who wants the radical Muslim to cut off your head. Mamdani’s actions will make it easier for radical Muslims and antisemites to target and persecute Jews in New York, which could ultimately lead to violence and oppression—an outcome he appears to be enabling through the steps he has taken. He is an antisemite and an immoral and dangerous man.
Bryan Rigg, PhD (Yale, Cambridge University), American Military and Holocaust Historian
Author, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers; Japan’s Holocaust