Metropolis Council members used the primary listening to of the physique’s Job Power to Fight Antisemitism on April 22 to scrutinize the Mayor’s Workplace to Fight Antisemitism, questioning the way it defines anti-Jewish hate, how the general public can attain it, and the way it plans to develop.
Phylisa Knowledge, the manager director of the mayor’s workplace, informed council members that the workplace remains to be constructing out workers and described its mandate as coordinating non-law-enforcement responses to antisemitic incidents, liaising with the Jewish neighborhood, regulation enforcement, and different businesses, bettering reporting and sufferer providers, and growing coverage and programming aimed toward prevention.
She stated that relying on the result of the mayor’s government funds, she expects the workplace’s workers to develop to a minimum of three to 4 folks. It at the moment has two, together with Knowledge.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
The mayor’s workplace to Fight Antisemitism was first created by way of government order beneath former Mayor Eric Adams in Could 2025 and re-established by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in January 2026.
Underneath Adams, the workplace had only one devoted staffer, its former government director, Moshe Davis.
Mayor’s Workplace to Fight Antisemitism capabilities questioned
Council members doing the questioning on Wednesday rapidly turned as to whether the workplace had primary public-facing infrastructure.
After Knowledge stated there was not but a devoted quantity or web site, co-chair Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) adopted up: “You don’t have a phone number, don’t have a website. How do you communicate with the public?”
Knowledge stated the workplace was largely internal-facing and that mayoral workplaces throughout the administration had been nonetheless understanding communication norms, including that “we understand why New Yorkers really want to be hearing from this office in particular.”
When Vernikov requested, “When do you think that will happen?” Knowledge replied, “I’m learning quickly that the speed of government is different than the speed of a small nonprofit, but I will get back to you as soon as I know.”
In a separate alternate, co-chair Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx) requested what stakeholders the workplace had engaged and what number of listening classes it had held. Knowledge stated she began the position on March 4, that the listening tour had “just kicked off” the week earlier than, and that conferences had been being scheduled with stakeholders throughout town.
Knowledge stated the workplace’s first product could be a public-facing doc based mostly on its listening tour.
Dinowitz pointed to the Biden administration’s antisemitism report as one attainable mannequin, saying it didn’t depend on a single codified definition however drew on each the IHRA and Nexus frameworks and used examples to clarify when anti-Zionism can cross into antisemitism.
Pressed on whether or not the mayor’s workplace would do one thing related, Knowledge stated it was modeling its course of after the Biden White Home’s — notably by way of whom it consults and the way it constructions the work — however had not but selected the precise format of its remaining doc.
She stated the workplace would possible tackle these “trickier questions” and publish a press release of ideas and values about antisemitism with out utilizing a selected definition.
The definition of antisemitism, within the metropolis’s eyes
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
A central line of questioning targeted on how the Mamdani administration defines antisemitism after rescinding a previous government order by former Mayor Eric Adams tied to the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of antisemitism.
The definition has been criticized by main civil and human rights teams for improperly conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. The definition states that “targeting the state of Israel” is antisemitic.
Knowledge informed council members that “across city government, there is not a definition codified for any form of hate at all,” and later stated the administration would proceed and not using a codified definition of any type of hate.
Vernikov pressed Knowledge on how her workplace will decide what’s antisemitic and not using a definition, to which she responded, “When we’re looking at prejudice, violence, and discrimination against Jews because they are Jewish, that is what we are trying to prevent through policy and programming that we will set up in this office.”
Dinowitz requested whether or not the workplace deliberate to put out examples of when anti-Zionism crosses into antisemitism and whether or not that form of steerage would seem in its report.
Knowledge stated the workplace was modeling its course of after the Biden White Home course of and stated she anticipated it might tackle a few of these “trickier questions,” presumably by publishing “a statement of sort of principles and values about what antisemitism is without using a specific definition.”
Later within the listening to, council members additionally pushed on the coverage implications of working and not using a formal definition.
Through the public testimony phase, Moshe Davis claimed the IHRA definition of antisemitism was “an essential educational framework” for the workplace to grasp how the Jewish neighborhood experiences antisemitism and the way that hostility is translated into coverage and violence.
Knowledge was appointed in February after serving as government director of the New York Jewish Agenda, a liberal Jewish advocacy group. Her appointment drew each reward and criticism from Jewish leaders, together with criticism tied partly to her stance on the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
The group has additionally been a vocal critic of Israel’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza; whereas it strongly condemned the Hamas assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it additionally publicly known as for an finish to Israel’s navy response.
Metropolis’s Jewish elected leaders say Mamdani ought to go to Israel, cross protest payments
Picture by Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit.
As Knowledge confronted pointed Council questioning, one other debate over Metropolis Corridor’s response to antisemitism unfolded earlier that day on the 92nd Avenue Y.
At a panel titled “The Future of Being Jewish in New York,” Council Speaker Julie Menin, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Comptroller Mark Levine described a Jewish neighborhood that is still deeply rooted in New York civic life however more and more uneasy about antisemitism, public security and the mayor’s posture towards Jewish considerations.
Levine stated New York’s Jewish neighborhood was one of many strongest and most dynamic in Jewish historical past, but additionally stated Jews had been confronting ranges of hostility many had not anticipated to see in 2026.
Hoylman-Sigal spoke concerning the corrosive position of social media and the impact of anti-Jewish hostility on youngsters and households. Menin, the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, framed the second as one requiring each public solidarity and concrete coverage motion.
The dialogue moved past broad expressions of concern and into the query of what, concretely, Mamdani ought to do to reassure Jewish New Yorkers.
Requested what recommendation they’d give the mayor, Levine answered that metropolis leaders ought to acknowledge that, for a lot of Jews, Israel is certain up with each identification and private safety.
“We understand that in the city of New York, for a great number of Jewish people, Israel is a core issue to our identity and even our feeling of personal safety,” the comptroller stated, arguing that this recognition must be expressed individually from debates over the insurance policies of the present Israeli authorities.
Hoylman-Sigal provided a extra particular suggestion, urging Mamdani to think about visiting Israel as earlier mayors have completed. He stated such a visit could be “an enormous step forward” and “meaningful to a large segment of New Yorkers,” even when “now is not the right time exactly.”
He additionally stated he believed the mayor’s “heart is in the right place” and steered Jewish leaders ought to proceed making an attempt to interact and educate him, particularly given generational variations in how youthful voters view Israel.
Picture by Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit.
Menin tied these broader considerations to the Council’s quick legislative agenda. She returned to the physique’s five-point plan to fight antisemitism and targeted specifically on two payments requiring the NYPD to create safe-access plans when there’s intimidation, harassment or damage exterior homes of worship or colleges.
Menin’s invoice regarding homes of worship had handed with a veto-proof majority, whereas the companion faculty invoice sponsored by Eric Dinowitz had not. She described each payments as narrowly tailor-made measures supposed to guard entry with out proscribing peaceable protest and solid the mayor’s pending determination as a measure of whether or not Metropolis Corridor was ready to reply concretely to Jewish considerations.
“I really hope that there is not a veto of that legislation,” Menin stated. “I don’t think that that’s necessary. I think it will create much more division at a time when, honestly, we need much more unity. And I think this is a big test.” She stated she had already conveyed these considerations to the mayor.
Mamdani has beforehand expressed apprehension at signing these payments, saying he had severe considerations” that the measures may restrict New Yorkers’ constitutional rights.
Levine additionally used the panel to defend one other Israel-related coverage that has grow to be politically charged: town’s funding in Israel bonds.
He argued that the problem must be understood as a fiduciary determination, not a political assertion, saying the bonds had been a part of a globally diversified funding technique and noting that “Israel bonds have never missed a payment in 70 years, ever, not once. They pay excellent interest.”
He added that critics had been singling out a tiny slice of town’s portfolio whereas ignoring investments in different nations.
