NEW YORK — Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, the Reform rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said Friday that serious concerns persist about Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s positions on Israel, even after a second meeting this week between Mamdani and a group of New York rabbis.
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Posting on X Friday morning, Hirsch said that while Thursday’s discussion allowed Jewish leaders to again convey their concerns, “those concerns remain,” noting that New York has “never before had a mayor who has expressed this kind of ideological hostility to the very existence of Israel.”
I was part of a group of rabbis who met again yesterday with @ZohranKMamdani. While we were pleased to be able to discuss our concerns with the mayor-elect, those concerns remain. We've never before had a mayor who has expressed this kind of ideological hostility to the very…
— Ammi Hirsch (@AmmiHirsch) December 12, 2025
Hirsch said the issue is “not about policy differences,” but about Mamdani’s denial of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. He warned that anti-Zionist rhetoric or anti-Israel policies “will threaten Jewish safety in NYC” and lead to an unproductive and tense relationship with the Jewish community. He added that the community “will energetically oppose any and all anti-Israel rhetoric and action.”
The meeting was the second in recent weeks between Mamdani and a group of rabbis representing a broad cross-section of the city’s Jewish leadership. Participants previously agreed to establish a mechanism for ongoing communication with Mamdani and his senior staff as he prepares to take office on Jan. 1.
The renewed dialogue comes as segments of the Jewish community remain uneasy over Mamdani’s past positions, including support for BDS and refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada.”
On Wednesday night, Mamdani attended a Satmar event in Brooklyn marking Kuf Alef Kislev, part of his continued outreach ahead of inauguration.
The mayor elect is not only dangerous because of his stance in BDS and statements like gobalize the intifada. He is dangerous because he is. Socialist communist that wants to decriminalize many things that are currently crimes. (Please look it up .this is a family site so I don’t want to say how bad and detail his plans are…) He wants to freeze rents but he won’t be able to freeze the insurance costs … utilities….repair costs…etc….
He wants to make buses free but NYC doesn’t have the money for that.
A few simple things. In Europe there have been incidents where hate crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions have not been prosecuted because the authorities considered them “legitimate criticism of Israel.” Remember Mamdani’s reaction to the thugs outside Park East a few weeks ago: he criticized the Jews for mis-using a sacred space because the event inside had to do with Israel. Likewise in Europe, there have been cases where authorities refuse to treat a hate crime as a hate crime at all, falling back on the defendant’s not having mental capacity; I believe that that is what a French court said about the guy who pushed a woman out of a window as he shouted the Islamic creed. One has to worry that Mamdani will not inflame his base by prosecuting hate crimes that they commit, or even by holding them back from venting (remember Yankel Rosenbaum?) And the schools will get worse, and the antisemites who infest them – both students and teachers – will not be reined in.
Why is their “synagogue” named for the man ym”s who singlehandedly convinced FDR not to help save any European Jewry.
whats a “reform” “rabbi”
who cares what a reform “rabbi” says? we have the most frum yidden, satmar that are happy.