Mamdani Selects Liberal Jewish Leader to Head NYC Antisemitism Office

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is preparing to appoint Phylisa Wisdom, a liberal Jewish leader who has criticized Israel’s conduct in Gaza but supports its right to exist as a Jewish state, to lead New York City’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, according to The New York Times.

Wisdom is the executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive organization that has taken a critical view of Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza. Unlike Mamdani, however, Wisdom believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state — a worldview people who know her describe as liberal Zionism, the newspaper reported.

Mamdani pledged to keep the antisemitism office after taking office, despite skepticism from some Jewish leaders given his long-standing support for Palestinian causes. The office was created by his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams, amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents following the outbreak of the Gaza war.

The office is currently led by Moshe Davis, a holdover from the Adams administration, according to the Times.

Wisdom confirmed her pending appointment to the newspaper but declined to comment further.

She previously served as a senior official at YAFFED, an advocacy group that has pushed for stronger oversight of educational standards in some Hasidic yeshivas. A New York Times investigation found that dozens of Hasidic boys’ schools across Brooklyn and the lower Hudson Valley failed to provide basic instruction in English and math. YAFFED has long been viewed with suspicion by Hasidic leaders, who accuse the group of undermining their education system and sowing internal discord.

Wisdom’s appointment could complicate Mamdani’s relationship with segments of the Hasidic community, including the Satmar sect, which has prioritized resisting government oversight of yeshivas that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding each year. Mamdani previously pledged not to interfere with yeshiva education, saying he would defer to community leadership.

In creating the Office to Combat Antisemitism in May 2025, Adams cited police data showing that 54 percent of reported hate crimes in New York City targeted Jews the prior year, a figure that rose to 62 percent in the first quarter of 2025, according to the Times.

Combating antisemitism was also a political issue during Adams’ unsuccessful re-election campaign and for former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo during his mayoral bid against Mamdani.

Since becoming mayor, Mamdani has sought to ease concerns about his views on Israel. He retained the antisemitism office but rescinded two executive orders issued by Adams — one adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which equates some criticism of Israel with hatred of Jews, and another barring city agencies from boycotting Israel, a practice Mamdani has long supported.

Amy Spitalnick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, praised the selection, saying Wisdom brings “deep Jewish values” and strong relationships across the Jewish community to the role, according to the Times.