Joseph Strauss | JTA

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration plans to boost the security of Jewish institutions, expand Holocaust education and celebrate Jewish New Yorkers’ contributions to the city as part of what he called a comprehensive plan to combat antisemitism.

The city will immediately designate $1 million toward supporting “the physical security of vulnerable nonprofit organizations, including synagogues and other houses of worship,” and allocate another $6.4 million to grants under its Partners Against the Hate initiative.

“This Strategy is neither the beginning nor the end of this work,” wrote Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of Mamdani’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, in a 35-page strategy document released on Tuesday. “But it is an important milestone: a clear commitment from New York City government and a roadmap for the meaningful work ahead.”

Mamdani has had a tense relationship with segments of the city’s Jewish community over his long-held criticism of Israel. In a video accompanying the strategy’s launch, Mamdani called the plan “a roadmap for how our administration will confront the scourge of antisemitism now and in the future.”

The report was modeled in part after the national strategy to combat antisemitism released by then-President Joe Biden in May 2023. Similar to the Biden White House’s strategy, the New York City plan does not adopt a single definition of antisemitism but rather acknowledges a few different definitions — those of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism and the Nexus Document.

Critics of the IHRA definition say that it wrongly categorizes some criticism of Israel as antisemitism. The Nexus Document, meanwhile, says that most Israel criticism is not inherently antisemitic.

One of Mamdani’s first acts as mayor was revoking an executive order signed by his predecessor, Eric Adams, that adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism for the city and municipal agencies.

“New York City can and will leverage all of the tools at its disposal to combat antisemitism effectively without needing to adopt a definition for this specific form of hate,” the strategy reads.

Jamie Beran, CEO of the progressive group Bend the Arc, commended the decision not to enshrine a single definition and said that doing so would be “both unnecessary and often a distraction from substantive policies,” in a statement put out by the mayor’s office.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been critical of Mamdani and his lack of support for the IHRA definition of antisemitism, had called for a “clear, formal definition of antisemitism the city actually uses” to be part of the plan, as well as ensuring that city contracts, pensions and procurements are kept “free of ideological boycotts.” The ADL’s demands were not met in the strategy released Tuesday.

In addition to investments in hate crime prevention, the strategy also outlines investments in cultural and communal institutions that will help “[p]reserve New York City as a special place to be Jewish.” City Hall is investing $2.5 million in The Center for New Jewish Culture, the report reads, and is making a previously reported $2 million capital investment in the design and construction of a Holocaust memorial at Queens Borough Hall.

The strategy calls for an increase in public school trips to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the city’s flagship Holocaust museum. It also says it will launch a campaign recognizing the contributions of Jewish New Yorkers on the LinkNYC kiosks around the city and in “other public places.”

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th Congressional District and one of Mamdani’s most prominent Jewish allies, applauded the strategy in a statement distributed by the mayor’s office, saying it was something Jews of all stripes could agree on.

“It’s no secret that we don’t all agree on many things, from how we pray to how we relate to Israel,” Lander said, “but we can all agree and work together on this: Jewish New Yorkers — like all New Yorkers, and in all our diversity — deserve to be and feel safe in our shuls, streets, homes and workplaces.”

The launch of this strategy comes nearly eight months after Mamdani appointed Wisdom to lead the mayor’s office to combat antisemitism, which Adams founded last year.

Wisdom told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in February that the office would be embarking on a “listening tour” to understand the concerns of a diverse set of Jewish New Yorkers and devising a strategy from that tour in time for the High Holidays.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been critical of Mamdani, panned his administration one day after Rosh Hashanah for not having a strategy published.

“The delay from the @NYCMayor’s office to combat antisemitism is unacceptable, especially coming off 2025, when New York City recorded more antisemitic incidents than any other city in the country,” the organization’s local branch wrote on X.

As one of the seven listed objectives, the administration says it will conduct “regular and robust engagement with Jewish New Yorkers across the ideological spectrum so the Mamdani administration can better serve Jewish communities and help Jewish New Yorkers live lives of dignity free from hate.”