Mayor Adams Tuesday introduced a brand new metropolis Workplace to Fight Antisemitism amid a surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes and an rising give attention to the difficulty on this yr’s mayoral race.
The mayor mentioned NYPD stats present that greater than half of hate crimes are antisemitic regardless of Jewish New Yorkers making up about 10% of town’s inhabitants. He known as that an “imbalance” that should be knocked down.
Adams known as the brand new workplace “a symbolic gesture, but most importantly, a substantive gesture” at a Tuesday press convention. The brand new workplace comes regardless of the existence of the same workplace in his administration that was shaped in 2019, additionally in response to an increase in antisemitic hate crime incidents.
The brand new workplace, which is made up of only one particular person, comes amid a hotly contested mayoral election during which antisemitism — and the continuing battle in Gaza — have come into sharp focus.
In November, Adams, who’s working as an unbiased, might face off towards Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner within the Democratic major, and certain a progressive candidate working on the Working Households Occasion line. Each Adams and Cuomo are very pro-Israel, and are vying for Orthodox and conservative Jewish voters, essential voting blocks for the candidates.
Mayor Eric Adams establishes the Mayor’s Workplace to Fight Antisemitism, a mayoral workplace devoted to combating antisemitism in all types and protecting New Yorkers secure. Metropolis Corridor. Tuesday, Could 13, 2025. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace)
Moshe Davis, who’s been the administration’s Jewish liaison since 2022, will function the manager director underneath First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro.
The workplace will work to determine a process pressure targeted on antisemitism comprised of the Mayor’s Workplace for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, the police division, town’s Fee on Human Rights and others, in response to an govt order establishing the workplace. It’ll additionally monitor court docket circumstances and advise on govt orders and laws, the mayor mentioned.
”This workplace might be a sledgehammer, deliberate, coordinated and unapologetic,” Davis mentioned at its announcement.
Adams prompt the workplace will goal school campus protests, organizations that obtain taxpayers {dollars}, an obvious reference to a called-off Summerstage live performance by Kehlani, a pro-Palestine singer, and metropolis messaging together with a Division of Schooling pamphlet that known as Israel’s actions in Palestine a “genocide.”
Adams is petitioning on an “EndAntiSemitism” poll line, along with a “Safe&Affordable” line, for the November election.
The transfer additionally comes after President Trump shaped an “Anti-Semitism” process pressure that has focused and minimize funding from universities.
Brad Lander, town’s comptroller working for mayor, accused the mayor of utilizing Jewish New Yorkers as “pawns” in a press release.
“Creating a taxpayer-funded office in the waning days of his mayoralty to rhyme with his made-up personal ballot line is cynical and transparent, even for this mayor,” he mentioned.
Initially Printed: Could 13, 2025 at 6:14 PM EDT
