Mamdani Wants to Fight Antisemitism But Won’t Define It

 https://www.newsweek.com/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-definition-israel-zionism-new-york-12503613

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has released a detailed strategy to fight antisemitism in New York City while leaving unsettled the question that followed him into office. What will his administration consider antisemitic when Israel and Zionism are involved?

Mamdani's plan is substantial in the places where the answer is easy. City Hall is putting $7.4 million into security and hate-prevention grants, expanding Jewish history education, helping institutions improve security and funding efforts to track and prevent hate. The mayor said the goal is to “confront the scourge of antisemitism now and in the future.” Considering the distrust between the mayor and parts of New York’s Jewish community and the fact that antisemitic hate crimes rose 9 percent through the first eight months of this year, according to the NYPD, the new plan is important.

But what happens when alleged antisemitism comes wrapped in political speech about Israel or Zionism? There is little ambiguity about a swastika on a synagogue or an assault on somebody because he is Jewish—those harder cases begin when consensus ends. The strategy explicitly declines to adopt a definition of antisemitism.