Mamdani to Israel Hayom: We will combat all forms of antisemitism

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/09/30/mamdani-israel-hayom-fight-all-forms-antisemitism/

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended a Brooklyn Sukkot celebration hosted by Devorah Halberstam, a Chabad community activist who chairs the Board of Commissioners at the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, during which he told Israel Hayom he would fight all forms of antisemitism but dismissed the idea of defining it.

The visit came just hours after Mamdani had unveiled a citywide strategy to fight antisemitism. The plan pours money into security, education and hate-crime prevention. Yet it stops short of adopting a formal definition of antisemitism, and it does not name anti-Zionism as one of that hatred's forms. That puts it at odds with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition that has been adopted by dozens of countries, which does treat certain anti-Zionist statements, among them denying the Jewish people's right to self-determination, as antisemitic.

Israel Hayom pressed Mamdani on this during the event. "Mayor Mamdani, will your strategy include all forms of antisemitism?" this reporter asked. "We will combat all forms of antisemitism," he replied. Pressed further on why the plan offers no specific definition, he said the strategy didn't need a "specific definition." The Israel Hayom reporter was then referred to Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, and to Deputy Press Secretary Sam Raskin, but they have yet to comment.