Jewish leaders issue fresh warnings about Mamdani in closing weeks of campaign

NEW YORK — Jewish religious leaders and communal groups issued warnings about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani this week in the closing weeks of the campaign.

Mamdani is a state assemblyman representing part of Queens, a far-left, harsh critic of Israel, and, as the Democratic Party candidate, the heavy favorite to win the November 4 mayoral race.

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Upper East Side’s Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue said Mamdani “poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community” in a Shabbat sermon.

Cosgrove cited Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan, “Globalize the intifada,” his refusal to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, his vows to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his repeated accusations of genocide against Israel. Mamdani initially welcomed the intifada slogan, and later said he would discourage its use.

“Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination, these are not political preferences or partisan talking points,” said Cosgrove, a prominent leader in the Conservative movement. “We feel our connection to Israel and its people. It is the invisible string that has tugged at our hearts since the very beginnings of our people.”

The rabbi added that “Mamdani’s distinction between accepting Jews and denying a Jewish state is not merely a rhetorical sleight of hand or political naivete. His doing so is to traffic in the most dangerous of tropes and anti-Zionist rhetoric that, as we have seen time and again, in Washington, in Colorado [the sites of deadly antisemitic attacks this year], in ways small and large, online and in person, have given rise to deadly antisemitic violence.”

He urged his congregants to voice their concerns to other voters, particularly progressive Jews they know who agree with Mamdani’s focus on affordability.

In polls, Mamdani is far ahead of the pro-Israel, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. In third place is Republican Curtis Sliwa. A recent poll found that, if Sliwa left the race, Cuomo would be in striking distance of overcoming Mamdani’s lead, although Sliwa has refused to drop out.

“A vote for Mamdani is a vote counter to Jewish interests. A vote for Sliwa, whatever his merits, is a vote for Mamdani. There is a path to victory, but it means that every eligible voter must vote. Nobody sits this one out,” Cosgrove said.

On Thursday, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of Manhattan’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a national leader in the Reform movement, called on Mamdani to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and decried his recent statements marking the October 7 anniversary and accusing Israel of genocide.

“These are not political disagreements; they are rigid ideological commitments that delegitimize the Jewish community and encourage and exacerbate hostility toward Judaism and Jews,” Hirsch said in a public statement.

“Rather than bringing New Yorkers together, you are fanning the flames of intolerance. I urge you to reconsider your long-held views of Israel’s right to exist. These views are profoundly immoral,” he said.

.@ZohranKMamdani I do not speak for all Jews, but I do represent the views of the large majority of the NY Jewish community, which is increasingly concerned about your statements about Israel and the Jewish people. I urge you to reconsider your long-held rejection of Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/jYNnBvlX3C

— Ammi Hirsch (@AmmiHirsch) October 16, 2025

On Friday, the American Jewish Committee, a leading nonpartisan group, said it was “deeply troubled” by Mamdani’s “problematic rhetoric as it relates to Israel and Jews.”

The committee cited Mamdani’s repeated accusations that Israel is guilty of genocide, his refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and his “lack of consistent moral clarity on Hamas.”

The group urged Mamdani to hear the concerns of “the mainstream New York Jewish community.”

“By continuing to prioritize anti-Zionist synagogues and groups, Mamdani ignores the perspectives and concerns of the vast majority of Jewish New Yorkers,” the statement said.

The Anti-Defamation League on Sunday criticized Mamdani for meeting with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and who has made anti-LGBTQ statements, according to The New York Post.

The ADL said Mamdani’s meeting with Wahhaj “raised significant concerns in the Jewish community,” adding that “elected officials need to know the facts about the groups and individuals with whom they associate.”