‘Zero tolerance’: NYC mayor’s antisemitism task force holds first meeting

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s antisemitism task force holds its inaugural meeting at City Hall in Manhattan.

Adams launched the task force in May amid a sustained surge in antisemitic hate crimes in the US city since the October 2023 Hamas onslaught in Israel.

The task force’s first meeting brings together representatives from an array of city agencies, including the mayor’s office, the NYPD, the city’s Hate Crimes Task Force, the parks department and the school system.

The meeting is led by Rabbi Moshe Davis, the head of the antisemitism task force, and Randy Mastro, the city’s first deputy mayor. Adams is attending a reelection campaign rally on the steps of City Hall. Chants of “Four more years” are audible at the task force meeting.

The gathering will be the first in a series of regular meetings held by the task force, Mastro says.

“We are all here to make sure that we become a shining example in city government, of what to do, what not to do, and what won’t be tolerated,” Mastro says. “Unfortunately, we haven’t always been a perfect vessel, but nothing short of perfection will do. Zero tolerance.”