New York City mayor opens new task force aimed at combating antisemitism
Eric Adams cites need for ‘decisive action’ as he announces Office to Combat Antisemitism, 1st of its kind in a major US city, amid upsurge in anti-Jewish hate crimes
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday announced a new office aimed at combating antisemitism, amid a sustained surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes following the October 2023 invasion of Israel.
The Office to Combat Antisemitism, a citywide bureau under the mayor’s purview, is the first of its kind in a major US city.
The office will establish an inter-agency task force for fighting antisemitism, the mayor’s office told The Times of Israel. Its activities will include monitoring court cases related to anti-Jewish crimes, giving advice on executive orders and legislation, and liaising with the New York City Law Department, the department that handles most of the city’s legal affairs.
The antisemitism bureau will also have the authority to enforce a ban on antisemitism at city-funded agencies. Recent incidents at city agencies include a New York City Department of Education office sending out a toolkit with antisemitic language, and a city parks office booking Kehlani, an anti-Israel singer who has called for an intifada and the destruction of Israel. Kehlani’s Central Park concert was canceled amid pressure from the mayor’s office.
Adams appointed Moshe Davis, his Jewish liaison since 2022, to head the new office. Davis will start by forming a commission of New York City Jewish leaders to advise the new bureau. Davis will report to Randy Mastro, the city’s first deputy mayor.
“This office will be a sledgehammer: deliberate, coordinated and unapologetic,” Davis said at a Tuesday press briefing. “We’re all in the same boat. This isn’t a Jewish issue, this is a New York issue.”
The mayor’s office cited the high rate of antisemitism as a reason for establishing the office. Last year, 54% of all hate crimes in New York City targeted Jews, and during the first quarter of this year, that figure climbed to 62%, according to NYPD data. Jews represent around 10% of the city population.
“This moment calls for decisive action,” Adams said in a statement. “Antisemitism is an attack not only on Jewish New Yorkers, but on the very idea of New York City as a place where people from all backgrounds can live together.”
Adams announced the task force at a Monday briefing in City Hall, flanked by Hasidic, Orthodox, and secular community leaders, including representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the UJA-Federation of New York.
Adams, a former NYPD officer and Brooklyn borough president, has strong ties to New York Jewish communities, particularly in Brooklyn, and is a vocal supporter of Israel and the Jewish community. He announced the task force while standing next to Devorah Halberstam, whose son, Ari, was murdered in an antisemitic attack in 1994. Adams and Halberstam have been close since then.
In 2023, Adams formed the city’s first Jewish Advisory Council, a group charged with improving Jewish life in the city. Another program, called Breaking Bread, Building Bonds, is aimed at combating hatred more generally.
The Trump administration established a federal antisemitism task force in February.
Adams’s predecessor Bill de Blasio opened the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes in 2019, largely in response to antisemitism. Adams said the new task force will complement the hate crimes unit.
The new office’s scope extends beyond hate crimes with its oversight of city agencies.
“There are many rivers that feed the sea of antisemitism,” Adams said, citing rhetoric at schools and colleges. “We have to proactively monitor what is leaving our agencies. We cannot be the feeder of hate.”
The broader focus could cause conflicts as the office navigates the line between anti-Israel speech and antisemitism. Jewish New Yorkers have been unnerved by hundreds of anti-Israel protests on city streets since October 7, including in Jewish neighborhoods. Adams has defended the right to protest and criticize Israel, including on Tuesday.
“You have a right to free speech and you have a right to have your opinion,” he said. “We want to make sure that free speech does not cross the line into hate.”
The details of the task force’s oversight of city agencies remain unclear. Davis declined to confirm whether the new office will adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which covers some forms of Israel criticism. There will be further details available about the task force’s protocols in the coming weeks, he said.
Adams said that advocating for Palestinians does not constitute antisemitism, but indicated he personally views anti-Zionism as antisemitic.
“If you’re saying, ‘Eradicate Israel, destroy Israel,’ I mean, who lives in Israel?” Adams said. “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, call it a duck.”
Adams has been battered over corruption allegations and his ties to the Trump administration in the past year.
He is up for reelection in November. The city’s Democratic Party primary, which typically decides who will win the general election in the mostly Democratic city, will take place next month. Adams announced last month that he will run as an independent.
Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has a commanding lead in polls for the primary, and has also been pitching to Jewish voters and prioritizing the fight against antisemitism, making several stops at synagogues in recent weeks.
Adams has reportedly petitioned to run in the mayoral race on an “EndAntiSemitism” ballot line.
Jews have been disproportionately targeted in hate crimes in New York for years, including before the October 2023 Hamas attack. When de Blasio announced the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, Jews were also targeted in 60% of hate crimes. Adams said the task force was starting this week, despite that history, as part of a long “evolution” in his approach to combating hate.
The Times of Israel Community.