Rabbis on Monday urged New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stop painting Israel as the Evil Empire because of the toll his remarks are taking on innocent New York City Jews. The meeting between 10 Jewish leaders and the Muslim pro-Palestinian mayor came against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism in New York City. Anti-Jewish hate crimes rose 8.5 percent through the first seven months of the year, New York Police Department officials said last week, according to The Wall Street Journal. The rabbis collectively sought to have Mamdani tone down his rhetoric on Israel.
“There were rabbis from across the entire spectrum of our Jewish community, and yet no one gave the message to the mayor, ‘Everything is going great,’” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said, according to the Forward. Jacobs said lashing out at Israel and calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make life worse for everyday people. “Everyone agreed that the current course can’t go on,” Jacobs said. “The way he vilifies Israel, and so constantly, is really causing harm.” Jacobs said he urged Mamdani to shift his tone, according to The New York Times.
