New York state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist who is the frontrunner for mayor of New York City, said that if elected, he would stop using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
The remarks came in an interview published last week in Bloomberg News. In it, he also said he supports the BDS movement against Israel.
The move would effectively undo an executive order signed in June by Eric Adams, the current mayor of New York City, recognizing the IHRA definition on behalf of the five boroughs.
“A Mamdani administration will approach antisemitism in line with the Biden administration’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism—a strategy that emphasizes education, community engagement and accountability to reverse the normalization of antisemitism and promote open dialogue,” said Dora Pekec, a Mamdani spokesperson, according to the New York Post.
Biden’s official strategy noted that the IHRA definition of antisemitism is the “most prominent” definition that “the United States has embraced,” though he did not explicitly endorse it.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who openly opposes BDS, officially endorsed Mamdani on Sunday.
After she did so, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to threaten New York state’s federal funding. In the same interview, however, Bloomberg noted that Mamdani and Trump have signaled a willingness to work together.
