Despite calls for days from Jewish leaders for him to apologize for his antisemitic rhetoric, Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, declined to do so on Friday, the day after a man wearing a kippah was stabbed on the Upper West Side on the fast day of Tisha B’Av.
The mayor, who recently released a video admitting that he couldn’t have the Israeli prime minister arrested—as he promised repeatedly on the campaign trail—but calling the premier a “war criminal,” told NY1 on Friday that his comments about Benjamin Netanyahu were “critiques of a political leader, not of people of a specific faith or a religion or a background.”
“My responsibility as the mayor of this city is to keep every New Yorker safe, no matter where they come from, what they believe in or frankly, even if they agree with my politics,” he said.
Jewish leaders have long said that the mayor is inciting violence against Jews and goes out of his way to criticize the only Jewish state in the world. Antisemitism has surged in New York City since Mamdani became mayor, including 182% in his first month in office.
