Two dominant odors define New York City these days: the smell of urine in the subways and the smell of marijuana on the streets. Together, these smells offer a pervasive sense of chaos simmering just beneath the surface. On a recent trip to the Big Apple, these odors prompted me to repeatedly look over my shoulder—not just for someone intent on harming me, but for forces capable of keeping that someone at bay.
I was relieved when I saw a New York police officer directing traffic at a busy intersection because it meant that there was at least one armed representative of the state who stood nearby to intervene if things turned ugly—whether I was confronted by an aggressive panhandler who stank of urine or a weed-addled, green-haired protester intent on intimidating someone like me: an American-loving Zionist. Like broken windows, flat tires and trash in the streets and piled on sidewalks, foul odors give people good reason to be concerned about their physical safety.
These problems are not unique to New York. Like a lot of other cities in the United States, Manhattan’s ability to maintain a monopoly on the legitimate use of force was abandoned by leftist politicians and their supporters who are intent on fomenting chaos and disorder under the guise of progressivism. This chaos became manifest during the wave of anti-Israel protests that erupted in the city after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
These protests turned college quads in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston and other cities into bastions of chaos and disruption. Students, Jews especially, often couldn’t attend class, go to the library or bookstore, or even to the cafeteria without being harassed. In some instances, they were assaulted by pro-Hamas activists associated with groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement and Within Our Lifetime, an organization that openly calls for Israel’s destruction.
Professors were assaulted. Janitors at Columbia were held against their will. People who worked in New York were forced to contend with traffic blockages that disrupted their lives as well. In many respects, these protests are a repeat of the chaos inflicted on cities by Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters during COVID-19 lockdowns.
While the George Floyd riots targeted civil society writ large, the post-Oct. 7 protests targeted “Zionists,” which, let’s be clear, means Jews. In 2024, the New York chapter of the Anti-Defamation League reported a 148% increase in antisemitic instances from 2022. In early 2026, Combat Antisemitism reported that data from the New York City Police Department reveals a 182% surge in antisemitic crimes in New York City during Zohran Mamdani’s first month in office as mayor. Apparently, that’s the way Mamdani wants it.
A responsible politician would respond to this crisis of anti-Jewish violence in the city he governs by enacting the policies established in a bill passed in late March by the New York City Council. The bill would require the commissioner of the NYPD to create a formal plan to prevent obstruction, intimidation, violence and interference at schools and universities while protecting lawful free speech, protest and assembly at the institutions. Instead, he vetoed it on April 24, declaring that he “stands firmly on the right of New Yorkers to challenge power.” This is code for standing on the right of people to harass Jews in the city he governs.
None of this should come as any surprise, given his contempt for Israel and, by extension, Jews. While attending Bowdoin College in Maine in 2013, Mamdani founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and invited Ali Abunimah, the editor of The Electronic Intifada, a regular source of anti-Israel propaganda, to speak on campus. Three years before the invitation to Bowdoin, Abunimah once declared that “supporting Zionism is not atonement for the Holocaust, but its continuation in spirit.”
A decade later, Mamdani was still at it, legitimizing the Oct. 7 massacre by declaring Israel guilty of “genocide” and putting forth legislation in the New York legislature prohibiting New York nonprofits from supporting Israelis living in the West Bank.
Mamdani’s wife is also profoundly contemptuous of Israel, as are several of his staffers. According to Ynet, New York City’s first lady, Rama Duwaji, once declared that Tel Aviv “should not have existed in the first place,” labeling all its residents as “occupiers.”
She also praised Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled and members of the U.S.- and E.U.-designated terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Following Oct. 7, she liked posts celebrating the attack, including images of terrorists breaching the border and entering Israel, and “Liked” content claiming that reports of Hamas rapes were a “mass hoax.” She later apologized for the comments, but the message was sent: Zionists are simply not welcome in New York City.
This contempt manifested itself in policy when, in February, Easy Aerial—a drone manufacturer in Brooklyn, N.Y., that supplies surveillance equipment to the Israel Defense Forces for border monitoring along Gaza and Lebanon—was informed that its seven-year lease at the city-run Brooklyn Navy Yard would not be renewed, forcing the roughly 100-employee company to relocate by June.
CEO Shahar Abuhazira told the New York Post that board members privately cited “definite pressure” from Mamdani’s “pro-Palestine” agenda as the real driver, despite the official claim of longstanding compliance issues that came amid ongoing protests targeting the firm and noticeably laxer security at the facility after Mamdani took office.
With Mamdani’s election in November, Jewish New Yorkers openly discussed leaving the city. An Israeli government minister urged them to make aliyah, while Jewish artists and community members described Mamdani’s win as the “final blow” amid already rising antisemitism. To be sure, Jews have been moving to Florida from New York City (and California) for years, but another exodus is likely in the offing, at least until Mamdani is voted out of office.
The upshot is this: The mayor is part of a larger campaign to render Jewish life increasingly untenable in the modern world. Just as he has worked to hinder the ability of Jews to defend themselves from attacks by their neighbors in the Middle East, Mamdani has sent a very clear message to Jews in New York City.
He will not protect them.
