Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, wrote to Zohran Mamdani on the latter’s inauguration day as mayor of New York City, informing him that he was violating city records law by deleting posts from his predecessor about Israel and about Jew-hatred.
“At a moment of unprecedented antisemitic intimidation, violence and exclusion in the city, the decision to erase official statements affirming the safety and protection of Jews is not merely tone-deaf; it is shameful,” Goldfeder wrote on Jan. 1.
After the official mayoral account transitioned from Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, screenshots circulated showing Mamdani’s name appearing over Adams-era posts supporting Israel and condemning antisemitism. These posts were later deleted from the account.
Goldfeder noted that posts from the mayor’s official social-media account “are not personal commentary, they are official city records,” adding that, under New York law, “public records may not be destroyed or otherwise disposed of except pursuant to an approved records-retention schedule.”
He called on the mayor to affirm the city’s commitment “to protecting Jewish New Yorkers, not as a favor, but as a fundamental obligation of office.”
“Your first days in office will define your administration,” Goldfeder wrote. “This is not how that definition should begin.”
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in response to Goldfeder’s letter that the attorney general’s office “will be extremely vigilant as to any and all violations of religious liberties in NYC.”
“We will investigate, sue and indict as needed,” she stated.
Along with the deletions, one of Mamdani’s first actions in office was to revoke all executive orders issued since Sept. 26, 2024, which included the city’s formal adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and an order barring the city from participating in boycotts of Israel.
