The Trump administration will not allow Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, to neglect Jews in the city, according to Leo Terrell, chair of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.
“If this mayor turns his back on the Jewish American community, President Trump will take decisive action and the weight of the Department of Justice will be in New York City,” Terrell told JNS. “I can guarantee you of that.”
U.S. President Trump held a civil press conference with Mamdani, who has said he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the premier comes to the city, after the two met in the Oval Office. The president called the meeting “very productive” and joked about the mayor-elect considering him a fascist.
Terrell told JNS that there is an “ongoing investigation” about a chaotic, antisemitic protest outside a Nefesh B’Nefesh event at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan last month.
“We don’t trust the city of New York to do the right thing,” he said.
Terrell told JNS that he doesn’t think Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, will pursue charges against protesters who blocked the synagogue’s front entrance, barring congregants from safely accessing the building.
The Trump administration “will not allow Jewish Americans to be denied their right to practice their religion,” Terrell said.
The Justice Department official said that time will tell whether Mamdani, whose press secretary responded to the protest by stating that synagogues shouldn’t host events that violate international law, will change his behavior once he becomes mayor.
“I don’t think there is any prior indication that Mamdani is going to protect Jewish Americans,” he told JNS.
Terrell told JNS that Northwestern University’s $75 million settlement with the Trump administration over a probe that included alleged Jew-hatred was the result of a “full frontal attack” to eradicate antisemitism on campus.
“We’re expanding our efforts to K-12,” he said.
Some schools have been turning to courts to challenge the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze grant money and to push punishing settlements. Terrell said Trump has a high rate of success in the U.S. Supreme Court, even as some lower-level court decisions have gone against the administration.
“I can guarantee you that President Trump is going to pursue every avenue legally, and if it takes going to the Supreme Court, he will do it,” Terrell said. “That’s why these universities, before they get to the Supreme Court, many of them will try to resolve these cases.”
If anything, the Trump administration isn’t sufficiently aggressive, according to Terrell.
“These universities have been used to indoctrinate hate, and now they’re targeting K-12, and what I feel is that if there’s going to be a settlement, let’s make sure there’s safeguards in place where kids, students, faculty members and anyone of the Jewish religion are not to be intimidated or harassed,” he said.
The Trump administration began pursuing cases against Ivy League schools and large university systems, such as the University of California, to “provide a deterrent effect,” but it is well aware of problems at smaller and lesser-known schools.
“This phone never stops ringing, because there are problems all over,” Terrell said.
He added that his task force is working on a “50-state rapid response, to make sure we go where the problem is and not ignore any state, any city,”
“I will submit to you that a lot of local mayors, prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, they don’t even know how to address antisemitic behavior,” he said. “They don’t record it properly in their criminal reports.”
The task force, which Terrell said aims to set up “policies and doctrine” for the Justice Department but isn’t involved in litigation, is trying to codify policies on Jew-hatred so they will have a longer shelf-life than the executive orders the president signs. The panel is also meeting with members of Congress to discuss its projects.
“We want to make sure legislation is in place, to make sure not just Jewish Americans, but all Americans are protected in their protected class status and religious freedom,” he said.
