Republican senator demands Mamdani explain antisemitism strategy or risk federal funding
A Louisiana Republican has written a letter to New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, demanding he explain his civil rights policy regarding antisemitism, given that Mamdani withdrew two Israel-related executive orders last month, which had been signed by his predecessor.
Senator Bill Cassidy said he has "serious concerns" about the rescissions.
"As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), I find it deeply troubling that one of your first official acts as mayor was to revoke two executive orders designed to protect students and combat antisemitism," Cassidy wrote.
"It is my job to ensure every student feels safe, and at a time when Jewish students feel scared, I am concerned your actions will only exacerbate their fears," he added.
Given New York City's Department of Education has an operating budget that includes $2bn in federal funding, Cassidy said continued eligibility for those funds "is contingent on compliance with federal civil rights laws and applicable executive orders designed to protect students".
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"Decisions by your administration that weaken established safeguards for Jewish students in New York and are out of alignment with federal executive orders warrant careful scrutiny," the senator said.
Mamdani has until 19 February to respond to six questions listed by Cassidy in the letter, including how his administration defines antisemitism; how Jewish students will be protected; and whether the mayor himself believes that the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment (BDS) movement is antisemitic.
Cassidy invoked the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is the one President Donald Trump adopted for his administration.
Critics of the IHRA definition say it conflates antisemitism with anti-Zionism, or criticism of historic and current policies that led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, and continuing human rights abuses against Palestinians and the occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel.
The executive orders
Three weeks before leaving office in December, New York City's former mayor, Eric Adams, signed two executive orders that would bar anti-Israel boycotts in municipal spaces, and also potentially prevent protests outside synagogues - regardless of the nature of the event being held inside.
The Palestinian-led BDS movement, which is two decades old, has long called on civil society to use non-violence to hold Israel accountable for its illegal military occupation of Palestinian land, apartheid practices using checkpoints and segregation, and now its genocide in Gaza.
At least 38 states in the US have enacted anti-BDS laws to prevent anyone from taking on a contract with any contractor refusing to engage with Israeli companies, or even privately encouraging a boycott of Israeli goods and services. They also mandate avoiding any public investment funds that boycott Israel.
New York State already has an anti-BDS law. By signing one for New York City, Adams effectively cornered Mamdani - a longtime advocate of BDS - to either support the text or overturn it, both of which would likely elicit outrage.
New York City has the largest number of Jews outside of Israel, numbering about one million. There are nearly as many Muslims in the city, though Mamdani's win hinged on progressives of all stripes banding together to support him.
The second executive order signed by Adams prohibited protests directly outside places of worship and examined options for creating designated protest zones that could be erected a significant distance away from the protest's target.
The move stemmed from a protest outside Park East Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side in November, where an event was being held to encourage Jewish New Yorkers to move to the occupied West Bank into Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law. Many of the settlers there were born and raised in New York City.
The more settlements that crop up in the area, the less chance that Palestinians have at creating a viable, contiguous state.
Protesters outside the synagogue chanted "Death to the IDF" and "globalise the intifada" among other slogans. The IDF is the "Israeli Defence Forces", the name Israel gives to its army, and intifada is the Arabic word for uprising, used to refer to injustice.
In a statement at the time, Mamdani suggested he did not condone the language used by the protesters, but he also did not encourage the event that was taking place inside the synagogue.
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