Palestinian rights advocates have praised New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani for rescinding a pro-Israel city ordinance within hours of taking office, a move that was quickly condemned by the Israeli government.
On Thursday, his first day in office, Mamdani rescinded all executive orders that had been in place since September 26, 2024, when his predecessor Eric Adams was indicted on bribery charges.
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One of the orders restricted boycotts of Israel and prohibited mayoral appointees from entering into agreements with the ally of the United States that “discriminate against the State of Israel, its people, or its affiliates.”
The bill, signed by Adams less than a month ago, is seen by critics as a controversial move for the incoming Mamdani government.
Another now repealed statute adopted the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which supporters argue could be used to censor or penalize speech critical of Israel.
Nasreen Issa, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement in New York City, said Israel and its supporters have long promoted the “criminalization of dissent.”
“Mr. Mamdani’s rejection of this is therefore a positive step towards defending the rights of New Yorkers and the dignity of Palestinians,” Issa told Al Jazeera.
Afaf Nasher, president of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), also praised Mamdani for rescinding “an unconstitutional order restricting New Yorkers’ ability to criticize the Israeli government’s racism or boycott Israel’s human rights abuses.”
“This unconstitutional Israel First attack on free speech should never have been made in the first place,” Nasher said in a statement.
Nasher also criticized the IHRA’s definition, saying its “overbroad” guidelines frame disagreement with Zionism as anti-Semitic.
“This order would unconstitutionally restrict boycotts only against Israel,” Nasher said.
Palestinian rights advocates have long rejected IHRA’s Israel-focused definition. The definition lists 11 examples of anti-Semitism, six of which involve Israel.
These include “claiming that the existence of the state of Israel is a racist act” and “applying double standards” to Israel.
“I think it’s great that Mayor Mamdani took steps from day one to strengthen the right to free speech, including the right to criticize and oppose Israeli apartheid and genocide,” said YL Al-Sheikh, a Palestinian-American writer active with the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The IHRA, as implemented as government policy, is not designed to combat anti-Semitism, but to suppress dissent, and this is something all Americans should oppose.”
Israel is also involved
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned Mamdani’s move, saying the newly installed mayor was showing his “true face”.
“This is not leadership. It is pouring anti-Semitic gasoline on the bonfire,” the group said in a post on social media platform X.
Separately, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Tikri criticized Mamdani’s decision using Islamophobic language.
He called the mayor a “Hamas sympathizer” and drew a link to London’s Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan.
“These are the very decisions that will be made when Muslim Brotherhood Islamists with the slogan ‘Globalize the Intifada’ take control of New York City and London,” Tsikri wrote to X.
Neither Mamdani nor Khan have any known ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Issa said Israel’s violent reaction was not about the mayor’s policy moves, but rather aimed at controlling the narrative.
“Israel’s main approach has been to promote the criminalization of protected speech at the highest levels, at the Foreign Ministry level, through distorted definitions of anti-Semitism such as the IHRA,” she said.
“They have lost in the court of public opinion, so their response now is to push forward with the criminalization of dissent.”
Issa also called Tikri’s attack on Mamdani “blatant Islamophobia, racism and disinformation.”
“They are trying to spread accusations that have no basis in reality,” Issa told Al Jazeera.
“But from their perspective, any support for the Palestinians, any opposition to Israel’s genocide and military actions over the past two years and decades, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, is unacceptable.”
Al-Sheikh said it was “ridiculous” that Israel was trying to impose its preferences on New York’s local policies.
“Even Americans who are not Palestinian or pro-Palestinian will find this strange and a violation of our rights,” al-Sheikh said.
“It’s also strangely counterproductive on the Israeli side, because it only makes Mamdani look good. The only policy document that says you can’t criticize a country has been abolished, and now you’re claiming it’s the end of the world, but the universal American position is that you should be able to criticize any country you want to criticize.”
But Israel was not the only country to condemn Mamdani’s actions. President Donald Trump’s administration also issued a warning to Mamdani’s government.
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said the department remains vigilant against “any and all violations of religious freedom” in New York.
“We will investigate, sue, and prosecute as appropriate,” Dillon said in a social media post.
Palestinian solidarity activists often stress that criticism of Israeli human rights abuses should not be confused with attacks on Judaism.
Rise of Mamdani
Mamdani has been a vocal critic of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, drawing accusations of anti-Semitism from Israeli supporters.
However, he repeatedly promised to protect the Jewish population. At his inauguration, he pledged to continue the Mayor’s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism (MOCA), which he developed during the Adams era, and told reporters that his administration would “celebrate and cherish” Jewish New Yorkers.
The 34-year-old new mayor took the oath of office at the beginning of the new year, holding a copy of the Koran, becoming the first Muslim mayor of America’s largest city.
The Democratic Socialist and former state representative had minimal name recognition when he first announced his candidacy in late 2024.
But he steadily expanded his support base with a message focused on affordability and housing.
Last June, he defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination in one of the most surprising political upsets in recent U.S. history.
Mamdani later defeated Cuomo again in the November general election after the former governor resumed his campaign as an independent with support from President Trump.
Adams was elected as a Democrat in 2021, but his administration faced a number of scandals during his four-year term, including accusations that Adams entered into quid pro quo deals with representatives of the Turkish government.
In early 2024, President Trump’s Justice Department dropped federal bribery charges he was facing. Adams had begun his re-election campaign as an independent, but ultimately ended his candidacy before the election and endorsed Cuomo.
Although Mamdani’s platform focused primarily on local issues, some of his supporters argue that his vocal support for Palestinian rights helped propel his campaign amid growing anger over Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
