By: Fern Sidman

By any contemporary measure, antisemitism has reemerged as one of the most corrosive threats to New York City’s civic fabric. Yet where many municipalities remain trapped in cycles of statements and symbolic gestures, New York has now, under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, produced what his administration calls the most comprehensive municipal response to antisemitism ever attempted in the United States.

According to repeated briefings from Mayor Adams’ Communications Office, the city on Tuesday released its first-ever municipal report detailing the architecture, implementation, and future trajectory of its campaign against antisemitism—a document that City Hall is explicitly framing as a national model. Far from a perfunctory accounting, the report is a meticulously curated blueprint for 2026, outlining legal, administrative, educational, and cultural mechanisms designed to shift antisemitism from the margins of policy discourse to the core of urban governance.

“This is not talk. This is action,” Mayor Adams declared on his last full day in office. In remarks distributed by Mayor Adams’ Communications Office, he said, “We created the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism to make fighting hate a policy priority. This report shows what that means in practice—and how cities everywhere can follow suit.”

The very existence of the report is itself historic. While federal agencies and international organizations have long produced analyses of antisemitism, no American city has previously issued a comprehensive, standalone municipal strategy that treats antisemitism as a systemic threat requiring a permanent governance infrastructure.

Mayor Adams’ Communications Office confirmed that the document synthesizes the city’s efforts across law enforcement, education, communications, civil rights enforcement, and intergovernmental relations, presenting a rare, holistic view of how urban government can confront bigotry at scale.

“This is the first time a city government has said: antisemitism is not episodic—it is structural, and we will fight it structurally,” a senior official said.

At the heart of the initiative stands the newly established Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, an agency conceived not as an advisory panel but as an operational hub. Its creation was formalized through executive action, a move that City Hall officials describe as transformative.

As detailed by Mayor Adams’ Communications Office, the office is mandated to coordinate across agencies, monitor trends, shape public messaging, propose legislation, and embed antisemitism awareness into city operations ranging from schools to housing authorities.

“It is no longer acceptable for antisemitism to be addressed only after an incident,” Adams stated. “We are building the preventative infrastructure now.”

The report outlines four executive orders signed by Mayor Adams, each designed to dismantle a specific vulnerability in the city’s response to antisemitism.

The Mayor Adams’ Communications Office notes that these orders formalize interagency cooperation so that hate crimes involving antisemitic elements are flagged immediately across the NYPD, the Department of Education, and the Commission on Human Rights.

These orders also establish mandatory reporting and data-sharing protocols to ensure trends are identified before they metastasize. Moreover, they require city agencies to integrate antisemitism awareness training into their professional development frameworks and they direct the city’s legal apparatus to prioritize enforcement actions where antisemitic discrimination is alleged.

The orders are intentionally procedural rather than rhetorical—embedding antisemitism vigilance into the city’s bureaucratic DNA.

Among the most consequential innovations described in the report is the creation of an Interagency Task Force on Antisemitism, which Mayor Adams’ Communications Office characterized as a permanent operational body rather than a reactive committee.

The task force draws personnel from law enforcement, education, housing, public health, and cultural affairs, enabling cross-disciplinary responses to incidents that previously fell through jurisdictional cracks.

“Antisemitism doesn’t live in one silo,” said a spokesperson for the Mayor Adams’ Communications Office. “It appears in schools, on subways, in housing disputes, online forums, and protests. The task force ensures that every department is seeing the same picture at the same time.”

One of the more innovative elements of the blueprint is its emphasis on communications strategy. The report introduces citywide messaging guidelines designed to counter antisemitic tropes, misinformation, and coded rhetoric—particularly online.

According to Mayor Adams’ Communications Office, the administration recognized that antisemitism increasingly circulates through ambiguous language and euphemism, demanding a more sophisticated response than condemnation alone.

The guidelines instruct agencies on how to respond to incidents, how to educate the public without inflaming tensions, and how to articulate Jewish history and identity with nuance rather than stereotype.

“This is about narrative defense,” Mayor Adams said. “Hate does not thrive in silence—it thrives in distortion. We are ending the distortion.”

Uniquely, the report devotes a full section to the history of Jews in New York City, tracing their contributions from the colonial era through waves of Eastern European immigration, labor activism, civil rights leadership, and the modern tech and finance sectors.

Mayor Adams’ Communications Office emphasized that this is not ornamental history—it is operational context.

“You cannot fight antisemitism without knowing who the Jewish people are and how they shaped this city,” one official explained. “This history section is designed to become part of training modules across city agencies.”

Another prominent chapter documents New York City’s enduring ties with Israel, a relationship the report characterizes as cultural, economic, and moral.

While foreign policy is not within municipal jurisdiction, Mayor Adams’ Communications Office stated that the mayor believes city government must acknowledge how global events reverberate locally—especially in the world’s largest Jewish diaspora community.

“Our ties to Israel are not abstract,” Adams said. “They live in our neighborhoods, our synagogues, our schools, and our families.”

Beyond executive authority, the report previews proposed legislation that will be introduced in the City Council in 2026. Although specifics remain under review, Mayor Adams’ Communications Office confirmed that the bills will address:

• Enhanced civil penalties for antisemitic harassment in housing and employment.

• Expanded protections for religious expression in public spaces.

• Codification of antisemitism awareness training across municipal departments.

The mayor has publicly called on elected officials at every level to replicate New York’s model.

“We are not guarding this blueprint,” he said. “We are offering it.”

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the initiative is its explicit ambition beyond city borders. Throughout the report, New York positions itself not merely as a municipal actor but as a moral laboratory for the nation.

“This is a call to every mayor, every council, every governor: stop waiting for someone else to act,” Adams declared. “We have shown what is possible.”

At a time when antisemitic incidents are surging across the United States, New York’s decision to institutionalize its response may prove to be a turning point.

Mayor Adams’ Communications Office summarized the moment succinctly: “We did not release a report. We launched a movement.”

If other cities follow, historians may one day trace the modern municipal war on antisemitism back to this moment—when America’s largest city decided that combating hate was not a campaign plank, but a governing principle.