By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a stark warning on Sunday during a visit to Israel, saying that he believes Jewish New Yorkers have reason to fear for their safety and their children’s future following the election of incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Speaking at a Tel Aviv conference organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, Adams described what he called a disturbing global normalization of antisemitism — a social and cultural shift that he said has taken root in New York City itself. According to a report on Monday at The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), Adams told attendees that the Jewish community must “prepare itself” for a period of heightened hostility and vigilance in the wake of Mamdani’s political rise.

“If I were a Jewish New Yorker, I would be concerned about my children,” Adams said. “We need to be honest about the moment and cannot sugarcoat it.”

The event, attended by Israeli lawmakers, diplomats, and civil society leaders, centered on global antisemitism and the rise of hate speech online. Adams’s remarks came just days after Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and vocal critic of Israel, was elected mayor in a contentious election that many Jewish groups have described as a turning point for the city’s political culture.

As reported by The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), Adams lamented that antisemitism has not only grown more visible but has also become, in his words, “socially fashionable” in many Western societies.

“It has become cool and hip to be antisemitic around the globe, including in New York City,” Adams said. He warned that a generation of young people has been “raised on lies” about Jews and Israel, largely absorbed through misinformation spread on social media platforms.

The mayor drew attention to the hypocrisy of certain protest movements in New York and on American campuses, calling out one in particular. “You have people walking around the country with signs saying ‘Queers for Palestine,’ and that is queer when the only place you can walk around in the Middle East being queer is Israel,” Adams remarked, prompting murmurs of agreement from the audience. “They’ve hijacked the conversation,” he added, referring to the global activist networks that have redefined narratives about the Middle East conflict.

Adams, who has long described himself as a steadfast ally of Israel, has repeatedly spoken out against antisemitic violence in New York and has made frequent visits to Jewish communities across the five boroughs. However, his comments in Tel Aviv were some of his most direct criticisms yet of New York’s shifting political environment under Mamdani’s incoming administration.

Turning his focus to the global aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel, Adams told the Tel Aviv audience that Israel’s inability to convey the human cost of that attack allowed misinformation to dominate international discourse.

According to the information provided in JNS report, Adams said the “human story” of October 7 was never properly told to the American public. “The story was never really told about Oct. 7. You heard about it, but you never knew what really happened,” he said.

He argued that pro-Israel advocates and government representatives failed to present a message that resonated with everyday citizens, leaving space for anti-Israel groups to dominate the conversation. “Israel supporters failed to come up with messaging that connected with ordinary people,” Adams said. “The Zohrans of the world shoved the images of every baby killed in Gaza … and became a symbol of what people were angry about.”

The remarks referenced how online platforms have been inundated with graphic imagery from Gaza used to mobilize anti-Israel activism, while Hamas’s atrocities on October 7 have often been minimized or ignored in global coverage. The JNS report noted that Adams’s comments drew strong applause from the crowd, many of whom agreed that Israel’s global image has been undermined by the war’s media portrayal.

Addressing the Jewish population of his city directly, Adams urged New York Jews to be proactive in confronting the wave of antisemitism that he said is likely to intensify following Mamdani’s election.

“The New York Jewish community must prepare themselves,” he said gravely. “This is a period where you need to be conscious about the level of global hostility towards the Jewish community. If you say everything is fine, you are setting yourself up for failure.”

The JNS report highlighted Adams’s warning as both a political and social appeal — an acknowledgment that the city’s climate has shifted sharply, leaving Jewish residents anxious about safety, security, and representation under a mayor whose policies and rhetoric have been repeatedly accused of fostering division.

Adams noted that the normalization of antisemitism has infiltrated not only fringe political circles but mainstream cultural and academic spaces. “Abnormal became normal,” he said, referring to the way extremist slogans and chants have become part of accepted public discourse.

According to the information contained in the JNS report, exit polls from the recent election revealed that approximately one-third of Jewish voters in New York supported Mamdani despite his controversial record on Israel. The statistic draws attention to the long-standing divide between the largely liberal American Jewish electorate and the State of Israel, particularly over issues such as Gaza policy, settlements, and free speech on college campuses.

Political analysts have suggested that this ideological split has contributed to confusion about what constitutes antisemitism in the public arena — a division Adams’s remarks seemed to acknowledge when he said that “Israel supporters failed to connect emotionally” while critics dominated the cultural space.

Still, Adams made clear that he views Mamdani’s victory as emblematic of a dangerous trend. Referring to the incoming mayor’s refusal during the campaign to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” Adams said it was symptomatic of a society where open hostility toward Jews no longer carried social or political cost.

“Mamdani’s refusal to condemn such rhetoric — and the fact that he still cruised to victory — shows that people are comfortable with being antisemitic,” Adams said, according to the JNS report.

Despite his sharp warnings, Adams concluded his remarks with an expression of solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people. “I’m not just your mayor,” he said, as attendees rose to applaud. “I’m your brother.”

The outgoing mayor’s visit, organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, included meetings with Israeli government officials, law enforcement representatives, and counterterrorism experts. His speech in Tel Aviv echoed the themes that have defined his administration’s relationship with New York’s Jewish community — unwavering support for Israel, condemnation of hate crimes, and an insistence on moral clarity in public discourse.

As JNS reported, Adams’s trip was widely viewed as a reaffirmation of his pro-Israel stance and a symbolic gesture of unity with the Jewish state as he prepares to leave office. His comments also serve as a warning to the incoming administration about the social and political consequences of tolerating antisemitic rhetoric in the public sphere.

Zohran Mamdani, who will officially take office on January 1, has yet to respond publicly to Adams’s statements. Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has previously criticized Israel’s government and expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement — positions that have made him one of the most controversial figures in recent New York politics.

As Adams’s term draws to a close, his warning from Tel Aviv resonates as both a political assessment and a moral appeal. The JNS report observed that his comments reflect the broader anxieties of American Jewry, who now find themselves navigating an environment of rising antisemitism, shifting alliances, and ideological polarization.

For Adams, who has long framed his public service around themes of tolerance and security, the message was both personal and urgent: the normalization of antisemitism, he said, must be confronted directly — not rationalized, minimized, or ignored.

“We are living in a time when hate is becoming normalized,” Adams said. “It’s not enough to condemn it. We must challenge it, expose it, and ensure it never defines who we are — as New Yorkers or as human beings.”