New York City Launches First Mayoral Office to Combat Antisemitism

In a historic move amid a record surge in antisemitic attacks, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism on Tuesday the first such office in any major American city.

“This administration will not remain silent while our Jewish brothers and sisters are targeted,” Adams said at a press conference. “Antisemitism cannot live and most importantly cannot grow in our schools, workplaces, or college campuses.”

The new office, led by rabbi and community advocate Moshe Davis, will coordinate a citywide inter-agency task force to address antisemitism on every front: tracking hate crimes, recommending legislation, working with the NYPD, and ensuring that taxpayer-funded entities do not promote anti-Jewish bigotry. The initiative will also oversee cases and policy proposals in collaboration with the New York City Law Department.

Davis, previously the mayor’s Jewish liaison and founder of New York Jews in Politics, called the announcement “a sledgehammer approach coordinated, unapologetic, and immediate.”

He pledged to form a commission of Jewish leaders across the city to advise the office’s strategy. “Mayor Adams has been a modern-day Maccabee, standing up for the Jewish community,” Davis said. “We will not rest until New York remains a safe and vibrant home for all its Jewish residents.”

The urgency is clear. In 2024, 54% of all hate crimes in New York targeted Jews. That figure jumped to 62% in the first quarter of 2025. The Anti-Defamation League’s recent audit recorded over 9,300 antisemitic incidents nationwide last year—more than any year in U.S. history with New York leading the count.

New York is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, with nearly one million Jews residing in the city. Mayor Adams described protecting this community as an imperative. “We can’t move on with business as usual when we have a population in your city that is overwhelmingly being targeted merely because of their religion or way of life,” he said.

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro added “Antisemitism is unacceptable, and we have to do more to address it. So, New York City will lead the way as the first major city in America to establish an office dedicated solely to combating antisemitism.”

The new office will complement existing initiatives like the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force and the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.

At a time when antisemitism is surging across America and Europe, New York is stepping up to lead. And in doing so, it’s sending a powerful message to the world Jewish life belongs here and it will be protected.

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