The surest way to trigger the collapse of New York City is to elect an antisemitic mayor.
Throughout history, rising antisemitism is a bellwether of societal ruin: When attacks on Jews are tolerated or encouraged, the dissolution of everyone’s rights and the abandonment of basic freedoms follow.
See the Spanish Inquisition, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union for examples.
It could happen here. Electing a Jew-hating mayor who turns a blind eye to antisemitic crime will drive out huge numbers of city residents – including some of its wealthiest – erode the real estate market, hollow out cultural institutions and lead to moral implosion.
Everyone who can leave, Jews and non-Jews alike, will flee.
Being Jewish in NYC is already getting uncomfortable.
We see swastikas scrawled on walls and desks in some public schools, students elsewhere casually referring to high performers in math as “the Jew table,” a Queens community garden posting a ban on Zionists, a 13-year-old Jewish boy slapped in the face while riding his bike through his neighborhood – such incidents are no longer shocking.
Since the beginning of the year, 60% of the confirmed hate crimes in Gotham have been anti-Jewish crimes, although Jews make up just 10% of the city’s population.
All the top contenders for mayor claim to deplore antisemitism. Don’t believe it.
We need to scrutinize the candidates’ records.
The most dangerous wolf in sheep’s clothing: Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman currently polling second in the Democratic primary behind former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Mamdani is making the rounds at Jewish events. He’s attended at least seven public and private meetings and meals with Jewish leaders in the last month.
On Friday, he posted an official campaign video proclaiming himself a defender of the Jewish people, promising an “800% increase” in city spending to “combat antisemitism.”
“In this election, we’re seeing…the pain of Jewish New Yorkers being weaponized as a talking point,” he moaned.
Don’t fall for his new guise: Mamdani has backed the odious Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, calls Israel’s actions against Gaza “genocide,” and recently refused to cosponsor two Assembly resolutions to condemn the Holocaust and recognize the state of Israel.
His campaign claims are just not credible.
“Mamdani has been fanning the flames of antisemitism, and now he wants us to believe he’s the firefighter,” warns David Greenfield of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a major Jewish charity.
The New York Times calls Mamdani’s stance on Jews and Israel “nuanced.” Nonsense: He’s a morally bankrupt Jew-hater.
Meanwhile, Cuomo is betting big on Jewish voters, relying on a track record of supporting Israel and promoting its business ties with New York, as well as signing an anti-BDS bill in 2016.
But his outreach appears to be inch-deep: After leaving the governor’s office in shame, Cuomo launched the group Never Again NOW! at the Tony Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton, promising a lecture series and a paid media campaign to combat anti-Jewish hate.
But nothing followed – and not even the website has been updated.
Was it merely a convenient way for a disgraced former governor to reconnect with the donor class? Probably.
Maybe Mayor Eric Adams’ newly announced Office to Combat Antisemitism will produce real results.
Adams, who is not competing in the June 24 primary, hopes to appear on November’s general election ballot as an independent candidate on two lines – including one called “EndAntiSemitism.”
It’s outright pandering, but there’s no question Adams has been a staunch ally of the Jewish community and a backer of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.
Even so, almost all New York City’s problems require a fix in Albany, antisemitism included – but the statewide Democratic Party has been AWOL.
New York state saw more antisemitic incidents in 2024 than any other state, the Anti-Defamation League reported – in large part because attackers here face few criminal consequences.
Yet last week, Democratic lawmakers in Albany defeated a bill that would have defunded campuses allowing terrorist activities.
The “radical left is no longer willing to stand up to anti-Israel terrorists and antisemites,” lamented state Senate Minority Leader Rob G. Ortt.
The Democratic majority also refused to ban public mask-wearing, keeping Jew-hating criminals from being identified and held accountable.
At least in Gotham, the mayoral wannabes have recognized antisemitism as a major issue.
Now it’s the voters’ job to parse the candidates’ promises and determine who’s for real and who’s the trombenik – that’s Yiddish for “faker.”
Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and founder of SaveOurCity at savenyc.org. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Might I suggest that the author go down to Times Square and just conduct an impromptu little survey of a couple of hundred typical NYC Democrat voters? Since Democrats outnumber Republicans in NYC by at least 5 to 1 (and increasing as more and more people move out of NY), they are the ones who determine who gets elected in NYC.
They vast majority of Democrat voters vote based on what they are told to do by the MSM and the Democrat politicians, that almost exclusively appear on the MSM networks. They are lemmings. They don’t know nor care about the issues that are burying the city. All they know is what NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC and elsewhere tells them to think and do. Which is why we’re not even talking about a potential for a real Republican law and order candidate for Mayor to bring sanity back to a badly broken Big Apple anymore. The next Mayor of NYC will unfortunately be a Democrat. Which one is largely immaterial, because they all support the same ruinous policies that have made the city less and less livable.
10% of NYC population is Jewish and they all will vote democrat.
Nothing would surprise me should NYC elect an anti-Semitic Mayor. These Democrat controlled States are morally bankrupt, frauddulent, corrupted, out-of-touch and everything else dark-n-evil. One could easily question their qualifications for any position they seek. If, they show you any Document proving them certified, time to investigate all parties involved because nefarious actions were in play. For the love of money is the root behind the schemes generally speaking. NYC might try to continue down this dark road but sooner then later it’ll come crashing down and the collapse will be tremendous for all involved.
Not to worry, When the Jewish population moves out of New York, they will take their belongings with them. Then the state can finish the collapse they started years ago when they forced many companies out of the state. Beautiful upstate used to be a working state, now they have lost factories and become a scam California thanks to NYC. SAD!
The senseless killing Jewish couple in Washington DC should be a wake up call to all of America.And then the killer turned himself in & so he still lives when two innocent people are gone. I was worried about all of the people that Biden let in the Southern Border but in the last year, we have seen four incidents of domestic terrorists amongst ;us: the two people that went after Trump were a 20 year old & +30 year old American citizens, the Manigone that shot the CEO in the back in NY was American, and now we have this murder by a 30-year old person from Chicago. It is time for FBI and Homeland Security to build up a workforce that can look for idiots like these four people & stop them before they act.
When will the people of NYC open their collective eyes and stop voting democrat? I notice there are no Republican candidates mentioned in this story. Are there even any running? New York City has suffered a wave of problems since Rudy Giuliani left office. I would feel sorry for the city but the residents keep doing it to themselves.
Arabs are also Semitic- arguably more Semitic than many Ashkenazim. Most “anti-
Semites” reserve their “anti-” exclusively for Jews, even if they claim that they are only
“anti-Zionist”. Calling antisemitism “Jew hatred” is not only more precise, but also more descriptive of the ugliness of this sin.
The Spanish Inquisition had nothing to do with harming Jewish people. So do not make any associations or comparisions between the Spanish Inquisition and Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
what a horribly written propaganda article. “mamdani has done x, y, and z to show that he is not a jew-hater. however, he doesn’t support zionism. therefore, he is a jew-hater”. have i wonder if BS Betsy has ever considered the difference between judaism and zionism; i.e one being a religion and cultural identity and the other being a colonial political movement that was never even taken seriously until the balfour declaration? i wonder if BS Betsy has ever taken a look at the israeli government, war in gaza aside, and realised that even if zionism is legitimate, this form of it (i.e, ultra-right-wing dictator clinging onto power after being charged with multiple corruption charges) isn’t? oh right, she probably loves all that, after all she spoke about eric adams most favourably in this article, the one guy who had corruption charges splashed on him that were only removed under prejudice. by the way, you should read the iron wall by jabotinsky, BS Betsy, if you think that this current iteration of zionism is all about “protecting jewish people”; it sets the foundation of revisionist zionism, which is the colour of zionism that netanyahu’s fascist party subscribes to. and by the way, refusing to “co-sponsor” the holocaust bill is intentionally misguiding and BS Betsy knows it. zohran has a long history of refusing to co-sponsor any ceremonial bill because he doesn’t believe in writing ceremonial legislation and wants to devote his time to actual work for real people. in fact, although he didn’t sponsor it, he did vote for it. but you just need to spread your agenda, i get it, spreading hate probably pays your bills, huh? god forbid an actual candidate with actual plans to make the city more affordable for everyone wins, no no, we need to maintain the status quo for BS Betsy and her circle of rich friends so that the zionists can keep undermining our democracy and international law! And why is BDS “odious”? it’s a form of civil disobedience that does no harm to jewish americans. god, you probably would have hosed the vietnam protestors! Thank you Betsy, you are truly the saviour of new york! Give me a break, you waste of life.