The cycle is repeating itself almost daily. Anti-Israel rhetoric is uttered by progressive US officials like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. An antisemitic attack takes place, and those same officials rush to condemn the attack, defend the Jewish population, and express outrage.
What duplicitous trickery, transparently cynical manipulation, and utter refusal to see the blatant cause-and-effect of the cycle is taking place on the American landscape.
The latest incident occurred Friday night when Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, disrupted services at the famed Central Synagogue in Manhattan (which are streamed live to congregants around the world), allegedly hitting a woman, head-butting a security guard, and yelling antisemitic tropes before being escorted out of the sanctuary and arrested by the NYPD. He was later charged with six hate crimes.
Mamdani quickly responded to the attack, predictably stating that he was “horrified.”
“I can only imagine the pain and fear an attack like this, during Shabbat services, causes for the congregation and for Jewish New Yorkers across our city,” the mayor said. “Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence. This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.”
Mamdani ignores connection between anti-Israel rhetoric, antisemitism
However, Mamdani is ignoring the clear connection between his frequent statements calling Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and launching a campaign to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal, which are fanning the flames that he’s trying to extinguish with his crocodile tears.
Less than a month ago, the synagogue’s senior rabbi, Angela Buchdahl, had warned Mamdani about the consequences of his anti-Israel rhetoric. In a July 23 statement addressed to the mayor, Buchdahl urged him to refrain from making statements that “demonizes Jews and the Jewish state” and “helps create the climate in which threats and violence flourish.”
Just last week, 10 New York rabbis also met Mamdani at City Hall to raise concerns about his statements about Israel and their effect on Jewish New Yorkers. The rabbis told the mayor that presenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a simple story with Jews cast as the villain could prove dangerous.
“I told the mayor directly, the way you continue to talk about Israel endangers the Jewish community at large,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs. “If, instead of vilifying Israel, you spoke constructively, in measured tones, that would move the needle more than anything else, and I’m hopeful you’ll use that power.”
NYC's Jewish minority targeted in majority of hate crimes
According to NYPD data released last month, 56.9% of all hate crimes in 2026 (205) were targeted against Jews (an 8.5% increase since last year), despite Jewish New Yorkers representing just 10% of the city’s population.
Mamdani called the disproportionate targeting of Jewish New Yorkers “unacceptable” and emphasized that his administration increased the budget for the Mayor’s Office of Hate Crime Prevention by 800% ($26 million).
However, as long as the mayor continues to spew his accusations of “horrific genocide” against Israel, refuses to condemn phrases like “globalize the intifada,” and continues to skip events like the annual Israel Day Parade, he’s part of the problem, not the solution.
New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress, stated that “just as troubling as the violence itself is the political climate that emboldens it.”
“Antisemitism has risen to historic highs in America’s most Jewish city, with more hate crimes against Jews than against all other communities combined. Instead of cooling tensions, both the far Left and the far Right keep pouring gasoline on the fires of hate, fear and blame,” he said.
Israel remains a convenient villain, Jewish New Yorkers remain a convenient target, and the cycle of incitement followed by antisemitic attacks and then hollow condemnations continues.
As the Simon Wiesenthal Center said after Friday’s assault against Jews in New York, “Attacks like this are never isolated eruptions. They take root in a climate where antisemitism is dismissed as exaggeration, where language that targets Jews is excused or ignored, and where ancient resentments are dressed in the language of the present.”
That’s the unfortunate and dangerous reality today in New York City, fanned by the unbridled demonization of Israel.