As his final move before leaving office, NYC's former Mayor Eric Adams published the first-ever municipal report on the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism.
Adams has now been replaced by Zohran Mamdani, the first NYC mayor to be sworn in on the Koran.
During his time as mayor, Adams did extensive work to improve relations with the Jewish community and to combat Jew hatred, especially through his creation of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
The municipal report, which he called a “blueprint for 2026,” shows what that has meant in practice: four executive orders; an Interagency Task Force spanning 35 agencies; messaging guidelines to counter hate; adoption of the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition to identify modern antisemitism; and more.
“Cities cannot eliminate an ancient hatred that has persisted for millennia, but they can deploy every available tool within their jurisdiction to prevent institutional spread, ensure consistent enforcement, and make targeted communities demonstrably safer,” reads the report. “Combating antisemitism requires more than reactive incident response or symbolic gestures.”
What were the four executive orders?
The Adams administration responded to the surge in antisemitism by signing four EOs between May and December 2025.
The first, EO 51, established the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, the first of its kind in a major American city. The MOCA is designed to identify and develop efforts to eliminate antisemitism.
The EO also mandated an Interagency Task Force composed of representatives from the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC), the New York City Police Department (NYPD), and others.
The Executive Director of MOCA – Rabbi Moshe Davis – reports directly to the First Deputy Mayor who, in turn, ensures agencies respond quickly when issues arise.
What has this meant in practice?
When, for example, antisemitic graffiti was found in NYC’s green spaces, the dedicated Parks and Recreation task force member responded quickly and had it removed. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) representative partnered in launching a new Holocaust Memorial in Queens.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and Health + Hospitals (H+H) tailored health outreach and services through partnerships such as the Haredi Health Coalition and established new Bikur Cholim rooms in city hospitals.
The second, EO 52, formally recognized the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, making New York City the largest city in the nation to adopt the framework.
The third, EO 60, mandated that city officials cannot use procurement contracts and pension investments as tools to advance social agendas. Prior to this, BDS advocates had been pressing city officials to leverage NYC’s economic power against Israel.
The final, EO 61, ruled that New Yorkers must be able to attend religious services, educational programs, and community events at their houses of worship without being harassed, intimidated, or threatened.
It directed the NYPD Commissioner to review the NYPD patrol guide and develop clear guidance for protecting houses of worship. It also proposed buffer zones of 15-60 feet (five to 18 meters) from house of worship entrances where protest activity would be prohibited or regulated, or alternatively, designated zones where protests are permitted at appropriate distances.
Communications strategy
The Adams administration’s messaging on antisemitism was guided by six operational principles: timeliness; moral clarity; naming antisemitism directly; deflections and conditional condemnations; pairing message with action; and subject-matter expertise.
For example, the administration aimed to respond to incidents within a short time frame. This mainly took the form of social media statements issued within a few hours of the news, but with major high-profile attacks such as the Bondi Beach massacre, either press conferences or formal mayoral statements were used.
Adam’s administration also developed the ability to respond, even when the full details were still unclear. For example, statements condemned harassment of Jewish New Yorkers without declaring incidents to be hate crimes. This, the report said, showed commitment to protecting the community without making claims that later evidence could contradict.
Naming antisemitism specifically was also deemed to be of high importance to communications. The Adams administration rejected the practice of diluting antisemitism responses by burying them in lists of other bias types (such as racism and islamophobia). Likewise, when other communities are targeted, it recommends that they, too, be addressed head-on.
The administration also said that it identified a pattern common in political responses to antisemitism, whereby elected officials condemn antisemitism while simultaneously including language that undermines the condemnation or is itself antisemitic. Adams worked to establish that antisemitism is wrong “full stop” without buts.
Multiple other measures were taken by the administration, and are detailed in the 80-page report. Overall, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism was created for a clear purpose: to turn values into action through policies that New York City can actually implement. It recognized antisemitism as something adaptive, and the measures put in place were designed to be able to evolve as Jew-hatred evolves.
There are now obviously concerns about whether the executive orders issued by Adams will be rescinded by incoming Mayor Mamdani, who has an extensive history of anti-Israel comments, as well as some opinions said to be antisemitic.
Mamdani now has the power to revoke or modify Adams’ executive orders. Typically, though, new mayors do not immediately take back their predecessors’ executive orders and instead issue blanket extensions on their first day. Mamdani can choose not to issue a blanket extension, but this would break from tradition and likely inflame tensions.
This puts Mamdani in a difficult position on the first day of his administration: Unless he takes deliberate aim at Adams’ executive order, a move that would certainly inflame tensions in the city, a policy that runs contrary to his deepest values will be on the books.
Mamdani said, at the start of December 2025, that “The mayor [Adams] is free to issue as many executive orders as he’d like with the less than 30 days that he has in office, and then we will be taking a look at every single one once we actually enter into City Hall.”
EO 60 in particular – that city officials cannot use procurement contracts and pension investments as tools to advance social agendas – contradicts Mamdani’s strong BDS stance.