A Senate committee is investigating the administration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over executive orders that made radical changes in the city’s definition of anti-Semitism and its position on boycotting Israel.
Upon taking office, Mamdani, a Ugandan-born Muslim and avowed socialist, nullified pro-Israel executive orders signed by former Mayor Eric Adams.
As noted by the Daily News, one overturned order had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism.
Another Adams order that Mamdani sent to the trash heap sought to oppose the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has “serious concerns” about the “rescission of executive orders related to antisemitism and boycotts of Israel,” according to the New York Post.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana has written Mamdani, seeking assurances that the revocations will not impact enforcement of civil rights law, noting that $2.2 billion in federal education aid hangs in the balance.
“Antisemitism is not an abstract concern in New York City; it is a lived reality for millions of students and residents, and its consequences are very serious,” Cassidy wrote.
“Decisions by your administration that weaken established safeguards for Jewish students in New York and are out of alignment with federal executive orders warrant careful scrutiny,” he said.
“Jewish students deserve clear assurance that their safety and civil rights will not be compromised by your administration’s actions,” Cassidy wrote.
Cassidy said Mamdani was not accurate in saying the definition Adams adopted was not widely shared.
“Contrary to your public assertions that ‘a number of leading Jewish organizations have immense concerns around [the IHRA] definition,’ many governments, international institutions, universities, NGOs, and private organizations widely recognize and encourage use of this definition to identify and address contemporary forms of antisemitism,” he wrote.
Cassidy said continued federal cash to the city’s schools “is contingent on compliance with federal civil rights laws and applicable executive orders designed to protect students.”
Cassidy asked the mayor how he will fight anti-Semitism in schools and “protect Jewish students,” and asked if the city “consulted with the US Department of Education … the Department of Justice or any other federal agency regarding the potential funding implications of rescinding the IHRA-related executive order.”
The letter comes as a new report said a New York City Department of Health working group is focused on genocide against Palestinians.
The “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” met and was urged to consider “the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” according to the New York Post.
“We really developed in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” one presenter said.
A former aide to ex-three-term Mayor Mike Bloomberg was stunned that the Department of Health mission appeared to have veered suddenly from the public health of New Yorkers to foreign policy.
“This is shocking,” Mark Botnick, a former representative of Bloomberg said. “If these NYC Health Department staffers truly believe Israel is committing genocide, will they now boycott the Israeli pharmaceutical companies that make lifesaving drugs New Yorkers depend on?”
“Or is this just performative politics that has no place in a taxpayer-funded public health agency?” Botnick, who is Jewish, said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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