The city’s new mayor was sworn in as a Democratic Socialist with his hand atop three Qurans.
Last week, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as the new mayor of New York City. He took his oath of office with his hand atop three Qurans.
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” he said in his inaugural address.
During his swearing in ceremony, Mamdani said, “I was elected as a Democratic Socialist and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist.”
Mamdani has drawn concern with who he has hired to his staff. Most recently, he named Ramzi Kassem as New York City’s chief counsel. Kassem is a lawyer who represented anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for his dangerous rhetoric.
One of Mamdani’s first official acts as mayor of New York City was to cancel every executive order issued by his Democratic predecessor, Eric Adams. These cancelled orders included one that adopted the definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Mamdani also cancelled an executive order that blocked city agencies from boycotting or divesting from Israel.
When asked if he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, Mamdani said, “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else. I think that in the way that we have in this country, equality should be enshrined in every country of the world.”
Israel was quick to speak out against Mamdani and the cancellation of executive orders relating to antisemitism.
“On his very first day as New York City mayor, Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” wrote Israel’s Foreign Ministry in a post on social media.
