Mamdani pledges 'to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city' after Jewish day school defaced with swastika

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) on Wednesday rebuked an attack on a Jewish Day School in Brooklyn where a swastika was painted on the window. 

“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city,” Mamdani wrote in a statement on the social platform X. 

“As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city,” he added. 

Mamdani will be the city’s first Muslim mayor and faced Islamophobic jabs and anti-immigrant rhetoric while on the campaign trail. 

The discussion of antisemitism has grown recently. Earlier this year, there was a swastika plastered on a GOP headquarters site in Albany, N.Y., and, in October, a Young Republican group chat was revealed to feature messages lauding Nazi Germany and Hitler. 

During his victory speech, Mamdani pledged to protect New Yorkers of all faiths while railing against antisemitism.

“We will build a city hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism, where the more than 1 million Muslims know that they belong, not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power,” he said.

“No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election."

"This new age will be defined by a competence and the compassion that have too long been placed at odds with one another,” he added.