Mamdani Called ‘Tone-Deaf’ After Deleting Posts About Combating Antisemitism on First Day in Office as NYC Mayor
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers a speech during his inauguration ceremony in New York City, US, Jan. 1, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Newly inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing backlash from a Jewish nonprofit organization for removing some social media posts about the city’s fight against antisemitism from the official mayoral account on X.
The National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) called it “tone-deaf” and “shameful” that Mamdani, 34, deleted two X posts that were uploaded by his predecessor Eric Adams’ administration hours before the new mayor was sworn in and took over the account on Thursday.
On Wednesday morning, during his last day in office, Adams posted on City Hall’s official mayoral X account a thread of three posts that discuss the city’s “first-ever municipal report” on efforts to combat antisemitism. Adams said the “bold” and “detailed” report is a “blueprint for 2026.”
On Thursday, after Mamdani took office and control of the account, two posts within the thread were removed and a notice was written that said: “This Post was deleted by the Post author.” The final post in the thread that was not deleted reads: “This administration put the tools into place to protect Jewish New Yorkers and fight hate. We’re calling on every elected official to do the same.”
A member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani is the first Muslim to be New York City’s mayor and the city’s first mayor to be sworn in using a Quran. A supporter of boycotting all entities tied to Israel, he has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state; routinely accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide”; and refused to clearly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been used to call for violence against Jews and Israelis worldwide.
“It is difficult to overstate how disturbing it is that one of your very first acts as Mayor of New York City, on your very first day in office, was to delete official @NYCMayor tweets addressing the protection of Jewish New Yorkers,” NJAC began by saying in a letter on Thursday that was addressed to Mamdani. The letter was shared on social media by the nonprofit organization’s director Mark Goldfeder. It was sent to Mamdani, Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber, and the Conflicts of Interest Board Executive Director Carolyn Miller, according to the Goldfeder.
“At a moment of unprecedented antisemitic intimidation, violence, and exclusion in the city, the decision to erase official statements affirming the safety and protection of Jews is not merely tone-deaf, it is shameful,” the letter further stated. “It sends a message, whether intended or not, that Jewish New Yorkers are uniquely underserving of continuity, clarity, or reassurance from their own government.”
The letter also noted that deleting posts from the mayoral X account without first preserving them in the City’s official archive may violate both state law as well as the New York City Charter, since all social media posts from that account are considered part of official public record. The Jewish organization demanded that Mamdani “restore or reissue” a clear statement affirming the city’s commitment to protecting Jewish New Yorkers “not as a favor, but as a fundamental obligation of office.”
“Even if they were archived, the choice to delete statements specifically addressing Jewish safety on Day One invites scrutiny and erodes public trust,” the letter explained. “Selective removal of official statements concerning the protection of Jewish New Yorkers – particularly if comparable statements regarding other communities were retained – raises concerns of viewpoint discrimination and unequal treatment, and risks eroding constitutional norms that require government neutrality and equal concern for all protected groups.”
“New York City’s mayoralty is an institution, not a social-media account to be curated for convenience or optics. The record matters, the law matters, and the safety and dignity of Jewish New Yorker’s most certainly matter,” the letter stated in conclusion. “Your first days in office will define your administration. This is not how that definition should begin.”
Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec told the New York Post the deleted posts are being archived and were not singled out because of their content.
“The mayor’s team has begun archiving posts from the @NYCMAYOR account that were published by the previous administration, in chronological order,” Pekec said in a statement. “This ongoing process is administrative in nature and is not based on the content of the posts. The mayor remains steadfast in his commitment to root out the scourge of antisemitism in our city and will deliver on his commitment to renewing the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism and increasing funding for the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes by 800 percent.”
Hours after taking office, Mamdani formally revoked all executive orders issued by the previous administration since Sept. 26, 2024, when Adams was indicted for corruption, charges of which have since been dismissed. As part of Mamdani’s move, he tossed out the city’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. However, Mamdani announced the same day that he will keep the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, which was recently created by Adams.
“That is an issue that we take very seriously, and as part of the commitment that we’ve made to Jewish New Yorkers, to not only protect them, but to celebrate and cherish them,” he said on Thursday.