New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to meet with a select group of Jewish leaders Monday, a gathering critics are already dismissing as a staged photo opportunity after weeks of escalating controversies involving antisemitism in the mayor's inner circle.
The New York Post reported that the meeting is expected to last just 15 to 20 minutes. The ADL wasn't invited. At least one Jewish leader declined to attend. And the one rabbi who confirmed his attendance told The Post he doesn't even know what the meeting is about.
That's the state of outreach from the mayor's office in a city where the National Guard is currently stationed at synagogues.
Among those confirmed to attend is Rabbi Moshe Indig, a leader of a Satmar sect in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who stirred controversy by endorsing Mamdani during last year's mayoral campaign. Indig was characteristically vague about the purpose of the sit-down.
"It's a meeting with Jewish community leaders. I don't know the topic. We'll see."
Rabbi David Niederman, president and executive director of the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg, is also expected to attend, according to a source briefed on the meeting. His organization has received millions of dollars in city funding over the years to provide services to the Jewish community in Brooklyn.
Scott Richman, the New York-New Jersey regional director of the ADL, offered a blunt two-word assessment of where his organization stood on the invitation list.
"We were not invited."
Richman noted the meeting appeared to involve orthodox Jewish community leaders. The mayor's office had no immediate comment.
When you're assembling a room to demonstrate goodwill toward the Jewish community and you leave out the Anti-Defamation League, you aren't building bridges. You're building a set.
Mamdani has struggled to defuse tensions since taking office, and the last week made things considerably worse.
The mayor was roundly criticized for hosting anti-Israel activist and accused Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil at Gracie Mansion for Ramadan. The rebukes came from President Trump's office and well beyond.
Then there's the mayor's wife. Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, faced criticism after it was revealed she "liked" an Instagram post from February 2024 questioning that Hamas committed sexual violence against Israelis during the October 7, 2023, slaughter. She also "liked" another post sharing murderous images of the attack.
That wasn't all. Duwaji previously created artwork for an essay book compiled by an anti-Israel activist who has described Jewish people as "vampires," "demons," and "ghouls" and celebrated the October 7 terror attack on Israel.
The ADL connected the dots in terms that left little room for ambiguity:
"Collaborating on a project with Susan Abulhawa goes beyond First Lady Duwaji's deeply troubling liking of pro-October 7 posts reported last week and demonstrates a troubling pattern."
A troubling pattern. Not an isolated incident. Not a misunderstanding. A pattern.
The ADL's statement on the Khalil invitation went further, framing the issue not as a political misstep but as an abuse of public office. An ADL spokesman put it plainly:
"Welcoming someone known for justifying the October 7 Hamas terror attacks as an honored guest at Gracie Mansion — while some in the Mayor's inner circle have amplified antisemitic content and posts dismissing the atrocities of that day — sends a deeply troubling message."
And then the line that should hang over every decision coming out of City Hall:
"Gracie Mansion belongs to all New Yorkers. Public office must never be used to legitimize hate, and New York's Jewish community deserves a mayor who makes that clear in both words and actions."
The ADL also issued a broader warning about the stakes involved:
"Antisemitic rhetoric has fueled attacks against Jewish communities in the US and around the world for centuries. Antisemitism cannot be ignored and should never be justified."
This is the organization the mayor chose not to invite to his reconciliation meeting.
The backdrop to all of this makes the 15-to-20-minute meeting feel even more hollow. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday that National Guard troops are stationed around New York City, including at synagogues and other sensitive locations, as the U.S. and Israel join forces against Iran.
Jewish New Yorkers are living under armed guard. The mayor is offering them a quarter-hour with hand-picked attendees and no stated agenda.
Consider what Mamdani's office has produced in recent weeks:
This is not a communications problem. It is a conviction problem. The question isn't whether Mamdani can manage the optics. It's whether he sees antisemitism in his orbit as something that needs to be rooted out or merely managed.
A meeting with no known topic, a guest list built for compliance rather than candor, and a runtime shorter than a sitcom episode is not diplomacy. It is damage control performed for an audience of cameras, not constituents.
One Jewish leader already declined to attend. The ADL was shut out entirely. The rabbi who is going doesn't know why he's going.
When the most powerful Jewish advocacy organization in America says your mansion "belongs to all New Yorkers" and demands you stop legitimizing hate, you don't respond with a curated room and a 20-minute clock. You respond with action that costs you something politically.
Mamdani hasn't shown any willingness to do that. And 15 minutes with friendly faces won't change what the last few weeks have already made clear.
