Why did an initiative designed to protect Jewish New Yorkers omit the very definition of antisemitism?

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It omitted a formal definition because the administration deliberately chose a prevention-and-services model over a definitional one. In the strategy document, city officials said New York can combat antisemitism “without adopting a single definition,” and aides argued that no other hate category in city policy is formally defined either. That approach appears tied to the politics and substance of the debate over what counts as antisemitism, especially where Israel and Zionism are involved. Jewish advocacy groups said the plan’s 30-plus pages avoid the main form of anti-Jewish hostility many Jews say they are facing now: anti-Zionist rhetoric that can spill into harassment, exclusion and violence. The words “Zionism” and “anti-Zionism” do not appear in the strategy, and Israel is mentioned only sparingly. Critics say that omission matters because definitions such as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance standard are often used to assess when anti-Israel conduct crosses into antisemitism. More than two dozen Jewish groups argued that refusing to define the problem makes it harder to confront the source of current incidents in New York. The administration’s defenders argue the plan is action-oriented rather than semantic: it expands synagogue security, Jewish-history education, hate-crime reporting, survivor support and agency coordination at a time when antisemitic crimes make up the largest share of the city’s hate-crime caseload. So the omission was not accidenta…

Mamdani's $30 Million Antisemitism Plan Routes $6.4 Million to PATH Tied to Anti-Israel Group

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Mamdani's $30 Million Antisemitism Plan Routes $6.4 Million to PATH Tied to Anti-Israel Group

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