The founding rabbi of Romemu, a major synagogue with locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, published an op-ed in the New York Daily News on June 8 calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to publicly condemn an antisemitic physical attack on a Jewish woman aboard a C train.
According to the op-ed, the woman was approached by another rider who began ranting about “Jews stealing wealth,” then choked her, kicked her to the ground, and ripped a clump of her hair out while screaming “Jews are eating kids.” Rabbi Ingber, who authored the piece, wrote that Mamdani had not publicly condemned the attack in the days that followed, but had found time during that same period to publicly discuss the Knicks’ playoff run and propose repealing children’s bedtimes for the NBA Finals.
Bushwick Daily reported in early June that Mamdani was scheduled to deliver remarks at the NYPD Sikh Heritage Day celebration. In the op-ed, Ingber describes the mayor’s silence on the subway attack as part of a broader pattern, citing what he characterizes as Mamdani being the first mayor to skip the Israel Day Parade, and Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” which Ingber characterizes as “an antisemitic dog whistle to attack Jews.” Tens of thousands attended the parade regardless, Ingber wrote, including what he describes as the first Muslim group to march in solidarity, and the NYPD deployed what the op-ed calls its most extensive security operation in the parade’s history.
According to the New York Daily News op-ed, the NYPD reported a 70 percent increase in hate crimes against Jewish New Yorkers in May compared to the same month in 2025. A poll conducted by The Jewish Majority, cited in Ingber’s op-ed, found that 82 percent of New York City Jews are concerned about rising antisemitism. The same poll found that 60 percent attribute part of the rise to the “mainstreaming of anti-Zionism” and that, by a 3-to-1 margin, Jewish New Yorkers believe Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” has directly emboldened harassment of Jewish New Yorkers. Nearly 1,500 rabbis and Jewish leaders in New York have signed letters warning against the normalization of anti-Zionism, Ingber added.
“A mayor who can find the words to celebrate the Knicks but not condemn a Jewish woman being beaten on the subway is failing a basic leadership test,” Ingber wrote. He called on Mamdani to refuse to allow Jews to be “demonized and targeted,” condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” and support buffer zone legislation protecting Jewish schools.
Ingber, who described himself as someone who has “challenged the [Israeli] government from my pulpit,” drew a distinction in the op-ed between criticizing Israeli government policy and denying Israel’s right to exist as the Jewish homeland, arguing the distinction “gets lost too often.” The Jewish Majority poll also found, according to the op-ed, that by a 3-to-1 margin, Jewish New Yorkers agree that denying Israel’s right to exist strikes at the heart of Jewish identity.
