Nearly 1,400 Jewish New Yorkers delivered an open letter to Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week demanding “immediate and concrete action to protect the city’s Jewish community.” They want him to take a clearer public stand against antisemitism and against what they call anti-Zionist rhetoric that has made the city hostile to Jewish residents.

The letter was organized by The Jewish Majority and signed by 1,395 people, including 76 spiritual leaders from every denominational background. It asks Mamdani to back protective legislation for Jewish institutions, to denounce rhetoric the signatories say demonizes Zionists, and to “unequivocally condemn, not merely discourage, calls to globalize the intifada.” The signers include rabbis and cantors of every denominational affiliation who live and work in New York City and in suburbs elsewhere in the state.

The letter frames support for Jewish self-determination as a mainstream community position, not a political one. “Being a Zionist does not mean supporting every policy of the State of Israel or any particular Israeli politician,” it states. “It simply means affirming the right of the Jewish people to national dignity and self-determination, a belief held by the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community.”