New York City Mayor Eric Adams (L) speaks with Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) CEO Sacha Roytman at a special event in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 16, 2025. Photo: CAM

Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Sunday that Jewish New Yorkers should be worried about their safety and the prevalence of antisemitism in the city when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office in January.

“If I were a Jewish New Yorker, I would be concerned about my children,” he added. “When it comes down to the energy that is brewing, there’s a level of concern that I know I have. And we need to be honest about the moment, because people want to sugarcoat the moment.”

Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist and anti-Zionist, is an avid supporter of boycotting all Israeli-tied entities who has been widely accused of promoting antisemitic rhetoric. He has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide;” refused to recognize the country’s right to exist as a Jewish state; and refused to explicitly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been associated with calls for violence against Jews and Israelis worldwide.

Mamdani was elected as the new mayor of New York City earlier this month, beating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Adams, who was running for reelection as an independent, pulled out of the mayoral race in late September.

Leading members of the Jewish community in New York have expressed alarm about Mamdani’s victory, fearing what may come in a city already experiencing a surge in antisemitic hate crimes.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) hosted a special gathering on Sunday in Tel Aviv’s Dubnov Gallery to honor Adams’ strong support for Israel and the Jewish communities in New York over the past four years, particularly after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the global rise in antisemitism that followed. When it comes to confronting the rise in antisemitism, Adams was asked if he thinks anything has changed in New York over the last two years – following his famous “We Are Not Alright” speech in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities.

“No, we’re not [alright],” Adams replied. “We’re far from being alright. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

The outgoing mayor said that antisemitism is becoming “cool and hip” among younger generations due in large part to social media indoctrination, and organized efforts to normalize and spread anti-Israel and anti-Jewish false narratives. He called on Jewish organizations and their allies to formulate and carry out a “well-executed business plan” to fight antisemitism. He also expressed concern that the incoming Mamdani administration will not push forward on efforts to unite the city.

“I knew part of the role [as mayor] was to heal the city and bring us together, and there’s more healing to do. And I’m not confident that this incoming administration understands that,” he explained. “A lot of the work that we’ve started on many areas, but particularly the area of healing and bringing our city together, I think we are going to lose some ground on that, and that sort of troubles me.”

Adams stressed that leaders must not stay silent about hatred, urging Mamdani to understand that “being a mayor is both substantive and symbolic. They both go together. Your words can translate into the actions of others. Even if you disagree, you must be a leader for everyone.”

“The symbolism … There are things that we do to send a symbol that one is welcome. And he has failed to do that,” Adams said. “You cannot be slow on defining that you do not embrace a ‘globalize the Intifada.’ The symbolism of being a leader is just as important as the substance. I think he must stand up and show that he can be a leader of the city with all of this diversity. Even if you don’t agree or disagree, you must be a leader for everyone in the city because your words actually can translate into the actions of others.”

In his opening remarks at Sunday’s event, CAM CEO Sacha Roytman highlighted Adams’ longtime commitment to combating antisemitism.

Adams created the first-of-its-kind mayor’s office dedicated to combating antisemitism; signed an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism; established the city’s first Jewish Advisory Council; and launched the New York City-Israel Economic Council. He participated in CAM’s Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Athens, Greece, in 2022.

“You stood before leaders from across the globe and said that mayors must act and must not allow antisemitism to rise in their cities,” Roytman said.

“After Oct. 7, when antisemitism surged, you were out in the streets standing with us,” he continued, referring to Adams. “Your famous words — ‘We are not alright’ — still echo in our minds, because that is exactly how we feel when we see antisemitism rising and when we see who New York elected as its next mayor.”

“Your voice brings people together — Jews and Muslims, African Americans, and so many others,” Roytman added. “The friendship between Jews and the Black community is essential. Together, we can push back against hatred and build a better world.”

Reflecting on his tenure as mayor, Adams, who is Black, described it as “a relay” and talked again about Mamdani taking over in January.

“You run your mile and you hand a baton off, and my transition team, we’re going to do everything possible to hand off lessons learned, some of the things that we thought were great, and some of the things we could have done differently,” he said.

Adams also hinted that he might have a future connection to Israel. “I want to start speaking to the real estate agents here so I can find my place in Israel,” he concluded.

A keyboard. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

An independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to combating the spread of online antisemitism said on Monday it has identified a trending Arabic-language conspiracy theory on social media known as “Tired Islam,” which falsely accuses Jews of plotting against Arab and Muslim society.

CyberWell – a trusted partner of Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads), TikTok, and YouTube – explained that the fabricated narrative claims a Jewish or “Zionist” author named Jacob Dunne published a book titled “The Tired Islam,” which outlines a secret Jewish plan to destroy Arab and Muslim society. No such book exists in the US Library of Congress or elsewhere, according to CyberWell.

CyberWell founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor said the trendy conspiracy theory “revives century-old religious antisemitism, tailored to go viral on today’s platforms” and “pushes the same antisemitic tropes that have historically led to mass violence against Jews, now wrapped in a pseudointellectual setting to appear credible and urgent.” She also described it as “a modern-day digital replica” of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the longstanding antisemitic text from the early 20th century that describes a fabricated plot by Jews for world domination. The “Tired Islam” narrative is often described as a continuation of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” according to CyberWell.

Videos on social media that promote the “Tired Islam” conspiracy often feature a series of fake “excerpts” from a fictional chapter titled “The End of the Arabs,” in the non-existent book. The “excerpts” include false claims about the alleged ways Jews want to demolish Muslim society, which include promoting feminism, attacking mosques, corroding family values, and using technology to control Muslim youth. The videos also display fake publication details for the book and falsely claim it is in the Library of Congress, which CyberWell has confirmed is not true. The videos often urge social media users to share the clip as a religious and moral obligation.

“Digital platforms are facing a moment of reckoning due to the continued poisoning and abuse of the information economy,” said Cohen Montemayor. “Antisemitic actors are using the virality of misinformation to inject age-old conspiracies into religious and political discourse. The fact that this narrative is being promoted as a ‘religious’ imperative makes it especially difficult to moderate and even more dangerous. We are watching, in real time, the formation of a new ‘Protocols’; but unlike 1903, this time the digital platforms governing content through Trust & Safety can still stop it before it spreads beyond control.”

CyberWell monitors social media in English and Arabic for posts that promote antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and violence against Jews and their allies based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Its analysts review and report hateful content to platform moderators.

The nonprofit organization said social media platforms are “consistently failing to intervene” and take action against the “Tired Islam” conspiracy theory despite its “clear violations” of hateful conduct policies and promotion of classic antisemitic tropes, conspiracies, and stereotypes about Jews. CyberWell said that in multiple cases, social media platforms concluded that content online tied to the “Tired Islam” theory does not violate the platform’s community standards. The organization also noted, however, that these platforms do not even have a consistent policy pertaining to the quoting of anonymous or forged texts.

“The ‘Tired Islam’ trend dehumanizes Jews and positions them as a collective enemy of Islam. Left unchecked, this will radicalize communities, incite division, and fuel religious hatred across borders,” said Cohen Montemayor. “Narratives like this could easily escalate into real-world violence, particularly if audiences are led to believe that their core belief systems and family values are under direct attack by a specific minority group. Comparable dynamics were observed in the lead-up to the Charlie Hebdo attack in France, where portrayals of perceived assaults on Islam contributed to radical extremist violence and terrorism.”

It has been 10 years since the Islamist terrorist attack at the Paris office of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. On Jan. 7, 2015, al Qaeda-linked gunmen and brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the Charlie Hebdo office and killed 12 people, including eight editorial staff members. A Muslim police officer guarding the offices was also shot and killed at point-blank range by the terrorists. Over the next two days, Amedy Coulibaly, who was tied to the Kouachi brothers, killed five people, including at a kosher supermarket, and claimed to be acting on behalf of the Islamic State group. All three gunmen were killed in police raids on Jan. 9.

Illustrative: A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a bullhorn during a protest at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on March 11, 2025. Photo: Daniel Cole via Reuters Connect

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, one of America’s leading Jewish civil rights groups, notched a major court victory on Thursday which secured a six-figure settlement for a cohort of plaintiffs who alleged that their union fostered a hostile environment against Jewish and Zionist members during an outbreak of pro-Hamas sentiment set off by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

Per the terms of the agreement, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA), the union for New York public defenders, will shell out $315,000 in damages while admitting culpability in the events which precipitated legal action. The ALAA also agreed to institute new training courses on the rights of union members and accept a neutral third party’s oversight of other organizational procedures.

“We are seeing an increasing trend in labor union antisemitism, much as we have seen a similar increase on college campuses. In both cases, there is bitter irony,” Brandeis Center chairman and founder Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “Colleges are supposed to be islands of reason and tolerance. Labor unions are supposed to be advocates for social justice and workplace equality. To find the oldest hatred in such places is deeply antithetical to their mission.”

He added, “This settlement is a landmark in the fight against antisemitism in this sector. I am gratified by this outcome and resolved to support Jewish workers at any union around the country that is seeing this problem arise. Based on what we’re hearing around the country, there will be more of these cases coming.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the ALAA allegedly became a “cornucopia of classic modern antisemitism” in late 2023. Just weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, it passed a virulently anti-Israel resolution which made only a passing reference to Hamas’s atrocities and launched a smear campaign against Jewish members who opposed it. Following that, the union facilitated the filing of disciplinary, “formal charges” against Jewish and Zionist members, attempting to expel them from its ranks.

Antisemitic conduct in the ALAA took on other forms, the complaint alleged. Members commended Hamas’s violence, chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and denied that the terrorist group had murdered women and children. In one incident, someone allegedly asserted that Zionist beliefs would prevent Jewish attorneys from “zealously” defending Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs and lead them to conspire against them and sabotage their cases.

More Jewish professionals are experiencing workplace discrimination, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.

According to a study released in May by the StandWithUs Data & Analytics Department, antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish health-care professionals of their civil right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate.

Titled “Antisemitism in American Healthcare: The Role of Workplace Environment,” the study includes survey data showing that 62.8 percent of Jewish health-care professionals employed by campus-based medical centers reported experiencing antisemitism, a far higher rate than those working in private practice and community hospitals. Fueling the rise in hate, it added, were repeated failures of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives to educate workers about antisemitism, increasing the likelihood of antisemitic activity.

“Academia today is increasingly cultivating an environment which is hostile to Jews, as well as members of other religious and ethnic groups,” StandWithUs director of data and analytics and study co-author Alexandra Fishman said in a statement. “Academic institutions should be upholding the integrity of scholarship, prioritizing civil discourse, rather than allowing bias or personal agendas to guide academic culture.”

Another study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that 42 percent of Jewish faculty feel that the top US professional associations for academics, including the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), alienate Jews intentionally if they publicly align with Zionism.

According to the data, 25 percent resort to concealing their Jewishness due to the hostile environment, and another 45 percent say their colleagues lectured them on what does and what does not constitute antisemitism. The report also “reveals alarming patterns of marginalization, leadership failures, and systematic exclusion of Jewish members from their professional communities and academic homes,” the ADL said in a statement.

Some academic bodies, such as the American Philosophical Association and the American Political Science Association, were conferred high ratings based on Jewish faculty not reporting any “major incidents,” while others, including the American Anthropological Association and several others, were labeled as “major concerns” requiring significant remedial action.

“Antisemitic biases in professional academic associations are widespread and reveal a problem that goes far beyond traditional scholarly circles,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “When antisemitism and biased anti-Israel narratives are normalized within these influential spaces, they seep into curricula, research, and public discourse, quietly but profoundly shaping how students and future professionals interpret the world.”

He added, “By assessing these associations and how they are responding, we are delineating a path forward to ensure that academic spaces remain intellectually rigorous, inclusive and free of antisemitism, and accountable to the public they serve.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.