Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, chairman of Americans Against Antisemitism, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News to sound the alarm on escalating antisemitic violence and the political threat posed by NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Speaking following a violent antisemitic assault against an Israeli educator in Manhattan, Hikind described the current atmosphere as unprecedented.
“Things are worse than ever in terms of antisemitic incidents,” he said, “but a great number of them involve assaults. Most of them do not get any coverage, so we don't hear about them, but they're happening, being reported to the police. A great number are not even being reported.”
Hikind recounted how victims often hesitate to report attacks. “I know cases where people have been assaulted, bloodied, and I have to beg and plead with them to go to the police, and many times they don't want to. They're afraid it's not going to make a difference, so the atmosphere is out of control. Jew hatred with no consequences for the perpetrators.”
Reflecting on his decades of activism, Hikind said, “It's a situation that I have never witnessed in my life, going back to my days in the Jewish Defense League and as an elected official for 36 years…things are bad, but this is the worst it's ever been, no question about it.”
He shared a chilling anecdote: “A woman, an elderly woman… called me to ask me ‘How will we know when it's time to leave?’ She was asking me very seriously, ‘Is someone going to announce it? Is there going to be an announcement?’ This is what she wanted to know, and this was a year and a half ago, and things have just progressively gotten worse.”
Hikind criticized Jewish organizations for lacking a concrete strategy. “There's a lot of talk about antisemitism… but at the end of the day, there is no plan on how to deal with it… and as far as consequences for people who have been arrested for committing acts of violence against Jews, nothing happens to them. There's a revolving door of justice in New York. The perpetrators, they commit 10 acts, 20 acts, they continue to commit crimes, and they just walk out without consequences. So, it's not a good situation, and I and [other] people are worried about the future. The big question is what's going to be?”
Turning to the upcoming mayoral election, Hikind expressed grave concern over the candidacy of Zohran Mamdani, who has come under fire for his anti-Israel stance. “We've had elections and have been candidates that were problematic for the Jewish community and the community at large, that's nothing new, but what we are faced with now…We have someone running for office who has not found any place in his rhetoric to condemn Hamas, plain and simple. He has not been able to say that ‘globalize the intifada’ is about murdering Jews.”
He cited Senator Chuck Schumer’s definition of the slogan: “Globalizing the intifada means the murder of every Jew in Israel… and the murder of Jews everywhere.”
Despite the anti-Israel stance, Hikind noted Mamdani’s support from prominent figures. “He’s being supported by the governor of New York, Hochul, being supported by people like Jerry Nadler, a Jewish congressman who, by the way, went to yeshiva, not that that matters, but I think we’re watching the spectacle of Jews supporting someone whose best friends are radical Islamists.”
Hikind lamented the support Mamdani receives from young, educated Jews. “Many of these supporters, a great percentage of these supporters are young Jews, educated. They're educated. They're from Ivy League universities, from Columbia, you know, top universities. And they march in the streets of New York and the streets of America in support of our enemies. One needs to wonder, you know, what happened at home? What kind of education did they get in terms of their Jews and their commitment to the Jewish people? Something is so terribly wrong.”
Hikind also explained his decision to shift his support from Curtis Sliwa to Andrew Cuomo. “I was supporting Curtis Sliwa, who's a very good guy, and he would have been a very good mayor, but it's not about being a nice guy and just supporting somebody and sticking with them. The goal of every single person needs to be defeating Mamdani. It is so clear.”
“The fact was that Curtis Sliwa was not going anywhere. There was a poll just now where he's down from where he was. He's only at 11%, and I think it will be even less than that. The goal needs to be to defeat Mamdani. And let me say that I think that's very doable. The latest poll has Cuomo, who I'm supporting, and I'm not a fan of him, I don't like him. In fact, it's even more than that. But forget it. You’ve got to support the guy, period. Because between Cuomo and Mamdani, it's, you know, it's living or God forbid being in hell. I'm not exaggerating. I have never seen anything like this, a candidate like Mamdani, who could potentially be the mayor of a city with over one million Jews.”
He shared a story of a woman whose mother died in a nursing home and blamed Cuomo, yet still chose to vote for him. “She said, I'm voting for Cuomo, because I recognize for the greater good, how dangerous Mamdani is.”
With high early voter turnout among older New Yorkers, Hikind expressed cautious optimism. “If this continues at this level, Cuomo is actually going to win.”
He concluded with a stark warning: “People need to vote for Cuomo, period. End of the story. Because Mamdani winning [means] Hamas in Gaza will celebrate. Our enemies all over the world will see this as a victory against the Jewish people. So we have to do the right thing, period.”