New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has selected Phylisa Wisdom to lead the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, according to sources who spoke with the Daily News on Wednesday.
Wisdom currently heads the New York Jewish Agenda, a self-described progressive advocacy group which has routinely criticized Israeli policies, particularly during the Gaza conflict, while insisting that legitimate criticism of the Jewish state isn't inherently antisemitic.
The office was created by Adams in May 2025 and has been viewed as a political challenge for Mamdani, who has faced intense criticism over his anti-Israel stance.
Mamdani caused an uproar on his first day in office when he cancelled executive orders related to Israel, which were issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams.
The move cancelled an order signed by Adams in June of 2025 formally recognizing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
Another executive order which was cancelled prohibited mayoral appointees and agency staff from boycotting and disinvesting from Israel.
At the time, Mamdani committed to keeping the Office to Combat Antisemitism intact despite the fact that it was created by Adams.
Antisemitism and hate crimes targeting Jews remain a major concern in New York City. According to the Police Department, antisemitic incidents accounted for 57 percent of all hate crimes reported in 2025, despite Jews making up about 10 percent of the city’s population.
According to newly released data by the NYPD, antisemitic hate crimes in New York City rose 182% year over year in January 2026.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigated 31 antisemitic hate crimes last month, compared to 11 in January 2025, and "accounted for more than half of all the hate crime incidents in January," the NYPD stated.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and senior founding rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue, issued a statement criticizing the appointment of Wisdom.
"The leader of the Office to Combat Antisemitism must understand a basic truth. Israel cannot be bifurcated from Judaism. Ms. Wisdom’s opposition to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, adopted by 50 nations worldwide and 37 of 50 states in America, calls that understanding into question," he said.
"Saying anti-Zionism is not antisemitism does not reflect the reality of the overwhelming majority of Jewish New Yorkers. Eighty-one years after the liberation of Auschwitz, honoring the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust demands vigilance, moral clarity and the courage to speak out against those who choose to define and reformulate the definition of antisemitism in our day."