More than 700 rabbis and cantors from across the United States signed onto a letter published Friday morning calling on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to apologize for his remarks last week in which he described the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as “monsters."
The letter was organized by the Jewish Majority advocacy group, led by AIPAC veteran Jonathan Schulman. It called out the mayor for his remarks at a rally last week ahead of the Democratic primaries in New York, in which several congressional candidates backed by the mayor notched victories, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
During his remarks eight days ago, Mamdani told the crowd that “these monsters take many forms," then singled out the prominent pro-Israel lobby, saying AIPAC feared “democracy being allowed to run its course" and those who seek “an end to genocide and Netanyahu’s wars."
“We serve different communities, hold different political views, and do not speak with one voice on every question concerning Israel, American politics or the war in Gaza," the letter read. “But we are united in our belief that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent speech about pro-Israel civic participation is dangerous, unacceptable and beneath the office he holds."
The letter called on Mamdani to “retract his remarks and affirm clearly that Jews and pro-Israel Americans are full participants in our democracy."
“We can debate policy. We can argue about money in politics. We can disagree passionately about Israel and the Middle East. But no elected leader should demonize Jews or those who stand with the Jewish state," the letter continued. “Criticizing Israeli policy is not antisemitic. Treating millions of Zionist Jews as morally suspect, politically illegitimate or less deserving of equal participation in public life is."
Mamdani’s remarks were criticized by a host of mainstream Jewish groups as well as some of his progressive Jewish allies.
For Schulman, the goal of the letter was to ensure that Mamdani “understands his awesome responsibility to tamp down the rhetoric before somebody gets hurt."
“Now that we are past the primaries, I think this is a real opportunity for the mayor to kind of reset and use this as a moment of focusing on building bridges instead of trying to divide the community," Schulman said.
The letter was not the first time that the Jewish Majority had sponsored a letter opposing Mamdani’s rhetoric.
In the lead-up to the November mayoral election, the group also published a letter signed by over 1,000 rabbis and cantors taking aim at Mamdani’s previous defense of the slogan “globalize the Intifada" and voicing their opposition to the “political normalization" of anti-Zionism.
Friday’s letter drew many of the same signatories from the October letter, including Rabbi Joshua Davidson of the Reform Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of the Orthodox Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side, who Schulman said had approached him on Monday to launch the letter.
The letter also referenced the growing political power of the Democratic Socialists for America, which saw two candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, win their Democratic primaries in New York on Tuesday.
“We see that the DSA is growing in clout throughout the country, and as the most prominent member of the DSA, I think he really has an opportunity and a responsibility to tamp down on some of this language," Schulman said, referring to Mamdani.