New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used his sweeping executive order targeting his predecessor Eric Adams’ legacy as a way to disguise his intention to revoke city policies that support Israel, according to a report.
The far-left socialist never planned to extend executive Adams’ orders that supported the Jewish state, but his inner circle was concerned that his day-one overhaul would upset Jewish groups he’d vowed to protect on the campaign trail, the New York Times reported.
Mamdani’s lawyers briefed the newly minted mayor in recent days on how he could revoke the pro-Israel policies enacted by his predecessor — by either canceling all of Adams’ executive orders from 2025 or deal with them one at a time, sources told the outlet.
Instead, Mamdani ultimately decided to rescind every executive order issued by Adams since the day he was indicted on federal corruption charges in Sept. 2024, which included two key policies that protected Israel and combatted antisemitism.
It allowed him to frame the sweeping executive order as a matter of good governance, the sources told the Times.
After issuing the order, Hizzoner insisted that it gave his administration a “clean slate.”
Among the revoked anti-Israel orders is one signed by Adams just last month that barred city officials from boycotting or divesting from Israel.
Another repealed an order that adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which Adams’ administration said included “demonizing Israel and holding it to double standards as forms of contemporary antisemitism.”
The revocations drew immediate pushback from Israel, whose Foreign Ministry accused Mamdani of dumping “antisemitic gasoline on an open fire.”
A coalition of US Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the UJA Federation of New York said in a more stately criticism Friday that Mamdani “reversed two significant protections against antisemitism,” according to the Times.
Adams’ administration knew the orders would be sticky for Mamdani to remove as he took charge of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
“To rescind it comes at a cost, because it requires an explanation,” Randy Mastro, Adams’ first deputy mayor, told the Times. “And when there’s no rationale or explanation other than you don’t like Israel, there’s consequences for that.”
Mamdani’s spokesperson, Dora Pokec, told the Times that discussions on revoking Adams’ orders had been ongoing “throughout the fall, throughout the transition, and communicated directly to the public that this was our intention, even before they cast ballots for us.”
Mamdani on Saturday said the decision was made to restore the public’s trust in the office of the mayor after Adams’ indictment.
