Overview
- City Hall confirmed Phylisa Wisdom, head of the New York Jewish Agenda since 2023, as executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, replacing Moshe Davis.
- Police data show antisemitic incidents accounted for 57% of reported hate crimes in 2025 and jumped 182% year over year in January, with cases including a car rammed into Chabad headquarters, a rabbi assaulted, and swastika vandalism.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani kept the Adams-created office but rescinded the city’s adoption of the IHRA definition and an anti-BDS order on Day 1; Wisdom has opposed codifying IHRA and has urged institutions to use broader approaches.
- Progressive Jewish leaders and several elected officials praised the appointment, while Orthodox and Hasidic figures and the ADL expressed concern, citing Wisdom’s IHRA stance and past work at Yaffed on yeshiva oversight.
- Departing director Davis cautioned the office must stay operational rather than symbolic, as a new City Council task force pursues legislative responses and stakeholders watch for concrete results.