Mamdani Rolls Back Eric Adams’ Executive Orders Backing Israel

By the Times of Israel

In one of his first acts in office on Thursday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani revoked the city’s implementation of an antisemitism definition that includes some forms of Israel criticism, in a sweeping rejection of his predecessor’s executive orders.

The mass revocation of those executive orders also canceled other pro-Israel measures taken by the former mayor, Eric Adams.

Mamdani, a far-left anti-Zionist, took office with the start of the new year, replacing Adams’s staunchly pro-Israel administration.

In one of Mamdani’s first moves as mayor, he issued an executive order that revoked all executive orders Adams implemented since September 26, 2024, when Adams was indicted for corruption. The corruption charges were later dismissed amid allegations of shady dealings between Adams and the Justice Department of US President Donald Trump.

Mamdani’s sweeping revocation covers Adams’s implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which says that some forms of Israel criticism are antisemitic.

The definition has been adopted by a broad range of national and local governments worldwide as well as other institutions. It has also drawn opposition from those who say its inclusion of some forms of criticism of Israel chills legitimate political speech.

Adams ordered city agencies to use the IHRA definition in June.

The IHRA definition could have posed a problem for Mamdani because the definition says that denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination is discriminatory. Mamdani has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

The definition also says it is antisemitic to claim “that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

Mamdani’s executive order also nullified an order that opposed the campaign to boycott Israel. Mamdani is a longtime supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. New York City law bars discrimination based on national origin when signing public contracts, however.

Another order that has been revoked instructed the NYPD to reassess how it handles protests at houses of worship, a move Adams took after a vitriolic demonstration outside a synagogue, although a subsequent executive order from Mamdani included similar instructions to police.

Mamdani has condemned classic expressions of antisemitism, such as swastika graffiti and tropes about Jewish greed, while defending or espousing anti-Zionist rhetoric that the mainstream Jewish community finds discriminatory.

Last week, a report from the Anti-Defamation League surveying ties between Mamdani appointees and anti-Zionist groups included among its findings that one appointee had said that Zionists are worse than Nazis.