Palestinian rights advocates are praising New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for revoking pro-Israel municipal decrees within hours of his inauguration, a move that was promptly condemned by the Israeli government.
On Thursday, his first day in office, Mamdani wiped out all the executive orders his predecessor, Eric Adams, implemented after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was charged with bribery.
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One of the orders restricted boycotts of Israel and prohibited mayoral appointees from issuing contracts “that discriminate against the State of Israel, Israeli citizens, or those associated” with the US ally.
It was signed by Adams less than a month ago and was seen by critics as an attempt to create controversy for the incoming Mamdani administration.
Another now-nixed decree adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which advocates say can be used to censor and penalise speech critical of Israel.
Nasreen Issa, a member of the Palestine Youth Movement – NYC, said Israel and its supporters have long pushed for the “criminalisation of dissent”.
“So, Mamdani’s rejection of this is a positive step towards protecting the rights of New Yorkers and the dignity of Palestinians,” Issa told Al Jazeera.
Afaf Nasher, the head of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), also applauded Mamdani for revoking an “unconstitutional order restricting the ability of New Yorkers to criticize the Israeli government’s racism or boycott Israel’s human rights abuses”.
“This unconstitutional, Israel First attack on free speech should have never been issued in the first place,” Nasher said in a statement.
Nasher further slammed the IHRA definition, saying that the “overly broad” guidelines frame disagreement with Zionism as anti-Semitic.
“The order would have also unconstitutionally limited boycotts against only Israel,” Nasher said.
Palestinian rights supporters have long rejected the IHRA definition, which heavily focuses on Israel. The definition provides 11 examples of anti-Semitism, six of which involve Israel.
They include “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “applying double standards” to Israel.
“I think it’s wonderful that Mayor Mamdani took measures on day one to reinforce our rights to free speech, which included our right to criticize and oppose Israeli apartheid and genocide,” said YL Al-Sheikh, a Palestinian-American writer active in the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The IHRA being implemented as government policy isn’t about combatting antisemitism but about stifling dissent and this should be something all Americans oppose.”
Israel weighs in
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs decried Mamdani’s moves on Friday, saying that the newly inaugurated mayor is showing “his true face”.
“This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” it said in a post on the social media platform X.
Separately, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, deployed Islamophobic language to criticise Mamdani’s decision.
He called the mayor a “Hamas sympathiser” and drew a connection between him and the Muslim mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
“When a Muslim Brotherhood Islamist whose slogan is ‘Globalize the Intifada’ takes control of New York City or London, these are exactly the decisions you get,” Chikli wrote on X.
Neither Mamdani nor Khan has any known connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Issa said the intense Israeli response is not about the mayor’s policy moves but is rather aimed at controlling the narrative.
“Israel’s main approach – at th