Jewish leaders demand Mamdani tone down rhetoric against Israel after stabbing

Jewish communal leaders and elected officials, including Eric Goldstein of UJA-Federation of New York, demanded that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani temper his anti-Zionist rhetoric following the stabbing of a Jewish man, Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, on the Upper West Side. The incident, which also involved the stabbing of a non-Jewish Asian man, Chok Sung, is being investigated as a potential hate crime, with mental health issues possibly being a factor. The alleged attacker, Raul Morales, reportedly shouted "allahu akbar."

When the mayor of New York repeatedly uses his platform to relentlessly single out and demonize Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, and calls those who support it ‘monsters,’ he contributes to a climate in which Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly targeted,

Goldstein stated, linking Mamdani's rhetoric to increased targeting of Jewish New Yorkers. The calls for moderation came after Mamdani's widely viewed video statement containing "incendiary claims against Israel" and a previous speech likening the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC to "monsters."