New York rabbis urge congregants not to vote for Mamdani for mayor

With two weeks until Election Day, a prominent New York City rabbi is urging his congregants not to vote for democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor.

Mamdani is presumed to be the front-runner in the race for Gracie Mansion with a substantial lead ahead of independent candidate, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, both of whom have said Mamdani would not protect New York’s Jews if elected in November.

“To be clear, unequivocal and on the record, I believe Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the safety of the Jewish community in New York,” said Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. told his congregation this weekend.

A few days before, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch Free Synagogue Stephen Wise accused Mamdani of “fanning the flames of intolerance” and urged the Democratic candidate to “reconsider his long-held views on Israel’s right to exist.”

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Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove warned his congregants that Democratic candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani poses a threat to Jewish New Yorkers. (Park Avenue Synagogue)

If elected on November 4, Mamdani would become New York’s first Muslim mayor.

A new poll finds that Mamdani still holds a double-digit lead over his rivals in the New York mayor’s race.

During the Democratic primary, his refusal to condemn the term “globalizing the Intifada” – widely seen as a call for violence against Jews – sparked accusations from his competitors that Mamdani was not doing enough to protect New York’s Jews from anti-Semitism.

Mamdani said he did not denounce the expression because he does not believe in police language. After conversations with Jewish New Yorkers about the hurtful nature of the slogan, Mamdani said he would discourage others from using it.

New York City is home to the largest Jewish diaspora outside of Israel.

The 2025 mayoral election comes as Columbia University has become the epicenter of rising anti-Semitism on college campuses as students protest Israel’s war in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks.

Mamdani co-founded his university’s Students for Justice in Palestine organization and has consistently opposed the Israeli “genocide” in Gaza. The candidate refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, arguing that he does not believe in any hierarchy based on religion or race in any country.

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch accused New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of “fanning the flames of intolerance” two weeks before Election Day. (Shahar Azran)

Both rabbis said Mamdani’s refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state amounts to denying Israel’s legitimacy, and Cosgrove said Mamdani’s intention to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if elected was “unrepentant.”

While the United States is ignoring the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” for the war in Gaza, Mamdani said he would arrest Netanyahu in case he entered the city if Mamdani was elected.

“He represents a danger to the Jewish body politic in New York City,” Cosgrove said Saturday, before adding: “Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination — these are not political preferences or partisan talking points. They are building blocks and inseparable strands of my Jewish identity.”

As Cosgrove continued for nearly 25 minutes to explain why a vote for Mamdani is “a vote contrary to Jewish interests,” he reiterated the message from billionaires, Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, that a vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.

Both Catsimatidis and Ackman have called on Sliwa to withdraw from the mayoral race in recent days as pressure mounts to consolidate the anti-Mamdani vote.

The Democratic candidate for mayor of New York answers questions from reporters on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, October 21, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

The New York Post editorial board even joins calls for Sliwa to withdraw this week, but the Republican candidate maintained that he remained in the race.

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The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.