Holocaust Educator Says New York Politician Zohran Mamdani Could Learn From UK’s Targeted Approach to School Antisemitism

Britain’s decision to adopt a broad package of measures aimed at tackling antisemitism in schools has highlighted differences with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recently released strategy, prompting questions about why the U.K. approach is more detailed than the plan proposed in America’s most Jewish city.

The U.K. government accepted all 27 recommendations from an independent review of antisemitism in schools and colleges across England. The proposals include encouraging schools to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, providing specialized training for teachers, improving reporting systems and introducing independent oversight.

Mamdani’s 33-page strategy, which covers issues beyond education, does not adopt a single definition of antisemitism. It also does not explicitly examine the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism or set numerical targets to measure the success of its initiatives.

British Jewish author and Holocaust educator Dov Forman, who recently graduated from university, said Mamdani could draw lessons from Britain’s more targeted plan for confronting antisemitism in schools.  

The British review came after a BBC report from Yavneh College, a Jewish secondary school near London, where students spoke about the impact antisemitism has had on their everyday lives. Their testimony underscored the urgency behind the government’s recommendations.

Education offers one of the clearest comparisons between the two strategies. Mamdani’s plan proposes expanding Holocaust education, including opportunities for students to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage, while addressing how public schools respond to antisemitic discrimination. The U.K. recommendations cover many of the same areas but place greater focus on helping educators identify antisemitism, ensuring schools respond properly to incidents and strengthening protections for Jewish students.

The review, led by former senior education official Sir David Bell, found that nearly three in five Jewish people ages 16 to 19 had experienced or witnessed antisemitism. It said antisemitism is a distinct form of racism that requires a tailored response, while calling for clearer guidance separating legitimate political debate from harassment, intimidation and antisemitic rhetoric.

Forman, the British Jewish author and Holocaust educator, described the recommendations as “the bare minimum,” while acknowledging that the government is making a direct attempt to address the problem.

“The least [Mamdani] could do is look at what has happened in the U.K. and adopt similar measures, such as adopting the IHRA definition, which is the agreed definition across the world and where there is a consensus of what antisemitism actually is,” Forman told News Media.

“The basic way to solve antisemitism is to actually agree on what it is and to understand that targeting a Jew deliberately because of what is going on in Israel, for example, is antisemitic, as the IHRA definition says,” he added.

Forman warned that many of the British recommendations remain voluntary and that their impact will depend on whether schools and other institutions put them into practice.

“I do think some of them will be enforced and listened to. I do worry, though, that the government says things and does not actually take it seriously enough.”

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the government would create an implementation group. Bell has also been commissioned to carry out an independent assessment of the recommendations’ progress after one year.

Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, welcomed the U.K. announcement but stressed that accepting the recommendations is only the first step.

“I welcome the U.K.’s announcement that it has accepted all 27 recommendations,” Kaploun wrote on X. “Now, the challenge lies in implementation and enforcement.”

Forman also argued that British officials should examine whether their language about Israel conflicts with their stated commitment to protecting Jewish communities.

“It is very rich of the government to say that schools should adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and that Jews should not be demonized for what is going on in the Middle East, and then for them to get up in the dispatch box in the House of Commons every week and blame Israel,” he said.

“Stop talking and start acting,” Forman said, urging the government to confront Islamist extremism and the Muslim Brotherhood while identifying more directly where antisemitism is coming from.

The U.K. has faced criticism for being slow in combating antisemitism. Jewish residents have faced physical attacks, threats and harassment, making the specificity of its new plan and its contrast with New York City’s approach particularly notable.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, called Mamdani’s strategy a “paper tiger,” arguing that its announced $36 million price tag obscures how little would go directly toward physical security.

“It’s a million dollars in security in a city with a million Jews. It’s a dollar a Jew,” Steinmetz told News Media.

The strategy includes $1 million to support physical security for vulnerable nonprofit organizations, including synagogues and other houses of worship, and $6.4 million for grants through the city’s Partners Against the Hate initiative.

Steinmetz claimed that much of the money would support cultural centers and broadly defined community initiatives rather than immediate security needs.

UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the American Jewish Committee’s New York office and the New York Board of Rabbis issued a joint statement warning that Mamdani’s plan fails to address a central source of contemporary antisemitism.

The organizations said rhetoric demonizing or delegitimizing Israel contributes to Jewish New Yorkers being treated as suspect, excluded or unsafe, and argued that any serious strategy must acknowledge that connection.

“How can you have a strategy to keep New York Jews safe when you can’t even name what the danger is?” Steinmetz asked.

One of Mamdani’s early actions as mayor was to revoke an executive order issued by former Mayor Eric Adams adopting the IHRA definition for city agencies. The definition provides examples of when criticism of Israel may cross into antisemitism while making clear that criticism comparable to that directed at any other country is not inherently antisemitic.

News Media asked Mamdani’s office why the city’s strategy omits the IHRA definition and measurable benchmarks, and whether the administration would consider safeguards similar to those adopted by Britain. The mayor’s office did not respond by the time of publication.

Britain’s measures have also only recently been accepted, and their impact remains untested.

Britain has defined the problem, outlined specific recommendations and established a process for reviewing its progress. New York City’s Jewish leaders are still asking whether City Hall has accurately identified the threat it claims it intends to confront.