In a bold move, over 700 rabbis from various parts of the United States have penned an open letter demanding that Mayor Zohran Mamdani issue an apology. The demand stems from his referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as “monsters” for their purported use of “millions in dark money” aimed at maintaining their influence.
The letter, organized by the pro-Zionism organization The Jewish Majority, argues that labeling political opponents as “monsters” is dehumanizing. It warns that such language becomes particularly perilous when directed against entities heavily associated with the Jewish community.
Prominent signatories of the letter include Rabbi David Ingber, founder of the Romemu congregation and senior director of Jewish Life at 92NY; Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch from the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper West Side; Rabbi Neil Zuckerman of the Park Avenue Synagogue on the Upper East Side; and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz from Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun.
The letter goes on to state that when Mayor Mamdani speaks, his words resonate beyond personal views. They reflect the viewpoints of an emerging political movement, whose rhetoric and policies are gaining traction across the nation.
Moreover, the rabbis note that when public figures single out “Zionists” as particularly questionable, they inadvertently target the vast majority of the Jewish community. Such vilification isn’t perceived as mere opposition to a foreign government but rather as an attack on fundamental aspects of Jewish identity and unity.
The letter cited a rise in antisemitic attacks, including last year’s murder of two employees of Israel’s embassy in Washington and plots of violence against an AIPAC office and AIPAC-supported politicians, as evidence of increasing danger facing the Jewish community.
“By casting pro-Israel civic participation as monstrous, conspiratorial and anti-democratic, Mr. Mamdani has put a target on the backs of American Jews and their allies,” the rabbis said before calling on Hizzoner to say he’s sorry, “retract his remarks and affirm clearly that Jews and pro-Israel Americans are full participants in our democracy.
“Criticizing Israeli policy is not antisemitic. Treating millions of Zionist Jews as morally suspect, politically illegitimate or less deserving of equal participation in public life is.”
“The campaign is over, the votes are counted, and now the mayor needs to lower the temperature before someone gets hurt,” The Jewish Majority executive director Jonathan Schulman told The Post.
“Now is the time of monsters,” the mayor said during a 30-minute tirade at a campaign rally last week. “These monsters take many forms today. In those who fund … bad-faith attacks … those who would rather spend far more on political contributions than they would ever be made to pay in taxes.”
“In AIPAC, for whom the only thing more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s wars.”
The mayor, in an attempt to defend his comments, later said that “I was quoting [Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio] Gramsci, who said: ‘The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.’
“I used the term to describe all those who are preventing the birth of a new world,” Mamdani added. “Not solely AIPAC, but frankly, super PACs at large who are spending millions of dollars in deceptive and misleading ads that are blanketing airwave.”
The 34-year-old mayor supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state, has repeatedly accused Israel’s military of “genocidal war” in Gaza and even vowed last year to arrest Netanyahu for alleged war crimes if he ever sets foot in the five boroughs.