NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his Jewish allies focused on activism for immigrants at an annual interfaith event hosted by City Hall on Friday.

Advocacy for immigrants has become a focus for the American left in recent weeks due to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown that has seen agents shoot dead two activists.

Friday’s event took place in a packed ballroom at the iconic New York Public Library in Midtown Manhattan.

The Jewish sponsors were the progressive groups Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, the New York Jewish Agenda, and The Nexus Project, a group opposed to antisemitism.

Mamdani revoked City Hall’s use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which covers some forms of Israel criticism, when he took office. The Nexus Project offers another framework that is more permissible toward anti-Israel rhetoric.

In addition to Mamdani’s leftist allies, there were Conservative, Orthodox and Hasidic community leaders in attendance.

Leftist Jewish groups’ leading role marked a break from Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, who was most closely aligned with Orthodox communities and centrist, pro-Israel Jews.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier of Manhattan’s Orthodox Park East Synagogue was slated to deliver a prayer, but did not attend, leaving the speakers’........

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