NEW YORK — More than 680 rabbis on Friday released an open letter denouncing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s speech last week that likened AIPAC to “monsters,” saying the comments endangered American Jews and demanding an apology.

The rabbis hail from New York and around the US and represent a range of denominations, including Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist.

“Mamdani’s recent speech about pro-Israel civic participation is dangerous, unacceptable and beneath the office he holds,” said the letter organized by The Jewish Majority advocacy group.

In Mamdani’s speech earlier this month, he likened AIPAC, the prominent pro-Israel lobby, to “monsters” deploying “millions in dark money” to “preserve their power,” enact genocide and foment societal divisions.

Jews have long been accused of conspiracies, warmongering, financial deviance and pulling the strings of power from the shadows.

After accusations that the comments deployed historical antisemitic tropes, Mamdani doubled down.

The rabbis’ letter said the rhetoric was dehumanizing, and that “when the targets of that dehumanization are overwhelmingly associated with the Jewish community the consequences become especially dangerous.”

Antisemitism tends to turn violent when Jews are both seen as a threat and dehumanized, they charged.

“Mamdani’s words invoke a familiar story about Jewish power, Jewish money and Jewish manipulation of public life,” the letter said. “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.”

Signatories included representatives of prominent New York congregations, including the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Israel of the City of New York,........

© The Times of Israel