An office charged with combating antisemitism cannot fulfill its mission if its officials fear losing their jobs for challenging the mayor who appointed them.

That is the troubling question now facing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration following an alleged admission by one of his Jewish outreach officials: “I can’t speak out against my boss, or I would get fired.”

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The statement was allegedly made during a July 9 meeting between Abraham Hamra, an attorney, Jewish advocate, and Syrian Jewish refugee, and Josh Binderman, deputy director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. The mayor’s office has called Hamra’s account a “complete and utter distortion,” but notably, it did not specifically deny that Binderman made the statement or explain what he said instead.

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That distinction matters.

This is not merely a dispute over the recollection of a private meeting. It raises a far more consequential question: Can an antisemitism office housed within the mayor’s administration independently confront rhetoric coming from the mayor himself?

Recent events have made that question impossible to dismiss.

Mamdani met privately with a group of rabbis this week and afterward touted his administration’s plans to combat antisemitism across the five boroughs. Rabbis who attended reportedly urged him to change his rhetoric toward Israel, warning that his language was harming Jewish New Yorkers. Yet Mamdani apparently made no commitment to do so.

“I had a candid and productive conversation with rabbis representing a wide swath of New York’s Jewish communities and affiliations, and I appreciated hearing from them,” Mamdani said following the meeting.

Listening is important. But when antisemitic hate crimes are rising, Jewish New Yorkers need more than listening sessions and carefully worded statements. They need to know whether the office created to protect them is empowered to tell the mayor when his own words are contributing to a hostile climate.

The numbers make this an urgent matter. Antisemitic incidents accounted for 60.3% of New York City’s........

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