NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday announced an executive order to recognize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, part of a broader effort to combat anti-Jewish discrimination.
The order directed city agencies to use the IHRA definition to identify and address incidents of antisemitism. The definition covers some forms of anti-Israel rhetoric, giving city authorities more latitude to respond to hatred related to anti-Zionist activism.
Adams’s office also said he was introducing legislation to the city council, calling on the council to codify the IHRA definition, which would make it the law in the city.
An executive order could be rescinded by Adams’s successor as mayor, but implementing the IHRA definition as law would give the definition more staying power in city policy.
Last month, Adams announced a new task force housed in his office aimed at combating antisemitism. The Office to Combat Antisemitism is the first of its kind in a major US city.
The IHRA definition of antisemitism has been adopted by groups and governments worldwide, but is contested because it covers some examples of anti-Israel rhetoric, such as denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination.
Adams issued the IHRA order after attacks by pro-Palestinian assailants in Colorado, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania heightened fears about violence and antisemitism from anti-Israel activists.
Adams first announced the move during a Sunday event with the pro-Israel talk show host Dr. Phil at the Tribeca Synagogue in Manhattan, and discussed the executive order further on Monday during a meeting with Jewish media. Adams’s Jewish advisers, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, and members of the police’s Hate Crimes Task Force also spoke at the meeting. Tisch and Adams attended via video.
Moshe Davis, the head of the antisemitism task force, said on Monday that the IHRA order would provide a “groundwork” for his office, and that antisemitism is currently manifesting mainly in anti-Zionist and anti-Israel activities.
Randy Mastro, the city’s first deputy mayor, said the IHRA order would be followed by many more “concrete steps” to combat antisemitism, such as the city weighing in on litigation by filing amicus briefs.
Adams and Tisch said the adoption of the IHRA definition will not infringe on the right to protest and free speech. Anti-Israel protests in the city sometimes feature support for US-designated terror groups and outright antisemitism.
“I don’t like seeing banners uplifting Hamas, and calling themselves Hamas,” Adams said. “But saying vile things is not a violation of our constitutional rights, so as enforcers of the law, we can’t break the law.”
“We have to follow the law, even if we don’t like the law,” he said.
The antisemitism task force will not handle criminal activity. The NYPD and its Hate Crime Task Force are solely responsible for the prosecution of hate crimes, Adams said.
Some incidents are reported to the hate crimes unit that do not rise to the level of a crime, but are covered by the IHRA definition, Adams said. Adopting the IHRA definition will allow the antisemitism task force to take “preventive and reactive” measures to such non-criminal activity, Adams said.
For example, in April, an office in the city’s education department sent out an anti-Zionist toolkit that included inflammatory accusations against Israel, prompting an investigation by the department.
Israel and Jewish issues are prominent topics in the high-profile race for the city’s Democratic party mayoral primary later this month. Adams is running as an independent, so will not be in the primary, but is seeking re-election in November, and has petitioned to run on an “EndAntisemitism” ballot line.
Some anti-Israel activists pushed back against the executive order after it was announced, including the far-left Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, which said it would be used to target protesters.
The New York branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has repeatedly backed anti-Israel activists since the start of the war, accused Adams of “weaponizing the critical fight against antisemitism.”
Jews are targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined in New York City, accounting for 54% of all hate crimes in the city last year. There have also been repeated attempts at violent terror attacks against Jewish New Yorkers in recent years.