Mayoral Elect Zohran Mamdani warmly welcomed at annual Satmar Event.

Torah Jews is pleased to share an update on recent advocacy efforts concerning public discourse around New York City Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani and the broader conversation about our civic loyalty as Jews.

Before election day, Torah Jews released a brief public statement addressing misconceptions circulating in the media. The statement did not endorse any political candidate. Rather, it clarified two long standing principles of our community: that Jews are loyal to the countries and cities in which they reside, and that Jewish voters should not be portrayed as influenced by foreign interests, namely that of the State of Israel. This message, signed by our founder Rabbi Moshe Dovid Katz, reached an audience of nearly one million and helped dispel narratives inaccurately suggesting that all New York City Jews opposed Mamdani based on his opinions on a foreign country.

After the election, powerful Zionist organizations intensified their efforts to frame Mamdani as antisemitic, again invoking the name of New York City’s Jewish community. Such claims risk fostering resentment by implying that Jewish residents uniformly prioritize Israeli political interests over the wellbeing of their own city. This false conception is a result of Israel's intense propaganda and puts a great risk on our community.

In anticipation of the annual Koof Alef Kislev gatherings within both Satmar communities, Torah Jews recognized that Mamdani’s very warm reception by thousands of Hasidic Jews would directly challenge the Zionist narrative portraying him as hostile to Jews. We therefore chose to share photos and videos showing the genuine warmth and respect with which he was welcomed. Our purpose was to make clear, both to the public and to Zionist activists, that our community sees through attempts to equate opposition to Zionism with antisemitism, and that this distinction is widely understood within Jewish communities themselves.

The public response was notable. Videos from each of the two major events garnered over one million views each, more than two million combined, along with extensive engagement from New Yorkers expressing appreciation for the display of mutual respect and communal coexistence.

Certain Zionist commentators, including prominent Israeli public figures, reacted strongly. Although some responses were derogatory, Torah Jews remains focused on the broader impact. Our goal is to ensure that New York City residents understand that Jewish civic participation is local, principled, and independent of Israeli political ideology. Had the narrative portraying Mamdani as an antisemite based on political disagreements over Israel gone unchallenged, it could have contributed to increased tension and misunderstanding toward Jews in New York. We view it as essential to prevent such mischaracterizations from taking hold.

Torah Jews will continue advocating for an accurate understanding of Jewish identity, one rooted in loyalty to our city and grounded in our religious values. We remain grateful for the opportunity to contribute to communal harmony and understanding, and we pray to continue our work with integrity and clarity.