With two weeks until Election Day, a prominent New York City rabbi is urging his congregants not to vote for Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City.
Mamdani is the presumed front-runner in the race for Gracie Mansion with a substantial lead ahead of independent candidate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, both of whom have said Mamdani would not protect Jewish New Yorkers if elected in November.
"To be clear, unequivocal, and on the record, I believe Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community," Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side told his congregation this weekend.
Days prior, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue accused Mamdani of "fanning the flames of intolerance" and urged the Democratic nominee to "reconsider your long-held views of Israel's right to exist."
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If elected on Nov. 4, Mamdani would become New York City's first Muslim mayor.
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During the Democratic primary, his refusal to condemn the term "globalize the intifada" — widely considered a call to violence against Jews — prompted accusations from his competitors that Mamdani would not do enough to protect Jewish New Yorkers from antisemitism.
Mamdani said he didn't denounce the phrase because he doesn't believe in policing language. After conversations with Jewish New Yorkers about the hurtful nature of the slogan, Mamdani has said he will discourage others from using it.
New York City is home to the largest diaspora of Jews outside of Israel.
The 2025 mayoral election comes as Columbia University became the epicenter of rising anti-Semitism on college campuses as students protested Israel's war in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks.
Mamdani co-founded his college’s Students for Justice in Palestine organization and has been a vocal opponent of Israel's "genocide" in Gaza. The candidate has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, arguing that he doesn't believe in a hierarchy based on religion or race in any country.
Both rabbis said Mamdani's refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is to deny Israel's legitimacy, and Cosgrove said Mamdani's intention to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if elected is "unrepentant."
While the United States doesn't abide by the International Criminal Court, which has a warrant out for Netanyahu's arrest for "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" for the war in Gaza, Mamdani has maintained that he would arrest Netanyahu in the event Netanyahu enters the city if Mamdani is elected.
"He is a danger to the Jewish body politic of New York City," Cosgrove said Saturday, before adding, "Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination — these are not political preferences or partisan talking points. They are constituent building blocks and inseparable strands of my Jewish identity."
As Cosgrove continued for nearly 25 minutes to explain why a vote for Mamdani is "a vote counter to Jewish interests," he reiterated the message by billionaires, Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, that a vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.
Catsimatidis and Ackman have both called for Sliwa to drop out of the mayoral race in recent days as pressure mounts to consolidate the anti-Mamdani vote.
The New York Post editorial board even joined the calls for Sliwa to drop out this week, but the Republican nominee has maintained that he is staying in the race.
The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.