NEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) – New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday defended his revocation of government orders that his predecessor Eric Adams issued after being indicted in 2024 on federal expenses of accepting unlawful marketing campaign contributions.
The dozen orders Adams issued since his indictment included a directive to permit federal brokers, together with immigration officers, to make use of an workplace on Rikers Island, the town’s most important jail. That order was later struck down by a court docket.
The brand new mayor additionally struck down government orders that Adams had portrayed as addressing antisemitism. Mamdani, a Muslim who some have accused of antisemitism over his assist of Palestinians in Gaza, instructed reporters on Friday that he would fund measures to forestall hate crimes, and would make safety of Jewish New Yorkers a spotlight of his administration.
Mamdani recalled September 26, 2024, the day when Adams was charged with accepting unlawful marketing campaign contributions and luxurious journey from Turkish nationals searching for to affect him, as “a second when many New Yorkers misplaced much more religion in New York Metropolis politics and the flexibility of metropolis authorities to truly prioritize the wants of the general public, versus the wants of the individual.”
JASON ALPERT-WISNIA through Getty Photographs
In April, a U.S. choose dismissed the costs in opposition to Adams, a Democrat, on the request of the U.S. Justice Division, which had argued that the case was distracting the mayor from serving to Republican President Donald Trump step up deportations.
Mamdani, from the left wing of the Democratic Celebration, has clashed with Trump over the immigration crackdown.
On Thursday, Mamdani revoked orders by Adams that had prevented metropolis establishments from divesting from Israel and that outlined antisemitism in a manner acknowledged by the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental group of 35 international locations that promotes Holocaust training.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is amongst teams that argue the IHRA definition has been used to attempt to silence advocates for Palestinian rights.
Whereas Islamic organizations praised Mamdani’s strikes, Israel’s International Ministry posted on X on Friday that Mamdani “reveals his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn’t management. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open hearth.”
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; enhancing by Donna Bryson and David Gregorio)
