Jami Floyd: Not in Our City
Jami Floyd on Substack - November 26, 2025
One week ago today, protesters massed outside of the Park East Synagogue to object to a meeting of Nefesh B’Nefesh, a non-profit that helps those who want to emigrate to Israel. Their chants included a phrase that has become all too familiar to New Yorkers after our recent mayoral election: “globalize the Intifada.” Mayor-elect Mamdani ended up distancing himself from that phrase in apparent recognition of the immense harm that rhetoric causes his Jewish constituents.
All of this makes his incoming administration’s equivocating response to the antisemitic protests at a Jewish house of worship even more disappointing – though not surprising to many Jewish neighbors I am hearing from. It’s been one week, and still no condemnation.
Leadership demands clarity, not contortions.
Mamdani must now clearly denounce this incident in light of his previously hurtful statements against the Jewish people in New York City and worldwide, and he must live by a commitment to protect all New Yorkers. If the Mayor-elect does not clearly denounce this incident, especially in the context of his previously hurtful statements, he will have difficulty governing on Day One and some New Yorkers, including many Jews who voted for him, will feel buyers’ remorse on January 1, 2026.
The right response here is a simple one, one I would champion as the representative of the Park East Synagogue and many other congregations when I win election to Congress: Not. In. Our. City.
Not now. Not ever.
New York’s Promise
Since its founding, New York’s residents came from more different places than nearly any other city on Earth. We take pride in this diversity. Symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, our city is a place where anyone of any color, creed, or conviction can find refuge.
Yet, we have failed in the past to live up to this idea. From denying Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi violence during WWII to the wave of anti-Muslim bigotry that followed 9/11, there are times we should have done better. But it is the ideal – the promise – of a better, more accepting city, that unites us as New Yorkers.
That promise means respect for everyone and zero tolerance for discrimination or hate crimes against anyone.
The rise of antisemitism in our city is unacceptable, as is Islamophobia, the anti-Asian hate we’ve seen since COVID, or the display of hatred against any of our citizens.
A Simple Premise
Once upon a time, Democrats understood something basic: discrimination against any of us is discrimination against all of us. You do not pick and choose which hate you oppose. You oppose all of it. Or you watch it metastasize until it consumes us whole.
This principle animated Jewish giants like Lillian Wald, Henry Moskowitz, Rabbi Emil Hirsch, and Rabbi Stephen Wise – leaders who walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Black Americans in the founding and strengthening of the NAACP. As a woman of color in this country, I stand on the foundation they helped build.
Their example offers inspiration now: progress is not born of division. And peace will never come from the normalization of antisemitism.
Where Our City Goes from Here
To honor our history and secure our future, we need leaders who will foster true debate, lifting common sense voices up and not providing cover for those who seek to silence or scare their neighbors. In addition to more security for neighborhoods and places of worship targeted for harassment, city resources would be well spent establishing and promoting spaces where New Yorkers can meet and find common ground.
We can face the truth – all of it.
We can acknowledge the horrors of October 7: thousands of rockets, brutal killings, sexual violence, hostages taken, and the murder of more than 1,000 innocent people – the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. We can also grieve the catastrophic loss of life in Gaza, where more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and countless homes destroyed, as well as the ongoing settler violence in the West Bank.
These are not numbers. They are people. They had families who loved them.
I believe America must stand with Israel, the region’s only democracy. But support does not require silence. In fact, it requires truth.
We can hold far right government ministers accountable. We can push toward a durable peace. And we can do so without condemning entire peoples. New Yorkers know the difference. We live the difference.
I arrived at my own view the way most of us do; through conversation with my family, which is itself mixed race and inter-faith, and through honest debate with friends and neighbors, and by tuning out the social-media screamers and street-corner agitators who profit from division. My diverse family will come together around the Thanksgiving table tomorrow and I can promise you that despite our diversity of views, we will hear each other. We will seek common ground. And we will avoid the constant temptation to start a messy food fight.
Dialogue built my perspective. Dialogue can heal our city. And with real investment in civic and interfaith spaces, dialogue can rebuild trust before we slide deeper toward the abyss.
Let New York, once again, show the country what leadership looks like.
Let us stand together—every faith, every culture, every one of us—and deliver a message to anyone who thinks they can tear this city apart: Not. In. Our. City. Not on our watch.
