In the wake of the killing of two Israeli embassy employees by a pro-Palestinian gunman in the nation’s capital, New York City’s new antisemitism czar, Moshe Davis, told The Jewish Press that the city has increased police patrols of Jewish facilities although no specific security threat exists.
In an exclusive interview about his new role as the director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, Davis, a rabbi who previously worked in Jewish educator focused on kiruv, shared that plans are underway for a public school curriculum module that debunks misconceptions about Israel and Judaism and highlights the contributions of Jewish New Yorkers throughout history. He also revealed that the mayor will be pushing for a ban on masks at protests to aid police in identifying protestors who break the law, which has been a problem at anti-Israel demonstrations.
The Jewish Press spoke to Rabbi Davis about his new role and the city’s commitment to keeping Jews safe.
What’s your reaction to the killing of two Israeli embassy employees by a pro-Palestinian shooter in Washington?
Moshe Davis: What we saw in D.C. was absolutely horrible. Two senseless murders where young people at a Jewish event were targeted and killed. This is where rhetoric escalates to violence – escalates to murder. That’s terrible, and we have to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to start from the beginning to fight against hate. Yaron and Sarah didn’t deserve what happened to them, but I think it will help us understand that we have to do more, and we have to do everything we can.
What is New York doing to ensure the protection of the Jewish community and events in light of this escalation in violence?
As soon as we heard about what happened [in Washington], NYPD notified us that they are escalating security in sensitive Jewish areas [and at] Jewish institutions. I’m also going to be doubling down on my work in this office, making sure that we have the legislation, the executive orders, the policies and proposals needed at agencies to fight against antisemitism wherever it rears its head in the city.
What legislation do you want to push forward?
We’re working closely with our Law Department, First Amendment lawyers, and high-level people who understand the intricacies to create a mask ban. People are wearing masks to commit crimes, to intimidate, to act just like the KKK did when they were intimidating Black people with their hoods. People are using their keffiyehs, using their face covering, to conceal their identities to wreak havoc.
In addition to providing the additional police support, any plans to provide recommendations to Jewish organizations for upgrading security?
I’ll turn to the NYPD to recommend what you should do outside your facility [and] within your facility. Their community affairs officers actually do walk-throughs in Jewish institutions regularly. And I’ll defer to them for exactly what protocols that they want people to put in place. They work very closely with Jewish community organization patrols to make sure that Jewish institutions are safe from every perspective.
Do you have any information about any specific current threats in the New York City area against Jewish institutions?
From the last I heard from our intel division, there’s no current threat in New York City, but I would refer you to NYPD for any more information on that.
What was it that prompted Mayor Adams, especially at this point in his term, to create the Office to Combat Antisemitism?
I have been the Jewish liaison in Mayor Adams’s office for two years, and something that I was looking forward to doing was uplifting Jewish life in New York City. But as things have escalated since October 7, we’ve seen there’s so many attacks. In the first quarter of 2025, 62% of all hate crimes in the city were targeting Jewish people. Jewish people make up less than 10% of the city, and 62% of the hate crimes. So this obviously needed a new focus. There was no coordinated, streamlined approach to say, “This person is responsible for making sure that all the agencies, all the legal departments are working to combat antisemitism.” And this is where we said, with the numbers the way they are, let’s add tools for the toolkit.
What’s an example of how this inter-agency approach could make a difference?
The first step is happening as we talk: Each agency is assigning someone that is going to be working on the inter-agency task force to deal with antisemitism. These are high-level people at each agency and they’re going to join inter-agency task force meetings. They’re going to be meeting with me regularly. They’re going to create policies and protocols specific to their agency.
How did you transition from being a kiruv rabbi to working for the mayor?
Before I joined the Adams administration, I was rabbinic educator at Manhattan Jewish Experience, MJE, which is a young professionals’ congregation on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We made happy hours, events, taught on Shabbos, gave classes, led davening. We had a beginners’ minyan there, so I was doing a lot of work with all types of Jewish people, making sure that they were able to connect to Judaism the way they chose. And that really helped me understand the breadth and width of the Jewish community in New York City, and also put me in a leadership position where we had so many young Jewish people looking to connect to their heritage. And then the mayor’s office reached out and said, “We’d love to have you come on as Jewish liaison.” And from there, it’s been an amazing journey.
How has being an Orthodox rabbi helped you in your government roles?
As an Orthodox rabbi, I see myself as someone who is in touch with our text of Judaism, our heritage, our making sure that we see the light and beauty in everything we do and that we are a great influence to the world and making sure that we’re doing everything in the highest moral capacity.
At the mayor’s recent meeting with the Jewish community media, you weren’t the only aide wearing a kippah. [Mayor Adams] has several senior officials who are frum. Do you have a minyan in City Hall?
Absolutely. We pulled together a minyan for someone’s kaddish for a yahrzeit just a few weeks ago. Between the yarmulkes and the Jewish people without the yarmulkes, we definitely have a few minyans to go around. Mayor Adams has always said that the city is a quite diverse city, and city government should look like a city. So if you wouldn’t see yarmulkes in city government, you should look around and say, hey, is this really representative of New York City?
How would you describe the range of antisemitism? People often think of it only in terms of attacks or vandalism, but really it’s much broader.
Yes, there’s criminal aspects of anti-Jewish hate crimes, and I think those are the most chilling because everyone understands that someone’s being attacked because they’re Jewish. The other aspects are bias incidents, discrimination, and subversive antisemitism that exists in language, exists in education, exists in different ways – and that’s a very large focus of the office.
That’s an ambitious agenda. What are your priorities over the next six months?
We want to work on legislation, on executive orders, on completing our inter-agency task force and creating policies for each specific agency, making sure that they are doing their part. And also we’re looking into legal opportunities where the city can join lawsuits to fight antisemitism in all forms.
What can be done to enhance cultural understanding with other ethnic communities, especially in neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Williamsburg?
We’re working with our community partners. We have the PATH program, which is run from the Office of Prevention of Hate Crimes, which works very closely with leaders in Crown Heights, in Williamsburg, in Borough Park, and across Manhattan and the Bronx and Staten Island to help bridge-building, to help have community leaders talk to each other, sit down, strategize, figure out what we do for the next generation.
Many Jews here are concerned about antisemitism in the Muslim community. What can be done?
I will be pretty blunt. I have actually great relationships within the Muslim community. We have a Muslim liaison in our office, and I have many relationships I’ve built. I want to thank the Muslim community in broad strokes. Yesterday, we had a vigil for the attack that happened in D.C. against those two Jewish and Israeli diplomats, and we had Muslim leaders come join us, and they wanted to be there. I understand that there’s the protest movement, but frankly, many protests are not Muslim-led.
As I see it, your initiative has three pillars: engagement, enforcement, education. Regarding education, what can you do to correct misperceptions about Jews, Judaism, and Israel – such as not knowing enough about the contributions that Jews and Israel have made to the world in a disproportionate way?
We had a great meeting this week with the Chancellor and our DOE [Department of Education] leadership, and we’re looking to work very closely with them and our public school system to making sure that teachers are teaching facts, are teaching the correct ideas of how we want to teach our children, not teaching them about hate, not giving them a distorted worldview. That’s a huge priority – working with curriculum, working with civics teachers, and looking to create new projects. Let’s learn about the contributions of the Jewish community to New York City, to America, and to the world, and I think that will very much help.
Are you adding new content?
We’re actually looking to create some new curriculum, working closely with the curriculum team, with the outside organizations, and we’ll be rolling things out in the next few weeks, and then some bigger, longer-term projects as well.
Will it include content about Israel?
I think Israel and some multi-religion modules. Israel is a homeland of the Jewish people. I think it’s an important aspect to most people’s Judaism. So therefore, I think that would be a key aspect of what children are taught – and the way that you talk to Jewish people, talk about their religion, talk about their beliefs. Israel has been at the forefront of technology, the forefront of environmental tech, environmental health. Let’s look at what the Jewish community, what Israel has contributed. We want to teach that to our children.
Earlier you had mentioned that antisemitism comprises 62% of hate crimes in the city. What other stats do you have to give us a sense of the problem, especially compared to previous years?
The Anti-Defamation League reported in their latest report for 2024 that there were 1,437 bias incidents in New York City. These are things which are not just crimes, but other incidents, whether in the workplace, whether in schools, whether on the streets, which ADL has recorded. I believe that that is a 150% jump altogether from between 2023 to 2024 since October 7th, and it shows that this is manifesting in many ways.
So the good news about antisemitism, if you can call it that, in our city is that the raw numbers, as a percentage of the one million Jews who live here, show the problem is not as widespread as perceived. Maybe that will make our community feel a bit better.
You bring up a very good point, [which] is that as many attacks and as many percentages and whatever numbers you take, this is not happening on a regular basis. We also have to understand that people are afraid, so we have to do everything we can so every Jewish New Yorker feels safe. It’s not just about the raw data.
I feel that it’s safe for a Jewish person to walk in New York City proudly, and I’m going to make sure to keep it that way.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
