Changing tides?
Mamdani Visits Ohel in Wake of Bondi Beach Pogrom
Mayor-elect Mamdani spent much of the campaign courting the anti-Israel vote, and even within the Jewish community his ties are to anti-Israel, anti-Chabad Satmar. After issuing a statement on Bondi Beach, Mamdani visited Queens to pray at the Ohel.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani visited the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Queens on Monday, days after publicly condemning the terror attack on a Chabad Chanukah celebration in Sydney, Australia.
Mamdani was seen wearing a black velvet yarmulka as he stood inside the Ohel at the Old Montefiore Cemetery, the most visited Jewish holy site in North America. His visit was first reported by journalist Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward. Crown Heights community activist Yaacov Behrman was also present.
“Mamdani visited the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Queens this evening to pay his respects to the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack,” Kornbluh wrote. “Mamdani also made a private prayer at the grave.”
The visit comes as Mamdani, who is Muslim and widely known for his pro-Palestinian activism and past anti-Israel rhetoric, has begun a series of outreach efforts to Jewish leaders following his election. In recent weeks, he has met with representatives across the Jewish communal spectrum, including Satmar Chassidim, and has pledged to stand by the Jewish community as mayor.
The Bondi Beach terror attack took place on Sunday during a Chanukah celebration organized by Chabad shluchim in Sydney. Sixteen people were murdered, including Chabad rabbis Eli Schlanger and Yaakov Levitan, and dozens more were wounded in what Australian authorities have described as an Islamist terror attack.
Following the massacre, Mamdani issued a lengthy statement condemning the violence as “a vile act of antisemitic terror.” He said the attack reflected a broader global pattern of violence targeting Jews and warned that many Jewish communities no longer feel safe practicing their faith publicly.
Referencing a bystander who ran toward gunfire and disarmed one of the terrorists, Mamdani called for confronting hatred with urgency and action. He pledged that, if elected mayor, he would work to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe “on our streets, our subways, at shul, in every moment of every day.”
While some Jewish leaders have welcomed Mamdani’s statements and symbolic gestures, others remain cautious, pointing to his long record of anti-Israel rhetoric. His visit to the Rebbe’s Ohel is likely to be viewed as part of a broader effort to reassure a community still reeling from the Sydney attack and rising antisemitism worldwide.