Critics were quick to point out who those examples actually represent. Chagall, born Moishe Shagal in 1887 near Vitebsk in the Pale of Settlement, was a Jewish artist whose work is steeped in Jewish life, folklore and biblical themes, and who later created the famous stained-glass windows at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital. Brighton Beach, known as "Little Odessa," was built in large part by Soviet Jewish refugees, and Rego Park has long been home to a large Jewish community.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said that describing Chagall as anything other than a Jewish artist, and celebrating Brighton Beach and Rego Park without mentioning their Jewish character, were "just the latest examples of the Mayor's relentless, pathological campaign to erase Jews from the story." He said it happens so often that it cannot be ignorance or an accident, but rather "a deliberate effort to normalize antisemitism and marginalize Jewish New Yorkers." "It's despicable," he wrote.
It isn't the first time the mayor has faced such criticism. In July, his administration drew backlash for a city map of immigrant enclaves that omitted Jewish neighborhoods, along with Little Italy and Irish communities. And earlier this month, Greenblatt criticized Mamdani's October 7 anniversary statement, noting that it never once mentioned Jews.
The episode adds to the growing strain between Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor and a vocal critic of Israel, and parts of New York's Jewish community. Southern Brooklyn's Russian-speaking neighborhoods, including Brighton Beach, voted heavily against him.
