New York City has survived a lot — but it may have finally met its match in its own mayor. In just a few months, Zohran Mamdani has managed to let New Yorkers freeze to death in their own apartments, announce a $30 million government-run grocery store that won’t open for years, and publicly doxx residents for the crime of owning expensive real estate. It’s been a masterclass in radical governance — ideology over competence, slogans over solutions.
You’d think the man had already scraped the bottom of the barrel. But on Friday, New York City’s socialist-in-chief found a way to dig even deeper.
Of all the powers available to a mayor, the veto is the most personal. It’s a statement of priority — a declaration of what you simply cannot abide becoming law. So what did Zohran Mamdani spend his very first veto on? Killing a bipartisan measure designed to protect students from antisemitic harassment outside their schools.
A veto against the vulnerable
The bill, Int. 175-B, passed the City Council 30-19. It wasn’t complicated. It required the NYPD to develop a plan to prevent physical obstruction, intimidation, and interference at educational facilities — while still protecting the right to peaceful assembly. It was part of a five-point action plan to combat antisemitism, sponsored by Council Speaker Julie Menin and backed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Mamdani killed it anyway.
From former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo:
Instead of governing for all New Yorkers, Mamdani has repealed the very definition of antisemitism from the city’s books, changed how antisemitic crimes are counted and now vetoed these commonsense security measures when they are needed most. I proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with my Jewish brothers and sisters — just as the Cuomos always have, and always will.
The numbers should have made this veto unthinkable. According to the NYPD, antisemitic incidents accounted for 57% of reported hate crimes in 2025, though Jewish residents make up roughly 10% of the city’s population — targeted more than every other group combined. Hindy Poupko of the UJA-Federation put it in terms no statistic can capture: families are so frightened that their sons have stopped wearing kippot to school.
Now here’s the part that takes this from troubling to indefensible. Mamdani signed a nearly identical bill establishing buffer zones around houses of worship. He approved protections for synagogues and churches — but vetoed them for schools, the exact places where Jewish children face the most concentrated harassment.
Why? His own words tell you everything. The school bill, he explained, “could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels, or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights.” Read that again. He said the quiet part out loud.
What we already knew
I wish I could say any of this was surprising. It isn’t. Mamdani is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Everything we know about him, his ideological roots, and the people closest to him points in exactly this direction. He has systematically dismantled antisemitism tracking in city government, and protecting Jewish families has clearly never made his to-do list.
Call me old-fashioned, but when Jewish kids are afraid to wear their faith to school in an American city, something has gone deeply, fundamentally wrong. The Simon Wiesenthal Center called the veto “deeply disappointing” and urged the Council to override it, calling student protection “a civic responsibility.” They’re right — and the math isn’t impossible. An override requires 33 of 50 council votes, and the bill already has 30.
Twenty-five years after September 11th, a city that once embodied American defiance — that buried its dead, rebuilt its skyline, and swore it would never stop fighting for its own — is now led by a man who won’t even let police draft a safety plan for children walking into school. Let that sit with you for a moment.
The Council has the votes within reach. For the sake of every kid too afraid to wear their kippah to class, let’s hope they find the courage to use them.
Key Takeaways
- Mamdani used his first-ever mayoral veto to kill a bipartisan bill protecting students from antisemitic intimidation.
- He signed buffer zones for houses of worship but specifically rejected the same protections for schools.
- Jewish New Yorkers face 57% of the city’s hate crimes despite being only 10% of the population.
- The City Council needs just a handful of additional votes to override this veto.
