Mamdani’s first act: revoking Eric Adams’ executive orders, including on Israel, antisemitism and BDS

Sen. Bernie Sanders administers the oath of office to the New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Jan. 1, 2026 in New York City. Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

With weeks to go before Zohran Mamdani would replace him as mayor of New York City, Eric Adams issued an executive order barring city officials from taking action against Israel or entities associated with it.

The order, issued Dec. 5, represented a gauntlet by the avowedly pro-Israel mayor for Mamdani, who opposes Israel. Most recent New York City mayors have extended their predecessors’ executive orders, at least temporarily. Would Mamdani prioritize city tradition or his stance on Israel?

In his first hours in office on Thursday, Mamdani offered an answer. He revoked all of the executive orders Adams issued after Adams’ September 2024 indictment on federal corruption charges that were later dropped on the Trump administration’s demand.

Mamdani said the mass revocation reflected New Yorkers’ lack of confidence in Adams after his indictment. But it also had the effect of undoing multiple pro-Israel and antisemitism-related executive orders without targeting them specifically.

Included in the revocation were the ban on Israel boycotts, or BDS; the city’s adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which critics say inappropriately treats some forms of Israel criticism as antisemitic; and a requirement that the police chief “evaluate” rules about protests outside houses of worship that Adams issued last month after an anti-Israel rally at a Manhattan synagogue.

The revocations drew ire from pro-Israel voices who said Mamdani had wasted no time before seeking to impose an anti-Israel agenda on New York City. Mamdani, a longtime pro-Palestinian activist, supports Israel boycotts and has vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu visits the city. A wide majority of Jewish voters did not back him.

In a statement, William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, who had publicly opposed Mamdani, called the revocations “a troubling indicator of the direction in which he is leading the city, just one day at the helm.”

Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Republican New York City Council member, criticized the revocations on X, saying that safeguards were needed because “pro-Hamas antisemite emboldened by @NYCMayor are coming!” She called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to impose the IHRA definition of antisemitism through an executive order of her own.

Mamdani also issued new executive orders advance his affordability pledges and rolled back multiple executive orders that were unrelated to Israel, including one that allowed federal immigration officials to intervene on Rikers Island and another promoting cryptocurrency. He also said he planned to maintain the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, which Adams created via an executive order in May.

“That is an issue that we take very seriously. That is part of the commitment that we’ve made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them but to celebrate and cherish them,” Mamdani told reporters on Thursday.

The changes came on an Inauguration Day that brought tens of thousands of New Yorkers to celebrate Mamdani in frigid conditions outside City Hall in Lower Manhattan. In his public address, Mamdani included “Russian Jewish immigrants in Brighton Beach” among those who should feel included in his vision of the city; cited Yiddish as among the languages spoken in the city and “shul” as among the places New Yorkers pray; and name-checked bagels and lox and pastrami on rye as personally beloved dishes.

Also sworn in on Thursday was Mark Levine as comptroller. Levine, who is Jewish and has said he supports the city’s continued investment in Israeli assets, was sworn in on a Chumash, or Hebrew Bible.

Other first-day acts by the new Mamdani administration also drew the ire of pro-Israel advocates. Two recent tweets posted to the official mayor’s X account by Adams expressing a commitment to fighting antisemitism were deleted. Mamdani’s team said the deletions came in the process of transitioning the account to reflecting the new administration and that old tweets would be archived.

The X transition also provided fodder for laughs for Mamdani’s pro-Israel critics. Because the account briefly featured Mamdani’s name atop all of Adams’ past tweets, it was possible to take screenshots that appeared to show Mamdani expressing support for Israel. “Oh that’s funny!” tweeted Hillel Fuld, an Israeli influencer who shared one such screenshot. The post is now no longer part of the public-facing mayoral account.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.