Mamdani

Nearly 15,000 nurses walked off their jobs at major New York City hospitals on Monday in one of the largest health care strikes in decades. They are demanding higher pay, safer staffing levels and better security measures at hospitals. Mayor Zohran Mamdani visited the nurses on a picket line.

Palestinian rights advocates are praising New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for revoking pro-Israel municipal decrees within hours of his inauguration, a move that was promptly condemned by the Israeli government.

On Thursday, his first day in office, Mamdani wiped out all the executive orders his predecessor, Eric Adams, implemented after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was charged with bribery.

One of the orders restricted boycotts of Israel and prohibited mayoral appointees from issuing contracts “that discriminate against the State of Israel, Israeli citizens, or those associated” with the US ally.

It was signed by Adams less than a month ago and was seen by critics as an attempt to create controversy for the incoming Mamdani administration.

Another now-nixed decree adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which advocates say can be used to censor and penalise speech critical of Israel.

Nasreen Issa, a member of the Palestine Youth Movement – NYC, said Israel and its supporters have long pushed for the “criminalisation of dissent”.

“So, Mamdani’s rejection of this is a positive step towards protecting the rights of New Yorkers and the dignity of Palestinians,” Issa told Al Jazeera.

Afaf Nasher, the head of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), also applauded Mamdani for revoking an “unconstitutional order restricting the ability of New Yorkers to criticize the Israeli government’s racism or boycott Israel’s human rights abuses”.

“This unconstitutional, Israel First attack on free speech should have never been issued in the first place,” Nasher said in a statement.

Nasher further slammed the IHRA definition, saying that the “overly broad” guidelines frame disagreement with Zionism as anti-Semitic.

“The order would have also unconstitutionally limited boycotts against only Israel,” Nasher said.

Palestinian rights supporters have long rejected the IHRA definition, which heavily focuses on Israel. The definition provides 11 examples of anti-Semitism, six of which involve Israel.

They include “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “applying double standards” to Israel.

“I think it’s wonderful that Mayor Mamdani took measures on day one to reinforce our rights to free speech, which included our right to criticize and oppose Israeli apartheid and genocide,” said YL Al-Sheikh, a Palestinian-American writer active in the Democratic Socialists of America.

“The IHRA being implemented as government policy isn’t about combatting antisemitism but about stifling dissent and this should be something all Americans oppose.”

Israel weighs in

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs decried Mamdani’s moves on Friday, saying that the newly inaugurated mayor is showing “his true face”.

“This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” it said in a post on the social media platform X.

Separately, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, deployed Islamophobic language to criticise Mamdani’s decision.

He called the mayor a “Hamas sympathiser” and drew a connection between him and the Muslim mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

“When a Muslim Brotherhood Islamist whose slogan is ‘Globalize the Intifada’ takes control of New York City or London, these are exactly the decisions you get,” Chikli wrote on X.

Neither Mamdani nor Khan has any known connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Issa said the intense Israeli response is not about the mayor’s policy moves but is rather aimed at controlling the narrative.

“Israel’s main approach – at the highest level, at the level of the Foreign Ministry – has been to push for the criminalisation of protected speech through these warped definitions of anti-Semitism like the IHRA,” she said.

“Since they’re losing in the court of public opinion, the response now is to push for the criminalisation of dissent.”

Issa also called Chikli’s attack on Mamdani “blatant Islamophobia, racism and disinformation”.

“They’re trying to promote these accusations that have no basis in reality whatsoever,” Issa told Al Jazeera.

“But from their perspective, any support for Palestinians, any opposition to Israel’s genocide or the conduct of its military – whether in Gaza or the West Bank, over the last two years, over the last decades – none of that is acceptable.”

Al-Sheikh said it was “absurd” that Israel is trying to impose its preferences on local policies in New York.

“Even Americans who aren’t Palestinian or pro Palestine can see this is strange and inhibits our rights,” Al-Sheikh said.

“It’s also weirdly counterproductive on Israel’s part since it only makes Mamdani look better. A single policy paper that said you can’t criticise a country was repealed and now they claim it is the end of the world, but ‘you should be allowed to criticise any country you want’ is the universal American position.”

Israel was not alone, however, in denouncing Mamdani’s actions. The administration of President Donald Trump also issued a warning to the Mamdani administration.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said her office would be vigilant “to ANY AND ALL violations of religious liberties” in New York.

“We will investigate, sue, and indict as needed,” Dhillon wrote in a social media post.

Palestine solidarity activists often stress that criticising Israeli abuses should not be conflated with attacking Judaism.

Mamdani’s rise

Mamdani has been a vocal critic of Israeli policies against Palestinians, prompting accusations of anti-Semitism from Israel’s supporters.

But he has repeatedly promised to protect Jewish residents. During his inauguration ceremony, he pledged to continue the Mayor’s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism (MOCA), an Adams-era development, and he told reporters his administration would “celebrate and cherish” Jewish New Yorkers.

The new mayor, 34, took the oath of office on a copy of the Quran at the turn of the new year, becoming the first Muslim mayor of America’s largest city.

The Democratic socialist, who formerly served as a state legislator, had minimal name recognition when he first announced his candidacy late in 2024.

But he steadily grew his base of support with a message focused on affordability and housing.

Last June, he defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination, in one of the most stunning political upsets in recent US history.

Mamdani then defeated Cuomo again in the general elections in November, after the ex-governor relaunched his campaign as an independent with Trump’s support.

Adams was elected as a Democrat in 2021, but his administration faced numerous scandals during its four-year term, including accusations that Adams had entered into a quid pro quo with representatives from the Turkish government.

Earlier in 2024, Trump’s Justice Department dropped the federal bribery charges he faced. Adams had launched a re-election campaign as an independent, but he ultimately suspended his bid and backed Cuomo before the elections.

While Mamdani’s platform was largely focused on local issues, some of his supporters have argued that his vocal support for Palestinian rights helped propel his campaign amid the growing anger at Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

New York, United States – Sprawling crowds, a seven-block-long party and chants to “tax the rich” in the world’s wealthiest city marked Zohran Mamdani’s public inauguration as New York City mayor on Thursday, as the metropolis welcomed a new year with a new leadership.

Political inaugurations are usually more stolid affairs. But, as he had in his campaign for the mayoralty, Mamdani flipped the script with his swearing-in events.

In act one, just after midnight, as the ball dropped in Times Square to ring in 2026, Mamdani took the oath of office in a small ceremony on the steps of the landmark New York City Hall subway station.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath as Mamdani stood beside his wife, Rama Duwaji, on a staircase inside the transit hub, which has not been used for passenger service since 1945. He used a historic Quran borrowed from the New York Public Library for his swearing in, and a second one that belonged to his grandfather.

The public celebration arrived later, on New Year’s Day, when Mamdani repeated the oath on the steps of City Hall before a crowd that spilled across the surrounding plaza and into the streets. Despite the blistering cold, tens of thousands of supporters streamed into Lower Manhattan to watch the new mayor – along with the city’s comptroller, Mark Levine, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams – formally assume office.

National political heavyweights, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, flanked the city’s new leadership and delivered speeches outlining the progressive movement’s governing ambitions in New York and the national reverberations the race has already sent to lawmakers across the country.

“The most important lesson that can be learned today is that when working people stand, when they don’t let them [the ultra-wealthy] divide us up, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish,” Sanders said before swearing in Mamdani.

While guests and the press gathered inside the City Hall grounds, the city staged a seven-block-long public block party – a new twist on the traditionally ticketed inauguration format. In addition to a closed event capped at a few thousand attendees, anyone willing to RSVP and endure the frigid air and blustering winds after a night of snowfall could try their luck at getting in.

And many did, bundled New Yorkers shuffled through security checkpoints, hoping to glimpse the swearing-in of a 34-year-old democratic socialist now charged with running the largest city in the United States, streaming on large monitors stationed throughout the surrounding area outside City Hall.

Some supporters told Al Jazeera they waited in line for hours, and many never made it through the checkpoints in time. While crowds cheered and horns blasted in solidarity from a distance, a handful of protesters lingered behind police barricades.

The block party in and of itself was symbolic in its effort to reach more New Yorkers who have normally been left out of the political process, Democratic strategist Nomiki Konst told Al Jazeera.

“It was a way of opening up something that hasn’t been accessible for anybody, you know, that wasn’t part of the inner circle of New York politics and media,” Konst told Al Jazeera.

“It was an opportunity to give back to the people who helped him get into office.”

A message of unity and affordability

Mamdani, Williams and Levine spoke about unity for all New Yorkers, delivering remarks in English, Spanish, Hebrew and Greek, and appearing alongside faith leaders of several different faiths, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

“We have three swearings-in. One by a leader using a Quran, one by a leader using a Christian Bible, and one using a Hebrew Bible. I am proud to live in a city where this is possible,” Levine said after taking the oath of office.

Mamdani echoed that sentiment.

“We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it,” Mamdani said in his address.

“We will deliver nothing less as we work each day to make this city belong to more of its people than it did the day before.”

But the core message, voiced repeatedly by Mamdani, Levine, Williams, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, was the same one that defined the campaign: that the ultra wealthy should pay higher taxes.

“Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes is not radical. It is exactly the right thing to do,” Sanders said, as supporters chanted, “Tax the rich.”

One of Mamdani’s core promises was to raise the corporate tax rate in New York City from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent, equivalent to that of neighbouring New Jersey, as well as a 2 percent increase in taxes on those who make more than $1m a year. Any tax plan would need the approval of the governor to move forward.

“This movement came out of eight-and-a-half million somewheres – taxi cab depots and Amazon warehouses, DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] meetings and curbside domino games. The powers that be had looked away from these places for quite some time – if they’d known about them at all – so they dismissed them as nowhere. But in our city, where every corner of these five boroughs holds power, there is no nowhere and there is no no one,” Mamdani said.

Housing policy has been central to that affordability message for Mamdani. One of his signature campaign promises was to freeze the rent on the city’s rental stabilised apartments, which represent about half of the city’s rental housing stock.

“Those in rent-stabilised homes will no longer dread the latest rent hike – because we will freeze the rent,” Mamdani said in his remarks.

Only hours later, Mamdani introduced a slate of executive orders all aimed at housing.

“On the first day of this new administration, on the day when so many rent payments are due, we will not wait to deliver action,” Mamdani said at a news conference.

He announced three executive orders inside a rent-stabilised building in Brooklyn, including the creation of two new city task forces on housing policy: one to take inventory of city-owned land that could be used for housing, and another to identify ways to spur development.

“The housing crisis is at the centre of our affordability crisis. There are a number of things we are going to be focused on: protecting tenants, going after bad landlords, and building more housing. A huge part of how we get out of our housing crisis is to build more affordable housing across the city,” Leila Bozorg, the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning, told Al Jazeera on the steps of City Hall hours before announcing the new policies.

“These are policy decisions we can address if we have the political will and if we put the resources behind it. And that is what he [Mamdani] is committed to doing.”

Jan. 1 (UPI) — New York City has a new mayor Thursday after the private swearing-in ceremony in an abandoned subway tunnel just after midnight.

Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York early Thursday morning. He was sworn in by New York Attorney General Letitia James, with his wife Rama Duwaji holding two Korans for the first Muslim mayor to swear on.

One of the Korans belonged to his grandfather, and another belonged to Arturo Schomburg, a Black historian and writer who was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

The small ceremony took place in the old City Hall station, which is one of 28 original subway stations that opened in 1904. It was closed in 1945.

“This is truly the honor and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani called the station “a testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health and the legacy of our city.”

A public inauguration will happen at 1 p.m. Thursday on the steps of City Hall. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will administer a ceremonial oath of office, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., will make an opening speech. About 4,000 people were invited to that ceremony, Mamdani said, but the block party will be open to all.

“We wanted to ensure that as we celebrated the beginning of our administration, it was a celebration that was not simply for the typical people who would be invited to an inauguration, but in fact, for everyone,” Mamdani told reporters last week.

“This is not my success. It’s our success. It’s not my administration. It’s our administration. Similarly, it’s not my inauguration. It’s for all of us,” the new mayor added.

Mamdani has an ambitious agenda, including free buses, rent freezes and more. He has said funding will come from raising taxes on those who earn more than $1 million. But he needs the state to approve any taxes, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is opposed to raising taxes in the state. She has implied that she supports finding other revenue to fund his plan.

“It is my job as governor to make sure that whomever the mayor is, they’re successful,” Hochul told WNYW-TV in December.

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Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as New York City’s mayor just after midnight in a historic ceremony at a decommissioned Manhattan subway station.

Making history as the first Muslim to lead the United States’ largest city, Mamdani took his oath with his hand placed on a Quran.

“This is truly the honour and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said in a brief speech.

The private ceremony, conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James at the architecturally stunning old City Hall station – one of the city’s original subway stops known for its arched ceilings – marked the official transition of power.

In his inaugural remarks, Mamdani highlighted the venue as a “testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health and the legacy of our city” while announcing Mike Flynn as his new Department of Transportation commissioner.

The mayor concluded his brief address saying, “Thank you all so much, now I will see you later,” before ascending the stairs with a smile.

A more elaborate public inauguration will take place at 1pm (18:00 GMT) at City Hall. A public celebration will follow on Broadway’s “Canyon of Heroes”, famous for hosting ticker-tape parades.

As he steps into one of the US’s most demanding political positions, Mamdani breaks multiple barriers. At 34, he becomes the city’s youngest mayor in generations and the first of Muslim faith, South Asian descent, and African birth.

Zohran Mamdani has been sworn in as mayor of New York City, becoming the first Muslim and the youngest person in generations to take the oath of office in the United States’ biggest city.

Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a historic, decommissioned subway station in Manhattan just after midnight on Thursday, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath.

“This is truly the honour and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said.

The ceremony, administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a political ally, took place at the old City Hall station, one of the city’s original subway stops that is known for its stunning arched ceilings.

He will be sworn in again, in grander style, in a public ceremony at City Hall at 1pm (18:00GMT) by US Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the mayor’s political heroes. That will be followed by what the new administration is billing as a public block party on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” famous for its ticker-tape parades.

Mamdani now begins one of the most unrelenting jobs in US politics as one of the country’s most-watched politicians.

In addition to being the city’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34, Mamdani is also the city’s youngest mayor in generations.

In a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, the democratic socialist promised to bring transformative change with policies intended to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

His platform included free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households, and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.

But he will also have to face other responsibilities: handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes.

Tensions with Trump

Mamdani will also have to deal with Republican President Donald Trump.

During the mayoral race, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the city if Mamdani won and mused about sending National Guard troops to the city and suggested that he should be deported.

He also called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” in a social media post.

But Trump surprised supporters and foes alike by inviting the Democrat to the White House for what ended up being a cordial meeting in November.

“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said in the meeting, and the US president even came to Mamdani’s rescue as the two addressed reporters.

When a journalist asked Mamdani if he continued to view Trump as a fascist, the president stepped in.

“That’s OK. You can just say it. That’s easier,” Trump told Mamdani. “It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

Still, tensions between the two leaders remain.

Following the meeting, Mamdani said he still believed Trump is a fascist.

“That’s something that I’ve said in the past; I say it today,” Mamdani told NBC News.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. His family moved to New York City when he was 7, with Mamdani growing up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims didn’t always feel welcome. He became an American citizen in 2018.

He worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates in the city before he sought public office himself, winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens.

Still, Mamdani had minimal name recognition when he launched his mayoral campaign late last year.

However, in the lead-up to the Democratic primary, he quickly rose in the polls with a message focused on lowering the cost of living.

Mamdani ultimately defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo twice: once to clinch the Democratic nomination in June, and a second time in the November election.

The incoming mayor will take his oath of office with two family editions of the Quran and a 19th century edition, symbolising New York City history, in the public ceremony on Friday.

Zohran Mamdani on Thursday became the first New York City mayor to be sworn in using a Quran.

The first Muslim and South Asian mayor of the United States’ biggest metropolis, Mamdani used his grandfather’s Quran and a 200-year-old copy on loan from the New York Public Library (NYPL) for the private swearing-in event held at a disused subway station under Times Square.

He then plans to use two copies of the Quran that belonged to his grandfather and grandmother for a daytime ceremony at New York City Hall on Friday.

The historic Quran, borrowed from the library, once belonged to Arturo Schomburg, a Black historian and writer who sold his collection of 4,000 books to the NYPL in 1926. His collection became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Schomburg was born in Puerto Rico in the 1870s to parents of German and Afro-Caribbean descent. He later immigrated to New York and was a key player in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s – a period of intense cultural and intellectual flourishing within New York’s Black community.

The library praised Mamdani’s decision to use Schomburg’s Quran because of its connection to one of New York’s “most groundbreaking scholars and for its simple, functional qualities”.

The small size of the Quran and its black and red ink suggest it was designed for everyday use, the library said. The edition is neither signed nor dated, but its “minute naskh script and its binding, featuring a gilt-stamped medallion filled with a floral composition, suggest it was produced in Ottoman Syria in the 19th century”, the library added.

“The significance of this Quran extends far beyond the beauty of its pages,” said Hiba Abid, curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. “It is a Quran close to the people, not only because of its simple craftsmanship, but also because it is part of the collections of the nation’s largest public library system.”

Anthony W Marx, the library’s president and CEO, said the choice of Quran and its association with Schomburg “symbolises a greater story of inclusion, representation, and civic-mindedness”.

Mamdani is one of only a handful of US politicians to be sworn in with the Quran. New York does not require mayors to take the oath of office with their hand on a religious text, but many past mayors have used a copy of the Bible.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used a 100-year-old family Bible during one ceremony, while Mayor Bill de Blasio used a Bible that once belonged to US President Franklin D Roosevelt. Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, also used a family Bible for his oath.

Mamdani’s faith and his background as a Ugandan-born American of South Asian descent were front and centre during his campaign, which focused on celebrating the diversity of New York.

In viral social media videos, Mamdani also spoke candidly about the effect of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the subsequent rise in Islamophobia in the US. Other videos featured the experiences of everyday New Yorkers, including many of its Muslim and immigrant communities.

Mamdani has also been a firm critic of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza.

Critics like New York Representative Elise Stefanik homed in on Mamdani’s background and left-wing politics as a Democratic Socialist, calling the incoming mayor a “jihadist Communist” and “terrorist” sympathiser.

Mamdani, however, pledged to never hide from his background during a campaign speech. “I will not change who I am, how I eat, or the faith that I’m proud to call my own,” he said during his campaign. “I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.”

Zohran Mamdani will become mayor of New York City as the clock ticks over into 2026 — but the celebrations are set to last through New Year’s Day.

The Democrat’s team is planning two separate swearing-in ceremonies Thursday — a small, private one with his family in an old subway station around midnight, followed by a large event in the afternoon that will include a public block party outside City Hall.

As a new mayor’s term begins immediately with the new year, it has been customary for the city’s incoming leaders to hold two events. Departing Mayor Eric Adams held his initial swearing-in at Times Square shortly after the famous ball drop, while Adams’ predecessor Bill de Blasio took his first oath at home in Brooklyn.

For his part, Mamdani will take his initial oath at the former City Hall subway station in Manhattan — one of the city’s original stops on its subterranean transit system, known for its tiled arches and vaulted ceilings.

New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, a political ally and notable foe of President Trump, will administer the oath of office.

The old City Hall stop was designed as the flagship station of the city’s first subway line, but was decommissioned in 1945. These days, outside of occasional guided historical tours, locals can usually only catch a glimpse of it by staying on the 6 train after its last stop downtown when it turns around to head north.

In a statement, Mamdani’s office said the choice to be sworn in at the station reflected his “commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day.”

“When Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 — one of New York’s 28 original subway stations — it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives,” Mamdani said.

“That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath City Hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above,” he said.

On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani will be sworn in again, this time by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of his political heroes, on the steps of City Hall in a ceremony. It’s scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. with opening remarks from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another political ally and a fellow New Yorker.

Mamdani’s transition formed an inaugural committee that includes actor John Turturro, playwright Cole Escola and writer Colson Whitehead, as well as advocates, small business owners and campaign workers who the incoming mayor’s office says have “provided perspective, guidance, and cultural sensibility” for the ceremony.

The public swearing-in will be accompanied by a block party along a stretch of Broadway leading up to City Hall. Mamdani’s office expects thousands of people to attend and says there will be performances, music and interfaith elements.

Izaguirre writes for the Associated Press.