About a month after the election victory of an openly anti-Israel politician for mayor, Hirsch warned in an interview with Ynet that “everywhere anti-Zionism has intensified — especially when promoted by politicians — antisemitism has worsened.”

Hirsch serves as the senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan. Throughout the war, he has strongly defended Israel’s right to defend itself and sharply criticized rising anti-Zionist voices in American political circles. During the New York election campaign in August, he met with Mamdani together with other liberal rabbis from the city. He did not walk away optimistic from that meeting.

Rabbi Hirsch’s warnings reflect a growing unease among American Jewish leaders who see anti-Zionist rhetoric rapidly transforming into direct hostility toward Jews in public spaces, campuses, and government offices. With New York — home to the world’s largest Jewish community outside Israel — now governed by an administration hostile toward the Jewish state, many fear a dangerous shift that empowers radical elements and weakens communal safety.