New York City attorney Jack Lester, along with five New York City Council members and 28 citizens, is suing for information regarding the policies that Mayor Zohran Mamdani scrapped as his first act as mayor on his first day in office, including repealing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and an Israel boycott ban, according to a report by JNS.

Lester said he filed a Freedom of Information Law request to obtain records, such as emails related to these actions, to which the mayor’s office is required by law to respond within five days and release within 20 business days. The mayor’s office denied the request, saying that Lester has to file with the law department. Lester filed an appeal, which was again denied.

Lester said that the mayor revoked laws that former Mayor Eric Adams passed to protect the Jewish community “in a vacuum without any rationale, studies or impact statements.”

“We’d like to know what public policies will result, what impacts on the purchase of Israeli bonds there will be, educational policies and public safety policies,” he added. “There is a broad area of impacts that have been left without any sort of comment.”

“What exactly are his objectives?” Lester asked.

While the five Council members — Joann Ariola, David Carr, Frank Morano, Inna Vernikov and Vickie Paladino — are all Republicans, the citizens represent a wide spectrum of political views and various professions, such as lawyers, therapists, journalists and people who work in the world of finance.

Jeffrey Weisenfeld, who has worked in city and state governments under both Democratic and Republican administrations, took a stab at guessing Mamdani’s motive: sending a message of support to anti-Zionists.

The mayor’s “bifurcation of Jews from Israel is a very dangerous thing,” he said in an interview with JNS. “For most of us, Judaism is both the covenant and the land. It’s not for him to define Judaism, just as we don’t define Islam.”

Weisenfeld believes that Mamdani has something to hide; otherwise, he would have promptly complied with the FOIL request.

“I’m pleased it’s getting to a formalized lawsuit that highlights protections that he’s not providing for Jews,” he said.

Lester said he took the case pro bono, out of disgust for Mamdani’s first actions as mayor.

“I’m familiar with his background and statements and public career,” he said. “He falls on the extreme side of this issue. The fact that he did it as his first act as mayor was a slap in the face to the entire Jewish community.”