A group of Queens elected officials and civic leaders is taking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to court, alleging his administration unlawfully delayed the release of records tied to a controversial decision to rescind the city’s adoption of a widely used definition of antisemitism.

The lawsuit, filed this week in state court, accuses the mayor’s office of “stonewalling” a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request seeking internal communications and documents related to Mamdani’s repeal of an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

The plaintiffs — Queens Councilmembers Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino, along with Queens Civic Congress President Warren Schreiber — say the public is entitled to understand the reasoning behind the move, particularly as antisemitic incidents have risen in New York and nationwide in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

“The purpose of the FOIL applications at issue in this proceeding is to decipher and obtain the documentary trail of information illuminating Mayor Mamdani’s motives,” the complaint states, arguing that the administration’s response has been “arbitrary and capricious.”

On his first day in office in January, Mamdani revoked a slate of executive orders issued by his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams. Among them was an order formally adopting the IHRA definition — a framework that has been endorsed by dozens of democratic governments and institutions, including the U.S. State Department, the European Union and the United Nations.

The IHRA definition describes antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and provides 11 contemporary examples. Those include Holocaust denial and certain rhetoric directed at Israel, such as denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination or holding Israel to standards not applied to other democratic nations.

Supporters of the definition argue it provides law enforcement and public officials with a consistent standard for identifying antisemitic conduct, particularly in gray areas involving anti-Israel rhetoric.

Critics, however, have argued that some of the examples risk conflating criticism of Israeli government policy with antisemitism.

Mamdani’s office has said the decision to rescind the IHRA adoption was not targeted, but part of a broader administrative reset. The mayor revoked all executive orders issued after Sept. 26, 2024 — the date Adams was indicted on corruption charges, which were later dismissed — framing the move as an effort to begin his term with a clean slate.

But opponents say that explanation is insufficient.

They contend that eliminating the IHRA adoption — even as part of a wider rollback — carries significant policy implications at a time when hate crime statistics show Jewish New Yorkers continue to account for a disproportionate share of reported bias incidents.

According to the lawsuit, the mayor’s office acknowledged receipt of the FOIL request and projected an April timeline for producing responsive documents. The plaintiffs argue that the delay violates the spirit and letter of New York’s open-records law, given the public interest surrounding the issue.

They are asking the court to compel the administration to produce the requested materials and to formally justify its decision-making process.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)