A coalition of prominent Jewish legal organizations is sharply criticizing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he failed to appoint a single Jewish member to an influential committee that helps recommend judicial nominees, accusing his administration of continuing a pattern that has left many Jewish New Yorkers feeling excluded and ignored.

In a joint letter, the Queens Brandeis Association, the Jewish Lawyers Guild, the Brooklyn Brandeis Society, and the Bronx County Jewish Bar Association expressed outrage over the makeup of the 18-member Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary.

“Your recent announcement of appointees to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary has left us deeply disappointed,” the organizations wrote.

The groups noted that, despite City Hall’s pledge that the panel would represent the diversity of New York City, none of the appointees were Jewish attorneys, judges, or legal professionals.

“Not a single Jewish attorney, former judge or legal professional was appointed to a committee your administration described as one that would be ‘truly reflective of New York City,’” the letter continued.

According to the organizations, the latest decision is not an isolated incident but part of a broader trend that has increasingly alienated the city’s Jewish community. They pointed to Mamdani’s refusal to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, as well as the omission of Jewish neighborhoods from a city map highlighting immigrant communities, as additional examples of what they view as a troubling pattern.

The organizations also emphasized that the controversy comes at an especially sensitive time, just days after a violent antisemitic attack outside an Upper West Side synagogue heightened concerns about the safety and security of Jewish residents throughout the city.

Calling on the mayor to reverse course, the groups urged him to add qualified Jewish representatives to the committee and reaffirm that the Jewish community deserves equal treatment.

“We urge you to correct this exclusion by appointing qualified Jewish members to the Advisory Committee and to reaffirm that Jewish New Yorkers are entitled to the same representation, respect and protection as every other community.”

The letter was signed by Elizabeth Forspan, Benjamin Kaufman, Jeffrey Miller, and Matthew Kluger, who also voiced particular frustration over the administration’s decision not to appoint retired Appellate Division Justice John Leventhal.

City Hall rejected allegations that religion played any role in Leventhal’s exclusion. Instead, Mamdani’s office said the decision stemmed from Leventhal’s previous legal work involving convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

“To date, Mayor Mamdani has had the privilege of appointing a dozen qualified judges from a range of backgrounds, including Jewish judges,” Mamdani press secretary Joe Calvello told Politico.

“When informed that Mr. Leventhal served on [Ghislaine] Maxwell’s legal team, the Mamdani administration chose not to move forward with his appointment. Any suggestion that the decision around MACJ was motivated by religion is false.”

The advisory committee is led by attorney Ali Najmi, a close confidant of Mamdani who has publicly referred to the mayor as his “brother.” Najmi played a significant role in Mamdani’s rapid rise within New York City’s Democratic socialist movement and now oversees the panel responsible for evaluating judicial candidates before they are nominated by the mayor.

The dispute adds to growing tensions between Mamdani and many leaders in New York’s Jewish community, who have repeatedly accused him of using anti-Israel rhetoric that they believe has contributed to a hostile atmosphere for Jewish residents.

Last week, Mamdani released a video message on social media in which he described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and declared that he is “not welcome” in New York City ahead of Netanyahu’s expected appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The mayor also acknowledged that New York City has no legal authority to arrest Netanyahu based on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, since the United States is not a member of the court.

Just two days after those remarks, Raul Morales allegedly carried out a stabbing attack on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, injuring an Asian man and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke while reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

Morales has been charged with attempted murder and hate crimes and could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The day after the attack, Jewish leaders gathered outside the synagogue where the assault occurred and blamed the mayor’s rhetoric for helping create an increasingly dangerous environment.

“Mayor Mamdani, stop fanning the flames of hatred and division. The consequences are not abstract, they are playing out on our streets,” said UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein.