Ahead of Yom Kippur: American rabbi calls on Zohran Mamdani to apologize

Rabbi Marc Schneier, rabbi of the Hampton Synagogue in New York, published an op-ed in the Daily News calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to apologize for his statements against Israel and Zionism. Schneier drafted a hypothetical apology including an admission of harm and a commitment to change. The call comes two days after Mamdani refused to apologize, and close to Yom Kippur and Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to New York.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, the senior rabbi and founder of the Hampton Synagogue and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, published an op-ed in the Daily News calling on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to apologize for his statements. The call comes two days after Mamdani was given an opportunity to apologize but chose not to. In his article, Schneier details what a genuine apology requires: expressing regret for the pain caused, admitting the harm created by Mamdani's rhetoric on issues of Israel, Zionism, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and a commitment to practical change. Schneier drafted a hypothetical apology from Mamdani's perspective, including an admission that he called Israel's war in Gaza 'genocide' and an understanding that New York Jews see this characterization as a lie and a distortion of the Holocaust. In the text, Mamdani commits to no longer using this term and to encouraging others to stop. The timing is especially symbolic: close to Yom Kippur and the arrival of Prime Minister Netanyahu in New York. Schneier has been working for over 20 years to build bridges between the Muslim and Jewish communities.