Ofir Akunis, Israel's consul general in the world's largest Jewish city outside its borders, is deeply offended by Zohran Mamdani's oft-stated views that Israel, as a Jewish state, is illegitimate. As long as that is true, Akunis said, he will not meet with the new New York City mayor.

Not that Mamdani has invited him to do so, although Akunis has had good relationships and frequent meetings with previous mayors, the diplomat told JNS in a recent interview.

They have not met even though the New York City Police Department recently reported that antisemitic crimes in New York rose 182% in January — Mamdani's first month at the helm in City Hall — compared with a year earlier.

Instead, Akunis met on Tuesday evening with Yehuda Kaploun, a rabbi and U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism while he was in Washington, D.C., where the Israeli diplomat also met with members of Congress.

In the meeting with Kaploun, Akunis called the steady rise in antisemitic crimes "alarming and dangerous," and said that "phenomena we have seen in recent years in Europe are now reaching the U.S. as well," per an Israeli readout. "We must wake up before it is too late."

On Wednesday, Mamdani named Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, a liberal lobbying group, head of the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism.

His predecessor, Eric Adams, created the office, and the man who led the office under Adams, Moshe Davis, received widespread praise from Jewish groups. Wisdom has been a critic of the Chassidic yeshiva system for, she has said, not providing secular education as required by the state.

On his first day in office Mamdani revoked several city policies that Adams put in place via executive order, including a ban on city agencies and departments boycotting Israel, and the city's use of a widely-accepted definition of Jew-hatred, which includes criticism of Israel as a Jewish state, though not criticism of the Israeli government or its policies.

Israel's consul general normally meets regularly with whoever is New York's mayor, Akunis told JNS.

"Of course, they recognized the State of Israel," said Akunis, who has been in his position since May 1, 2024, a month when anti-Israel protests were ramping up across the country, notably at Columbia University in New York. (JNS sought comment from Mamdani's office about whether he has met or plans to meet any of the consuls general in New York City.)

Akunis said that he worries about the safety of Jews in New York City, who number about 1 million and constitute roughly 10% of the city's residents, he said.

"This is the most challenging time for Jews in the United States, especially in New York, since the big immigration in the 1890s," Akunis told JNS. "I am most worried about the atmosphere."

Soon after Mamdani was elected, Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry met specifically to discuss how to handle dealing with New York's first anti-Zionist and anti-Israel mayor.

The strategy upon which they settled was "if he does not attack us, we will not attack him," Akunis told JNS in his office in the Israeli consulate in midtown Manhattan.

Mamdani "does not recognize me as a representative of the State of Israel," Akunis said. "So how am I supposed to meet someone who does not recognize me?"

The mayor has also said that he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested if he comes to the city.

Akunis said that it is ironic that Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Somaliland and Sudan, among other Middle Eastern and Muslim countries, recognize Israel.

"But he prefers not to?" he said of the mayor. "This is his right, but I think that he is wrong and that he doesn't know the facts."

In any case, Mamdani's people "did not write to schedule a meeting, and I will not invite myself to a meeting" with him, he said.

"The fact that he changed the definition of antisemitism is a huge problem. I hope he knows that people need to have personal security here," Akunis said. "On the subway, an Israeli was recently attacked, because he was wearing a kippah."

"We don't want these things to happen here. We prefer peace," he said. "But if someone wants peace, he needs to say he wants peace."

'This is our territory'

The consul, 52, grew up in the Tel Aviv area in a secular home devoted to the nationalist, expansionist ideas espoused by the Herut and Likud political parties.

Akunis is no less committed to the same ideology today. "The Land of Israel, Samaria and Judea, is ours," he told JNS. "We are Jews because we come from Judea. This is the former name of Palestine."

"Someone needs to educate the others," meaning those participating in anti-Israel protests, he said. Mamdani "is well educated, though he does not know Israel," he added.

JNS asked if Akunis believes that Palestinians have a right to their own state.

"Sure," he said. "But somewhere else. Not in Judea and Samaria, because this is our territory."

A large wooden desk dominates Akunis's office, with a statue of former Likud-affiliated Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin — who is Akunis's ideological hero, though, the consul general is quick to point out, he is non-partisan about it and also deeply admires former Prime Minister Golda Meir, who was affiliated with Israel's Labor Party.

Behind the desk are large Israeli and U.S. flags. Akunis added the U.S. flag because he loves this country, he told JNS.

A framed, large and severely burned Israeli flag, which was rescued from the World Trade Center site after the terrorist destruction there on Sept. 11, 2001, hangs on a wall.

'A real miracle'

Mamdani appears poised to become the first New York City mayor in memory not to walk in the Salute to Israel parade in May, according to Akunis and other sources. The mayor has said he doesn't intend to participate but will send a representative.

While Akunis and Mamdani are unlikely to bond over baklava, the Israeli diplomat cannot say enough positive things about the U.S. president.

"President Trump is a biblical wonder to the Jewish people and Israel," he told JNS. Trump's election was "a real nes," or miracle, he added.

By way of evidence, Akunis cites Trump's undoing the weapons embargo on Israel that former President Joe Biden had implemented "during our justified war in Gaza."

The consul general also notes Trump's decision to send the U.S. military into Iran in June 2025 to bomb major nuclear facilities there during the Iran-Israel war.

Akunis began in his current job at an especially challenging moment in May 2024, when anti-Israel protests were ramping up all over the country. This was especially the case in New York City, most notably at Columbia University, where the ensuing embroglio ensnared the university's president at the time in a congressional hearing.

Trump quickly pulled $400 million in research funding from the Ivy League university. The school settled with the federal government for $221 million in July and agreed, among other things, to having the racial breakdown of its admissions monitored.

"I think it was effective," Akunis told JNS. "Since then, there are no protestors inside the Columbia campus or in other places."

He thinks the mayor is unwise in his threat to boot the Technion—often described as Israel's equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—from New York City to sever its partnership in higher education with Cornell University on a campus called CornellTech.

"Israel is a lighthouse of science, technology and innovation. It's a wonder. People want to collaborate with Israeli high tech and universities," Akunis told JNS. "I don't think that it's in the interest of the mayor to ask CornellTech to leave the city."

He added, proudly, that he placed the cornerstone on the CornellTech main building when construction began while he was Israel's innovation, science and technology minister from 2015-20 and 2022-24.

Akunis was first elected to Israel's Knesset following the 2009 elections, after working as a media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was a cabinet member for 15 years, until his appointment to the New York post. Consuls general typically remain in the role for three years.