Jewish students in New York City are voicing their unease following Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s decision to annul an executive order that aligned the city’s definition of antisemitism with that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), identifying antisemitism as “hatred toward Jews.”

Fox News Digital engaged with students from New York University and Columbia University, who described the withdrawal of the executive order as “terrifying.” They expressed concerns that this change could lead to an escalation in protests and influence the conduct of faculty and students across NYC campuses.

“The IHRA’s definition of antisemitism is widely respected for a reason,” NYU student Mera Skoblo shared with Fox News Digital. “The decision to abolish this definition on the very first day, alongside other protective executive orders for the Jewish community, seems like an open invitation for protests to surge once more. Eliminating these protections meant for Jewish students to ensure our safety feels like a deliberate action against us.”

“It seems like an assault,” Skoblo further noted.

In the wake of Mayor Mamdani’s repeal of the IHRA antisemitism standard, Jewish students caution that the change might embolden activists on campuses and escalate antisemitic discourse at New York City’s universities.

NYU has been the site of particularly intense protests, such as a demonstration on December 12, 2024, held outside the university’s library. Protesters at this event called for an “intifada revolution” and claimed that Tel Aviv is “stolen land.”

Former mayor Eric Adams first signed the executive order tying the city’s definition of antisemitism to that of the IHRA. Mamdani rescinded the adoption on Jan. 1, his first day serving as mayor.

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” the IHRA definition reads. “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Protest stickers were put on the doors at Butler Library at Columbia University’s campus on May 7, 2025 in New York City. Pro-Palestinian protesters held a demonstration inside the Butler Library on Columbia University’s campus, disrupting finals week. ( Indy Scholtens/Getty Images)

As for Columbia University, the Upper West Side, Ivy League school faced some of the most intense protests in the country in the years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

“The pro-Palestinian rhetoric that has really taken hold on my campus will just [be emboldened by Mamdani’s] rhetoric and just inflame the campus and the campus political stance,” Columbia University student Galia Labowitz explained. “I honestly am terrified of what this year has to come.”

Labowitz also pointed to systemic antisemitism rooted in professors who potentially supported Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. 

“I’ve had professors that have canceled class because of protests or encouraged students to go and participate in these protests,” Labowitz said. “Obviously it’s made me very uncomfortable, and it’s really discouraged me from speaking up in class or being able to be very proud of my Jewish identity and my Zionist identity.

Police intervene and arrest more than 100 students at New York University in support of students at Columbia University and to oppose Israel’s attacks on Gaza. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“I absolutely think that these professors that encourage this antisemitic rhetoric are deeply troubling and honestly very isolating,” Labowitz added.

In April 2024, Columbia University’s East Butler Lawn was taken over by an encampment involving hundreds of students and non-students who chanted “from the river to the sea” while calling for an end to the war in the Middle East and criticizing Israel and its citizens.

In May 2025, demonstrators occupied Butler Library and informally designated it as “Basel Al-Araj Popular University.”

The various protests at Columbia University resulted in hundreds of arrests and student disciplinary actions from the Ivy League school.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani, NYU and Columbia University but did not receive responses in time for publication.