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Holocaust educator says Mamdani could learn from UK's targeted approach to antisemitism in schools
The British government’s decision to embrace sweeping measures addressing antisemitism in schools is drawing a sharp contrast with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recently unveiled strategy, raising questions about why Britain’s plan appears more specific than the one proposed in America’s most Jewish city.
The U.K. government accepted all 27 recommendations from an independent review into antisemitism in schools and colleges in England. The measures include encouraging adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, specialized training for educators, strengthened reporting procedures and independent oversight.
Mamdani’s 33-page strategy — while not only focused on education — by comparison, does not adopt a single definition of antisemitism, explicitly address the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism or establish numerical benchmarks for measuring whether its initiatives succeed.
British Jewish author and Holocaust educator Dov Forman, who recently graduated from university, said Mamdani could learn from Britain’s targeted approach to addressing antisemitism in schools.
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The British review followed a BBC report from Yavneh College, a Jewish secondary school near London, where students described how antisemitism has affected their daily lives. Their accounts offered a window into the urgency behind the government’s recommendations.
Education provides one of the clearest points of comparison between the two strategies. Mamdani's plan calls for expanding Holocaust education, including opportunities for students to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage, while also addressing how public schools respond to antisemitic discrimination. The U.K. government's recommendations address many of those same concerns, placing greater emphasis on how educators recognize antisemitism, how schools respond when incidents occur and what protections are in place for Jewish students.
The review, led by former senior education official Sir David Bell, found that nearly three in five Jewish people between the ages of 16 and 19 had experienced or witnessed antisemitism. It concluded that antisemitism is a distinct form of racism requiring a specific response and called for clearer guidance to distinguish legitimate political debate from harassment, intimidation and antisemitic rhetoric.
British Jewish author and Holocaust educator Dov Forman, who recently graduated from university, called the recommendations "the bare minimum," while acknowledging that the government is attempting to confront the problem directly.
"The least [Mamdani] could do is look at what has happened in the U.K. and adopt similar measures, such as adopting the IHRA definition, which is the agreed definition across the world and where there is a consensus of what antisemitism actually is," Forman told Fox News Digital.
"The basic way to solve antisemitism is to actually agree on what it is and to understand that targeting a Jew deliberately because of what is going on in Israel, for example, is antisemitic, as the IHRA definition says," he added.
Forman cautioned that the British recommendations remain largely optional and that their effectiveness will depend on whether institutions act.
"I do think some of them will be enforced and listened to. I do worry, though, that the government says things and does not actually take it seriously enough."
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the government would establish an implementation group, while Bell was commissioned to conduct an independent assessment of its progress after one year.
Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, welcomed Britain’s decision while emphasizing that adopting recommendations is only the beginning.
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"I welcome the U.K.’s announcement that it has accepted all 27 recommendations," Kaploun wrote on X. "Now, the challenge lies in implementation and enforcement."
Forman also said that British officials must examine whether their rhetoric about Israel contradicts their stated commitment to protecting Jewish communities.
"It is very rich of the government to say that schools should adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and that Jews should not be demonized for what is going on in the Middle East, and then for them to get up in the dispatch box in the House of Commons every week and blame Israel," he said.
"Stop talking and start acting," Forman added, calling on the government to confront Islamist extremism and the Muslim Brotherhood and identify more directly where antisemitism is originating.
The U.K. has faced criticism for being slow in combating antisemitism. Jewish residents have faced physical attacks, threats and harassment, making the specificity of its new plan and its contrast with New York City’s approach particularly notable.
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, called Mamdani’s strategy a "paper tiger," arguing that its announced $36 million price tag obscures how little would go directly toward physical security.
"It’s a million dollars in security in a city with a million Jews. It’s a dollar a Jew," Steinmetz told Fox News Digital.
The strategy includes $1 million to support physical security for vulnerable nonprofit organizations, including synagogues and other houses of worship, and $6.4 million for grants through the city’s Partners Against the Hate initiative.
Steinmetz claimed that much of the money would support cultural centers and broadly defined community initiatives rather than immediate security needs.
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UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the American Jewish Committee’s New York office and the New York Board of Rabbis issued a joint statement warning that Mamdani’s plan fails to address a central source of contemporary antisemitism.
The organizations said rhetoric demonizing or delegitimizing Israel contributes to Jewish New Yorkers being treated as suspect, excluded or unsafe, and argued that any serious strategy must acknowledge that connection.
"How can you have a strategy to keep New York Jews safe when you can’t even name what the danger is?" Steinmetz asked.
One of Mamdani’s early actions as mayor was to revoke an executive order issued by former Mayor Eric Adams adopting the IHRA definition for city agencies. The definition provides examples of when criticism of Israel may cross into antisemitism while making clear that criticism comparable to that directed at any other country is not inherently antisemitic.
Fox News Digital asked Mamdani’s office why the city’s strategy omits the IHRA definition and measurable benchmarks, and whether the administration would consider safeguards similar to those adopted by Britain. The mayor’s office did not respond by the time of publication.
Britain’s measures have also only recently been accepted, and their impact remains untested.
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Britain has defined the problem, outlined specific recommendations and established a process for reviewing its progress. New York City’s Jewish leaders are still asking whether City Hall has accurately identified the threat it claims it intends to confront.
Fox News Digital's Sydney Finver contributed to this report.
