Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa is once again under fire for his record on Jewish issues after a campaign stop in Harlem produced a viral exchange that appears to demonstrate a willingness to tolerate antisemitic rhetoric – if not dabble in it himself.

On Monday, Sliwa was engaging passersby on 125th Street when a woman approached him with a conspiracy theory: “We got a problem in Brooklyn. The Jews are robbing people of their homes.” Instead of rejecting the charge, Sliwa echoed her, responding, “deed theft” before moving on.

The moment was captured by Politico journalist Jeff Coltin, who later pressed Sliwa on why he didn’t correct the falsehood. Sliwa defended himself, claiming he wanted to hear the woman out before passing judgment. “You let her talk,” he explained. “If I’ve got to correct her and say ‘look, deed theft is being done by a lot of different people … then you’d never hear the rest of the story.’”

The backlash is especially charged because this is not Sliwa’s first brush with antisemitic controversy. In 2018, he accused Jews of “buying off” politicians and consolidating power in New York politics — remarks that advocacy groups condemned as trafficking in centuries-old antisemitic stereotypes. In 2023, Agudath Israel of America blasted him again for a rant against Jews in which he derided “able-bodied men who study Torah and Talmud all day while “all they do is make babies like there’s no tomorrow.”

Though Sliwa has attempted to soften his image — such as by hosting Shabbos meals with Jewish allies like Dov Hikind, who vouched that the candidate was “pretty close” to being an ally — skepticism remains. The Harlem incident appears to confirm what some Jewish leaders have warned for years: that Sliwa’s instincts lean toward validating rather than confronting antisemitic sentiment.

The controversy comes with New York’s mayoral race entering its final month — and with antisemitism a recurring flashpoint. Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, has drawn his own fire for his ties to activist circles that champion slogans like “Globalize the Intifada.” Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent and has risen slightly in the polls after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropped his reelection bid, has been accused of antisemitism by targeting heavily Jewish neighborhoods during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this environment, Sliwa’s Harlem exchange is not an isolated gaffe but part of a broader narrative: all three frontrunners for mayor are facing credibility tests on Jewish issues at a moment when antisemitic incidents in the city have surged.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)