Transcript: Mayor Adams Signs Executive Order and Proposes Legislation to Codify Into Law International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Definition of Antisemitism, Addressing Historic Rise in Anti-Jewish Hatred

June 8, 2025

Aryeh Bourkoff, Founder and CEO, LionTree: My name is Aryeh Bourkoff. I wanted to welcome everyone tonight to this very momentous gathering. And it's beautiful to see everyone coming here on short notice. Where there is war and conflict, there are also preparations for peace. And that's what we're here to focus on tonight. 

Our friend, Dr. Phil McGraw, has graced us with his presence tonight. And not only his presence here tonight, but his outspoken language in such a critical moment for all of us. Dr. Phil has been a friend for a long time and a media personality, and he's not afraid to speak up for what's right and wrong. He says, among other things, when you're confronted with a problem, you have three choices. You could remove yourself, you can accept it, or you can be part of the change and change it. 

And we're here all tonight to be part of the change. And the mayor, who's also graced us, I remember fondly after October 7th, when I was in Israel. Three days later, the mayor gave a speech, I think in Bryant Park here in New York, and he said, “We are not alright.” And sitting in Israel with family and in the period of mourning, which we're still in in many ways, he made it very proudful to come back to New York and to have leadership that actually talked about changing things and not cowering in the face of what was growing choruses of antisemitism. 

In many ways, that makes the mayor and Dr. Phil part of the Jewish community. Because the Jewish community and the Jewish faith, unlike any other faith, do not accept things as they are. We are a religion that believes in the world as it ought to be. 

And I'm very proud to be seeing all the Rabbinut and the rabbis here today to be part of this discourse and solutions. It is not easy to be leading in the Jewish community today, just like it's not easy to be leading, period, today. 

But you are in the company of many that came before us, from Moshe Rabbeinu, to Yirmiyahu, to David HaMelech, to Eliyahu, to Yonah. And you are in the company to see the world as it should be versus as it is today. I commend you all for being here and we're looking forward to a very beautiful evening that has real teeth to it that you'll see. 

I wanted to just finish my remarks by saying just a small Tehillim or a very short Tehillim if you'll repeat after me. Hallelu, et Adonai, kol goyim, shabechu hu, kol ha'umim, ki gavar, aleinu, chasdo, ve'emet, Adonai, le'olam, hallelujah. 

Praise the Lord, all you nations, extol him, all you peoples, for great is his steadfast love towards us. The faithfulness of the Lord endures forever, hallelujah. We could do anything with his presence here tonight. Welcome.

Dr. Phil: Well, good evening. Aryeh, thank you so much for your comments. If anyone here doesn't know Aryeh, he is a man of deep devotion, integrity, and compassion. Look, in this world, there are givers and there are takers. And my dear friend Aryeh is the quintessential giver. He leads by example. He lives and works, putting family and friendship and community at the center of everything he does, always guided by core Jewish principles. So thank you so much for being here and doing this. 

I want to thank all of you rabbis and other clergy and distinguished supporters for your leadership and commitment to faith, community, and justice. And it may seem pretty odd that I'm one of the loud voices advocating to stop the antisemitism in this country, and in fact, around the world. 

And I do feel sometimes like I'm standing pretty alone as a non-Jew defending Israel and its right to defend itself against murderous terror attacks. Because let's face it, I'm not a politician. I certainly don't understand geopolitical things. I'm just an old country boy from Texas and Oklahoma. I was raised a Baptist, actually. 

And I sure didn't sit in my sandbox as a child dreaming of one day growing up and fighting for Israel's right to exist and Jews' right to live. [], I was going to be a pilot. So why me? And I get asked that question probably more than any when I'm interviewed about this. Somewhere along the way, I just developed a real problem with bullies. I just did. 

People trying to make right and wrong fuzzy and subjective and contextual. It is not. And there is such a great significance for all of us standing together during what I believe is a truly pivotal time of crisis, both in Israel and here in the United States. Standing together against hate and evil and wrong. 

It is so important because things are spinning out of control. And there's great and important strength found in unity when you're confronting evil and defending human dignity. Ben-Gurion said it really well. He said, “It's not so much what the haters and the antisemites say as it is what the rest of us, all of us, all of you do.” It's not what they say, it's what we do. 

The October 7th attack and subsequent reaction to it brought into sharp focus the sickness that I think from a psychological perspective plagues modern society today. Despite the world witnessing with their own eyes, real-time video, the horrific violence, innocent lives murdered, families torn apart, children and elderly targeted and massacred, an attack of unspeakable atrocity that violates all moral and religious principles. 

Acts of terror that cannot be justified under any circumstance. Acts for which there is no moral equivalent. These were not acts of war, these were war crimes. And people see this and witness this and it just reflects a societal sickness marked by a crippling lack of critical thinking. And we've got generations coming along and just haven't been taught to think critically, to ask questions, to verify. 

Your story goes a lot better if you're the only one telling it. And that's what's happening at our elite universities. We've got professors in there, we've got activists in there, we've got agitators in there. And they're telling kids one side of the story. 

I've talked to kids that don't know what the Holocaust is. I've talked to one kid that asked if it was a type of hurricane. He said, “Yeah, in a way, I suppose you're probably righter than you think.” I fear that it is just in vogue to simplify and organize the world into oppressors and the oppressed. And they've just decided to find an underdog that's got a story to tell and jump on that bandwagon. 

Don't do homework, don't ask questions, don't find out the real story. And I fear that's what has happened. But I've learned a lot about the Jewish faith. Angie Kraus is one of my executive producers at Dr. Phil for 25 plus years, and has taught me a lot about it over the years. We've done shows about this for years, back 15, 20 years ago. 

Jewish blood is sacred, and the community mourns every drop of innocent blood shed and every innocent life lost. I was at an event a few weeks ago for ZAKA, the volunteers, who bring those that are lost home. And they don't just do it for Jewish families, they do it for all families. 

You know, Hamas is an undeniably brutal terrorist organization. They have a long history of violence, hatred, rejection of peace, valuing death over life, rejecting peace, choosing instead invasion. Yet right here in our own New York City and around the globe, the murderer becomes the victim, even the hero. 

They're glorified for their antisemitic ideology and commitment to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. It's an upside down world. Hamas is celebrated for the use of human shields, tunnels, propaganda to perpetrate violence and terror. They're celebrated for their failure to recognize the dignity and rights of human beings. They're celebrated for this. 

Where did it go wrong? It's a higher form of insanity. We, all of us, complain. We can complain about it or, in the alternative, I mentioned Ben-Gurion earlier, he says, take action. And one undeniable unified voice that says enough is enough and too much is too much is what needs to be heard. 

Enough is enough and too much is too much. You, me, together, we have the moral and religious responsibility to respond. Now look, some say religion and politics don't mix. I say you must all call on your congregations to stand in righteous opposition to the terrorism and hatred. 

I was talking to Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel and he told me during the Holocaust, we as Jews did not have the ability, we did not have the wherewithal to rise up, to fight back, to self-protect. And when it was over, we said never again, never again. 

So we didn't have the ability to fight back then, but we do have the ability to fight back now. And so we shall. Judaism upholds the values of life, justice and peace. And as rabbis and community leaders, I call on you to join forces and to speak out boldly against terror, to speak out boldly against antisemitism. 

You know, I invited Mayor Eric Adams here tonight. I've known him for a while now. And I can tell you from my heart, that man is not just your mayor. He is your brother. He and he alone, among those who seek to lead this great city, can say that. Your fight is his fight. 

As Aryeh said right after October 7th, he stood with you boldly and he has stood with you every day since. He truly has. Others sympathize and encourage the pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish activities on our elite university campuses. 

With Mayor Adams, your fight is his fight. With Mayor Adams, your struggle to be treated with dignity and respect is his struggle. He walks with you. Trust me, I've come to know this man and he is our brother in arms here. He is our brother in standing up against antisemitism. 

New York City [has] the largest population of Jews on the planet outside of Israel. And you've got a mayor that stands with you. And God bless Mayor Adams today. 

Israel has the right and moral imperative to exist and defend itself and has done so while embracing the highest standard. Has the defensive effort been perfect and flawless? No, it has not. But they're engaged with an enemy that hides among civilians, hides among the infirm, hides among children. And it was Hamas who brought this down on Palestine, not Israel. It was Hamas. 

But I thank every one of you for your leadership and commitment. I thank you for your dedication to justice, peace and sanctity of life. I was just being interviewed before this, coming out here with a publication. And they said, “What did you get from meeting Israelis?” I've met him in Israel. I've met him here. I've talked to the hostage families, some who lost their loved ones, some who've gotten them back. 

And the thing that I come away from those meetings with is humility. Because I've never seen the kind of resilience. I've never seen the kind of dedication. And I've never seen the strengths of what the Jewish people endure. They say, “What do you say about the post-traumatic stress syndrome that Jews are having to deal with?”

And I say, there's nothing post about it. It's only post when it's over. And it isn't over for anybody that calls themselves a Jew. It's certainly not over for anybody that lives in Israel with missiles lobbed at them every day. But the resilience is inspiring. 

And I can tell you, I stand with you. And I am proud to stand with you. And I will stand with you until this is wiped out. Thank you so much. It is an honor to stand with the Jewish people. It is an honor to stand with Israel. Thank you.

Mayor Eric Adams: I really want to thank Dr. Phil for his commitment. I believe there's no greater indicator than those who stand with others during their time of need. And that is what he has done. 

Dr. Phil has used his voice and his common sense approach and his notoriety. He could be doing it to raise any concerns at all. He has already shown a level of success on an international level. He could use his microphone and his pulpit to talk about topics that are facing a global proportion, which he does often. |

But he has leaned into this issue, has leaned into this issue in a very real way. And we owe him a debt of gratitude to be of his level of prominence and stand tall on this issue. While others vacillate, even prominent members from the Jewish community. I say over and over again, as he stated, he's just a country boy from Texas. And I'm that same spirit of a country boy from Alabama. 

And we do not go about trying to find the right terms. We don't want to be intellectual and philosophical and theoretical and rationalize on why things happen. I have been clear since October 7th, and I'm clearer today. 

Hamas must be destroyed and every hostage must come home. That is part of the problem. Part of the problem is we're trying to reason with terrorists. And when you see every day playing out on our college campuses, training our children how to agitate, training our children how to violate, training our children how to find reason to rationalize. 

How about trying something new on our college campuses? How about teaching them to be educated? How about going with the dream and aspiration of not to radicalize, but to normalize our ability to get along together and learn from each other? How about doing that? How about doing that? 

So New York City is made up of many cultures, and there's a consistency of what I'm doing as your mayor and classifying you as your brother. It didn't start today. When I saw Sikh members being attacked, I stood with my Sikh brothers and sisters. 

When I saw those of the Muslim faith who were attacked for wearing a hijab, I stood with them. If it's a Buddhist community, I'm going to stand with them. When I saw someone desecrating the statues of the Catholic faith and of Christianity, I stood with them. 

I'm not going to remain silent when you see people of goodwill and good faith attack. So we can't remain silent in a city where the Jewish community makes up 10 percent yet comprises 57 percent of the hate crimes in our city. How could you remain silent during that time and rationalize it? 

I will not remain silent. Respect and tolerance, that is our watchwords. That's what we look forward to. And I want to say to all of you, on October [7th], when I spoke and said we're not alone, people often state the power of words. Words matter. Words matter. The beginning of Nazi Germany started with words. 

And if one remains silent and don't allow your words to express what you stand for and then match those words with action, that is what is important. But silence could never be the tool that we use. 

We will never refuse to fight to stop the antisemitism we see in this city. And we will never tolerate hate in any form in our city. Yet since the attacks on October 7th, antisemitism has intensified across our city and our nation and the globe. 

Our city, the nation, and the globe. We've normalized antisemitism globally. I never thought in my life I would see us go backwards in the level that we have gone backwards in the area of antisemitism. Well, we will not sit down and allow it to happen, not in this generation, and that is the commitment we have. 

We saw the recent murders of two young people who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. And then we saw the sick act in Boulder, Colorado, in which 12 people who were peacefully participating in a march to free Israeli hostages were injured. 

And right here, closer to home, the Jewish New Yorkers and their numbers show the antisemitism that they were facing. Now think about the young Jewish college students who watched a horrific action on the stage of a graduation while sitting in the midst of having a graduation speaker demonize and antagonize and use hateful terminology on Israel while people applaud and sit back. 

That was as sick as what happened on October 7th and 8th when people took to the streets and celebrated what happened in Gaza. That was the same level of sickness and the same level of negative energy. We cannot continue, we cannot allow antisemitic propaganda to masquerade as activism. 

Calls to globalize the Intifada are vile hate speech, but this type of speech has become normalized and campuses must stop it from continuing. In 2023, I had the honor of visiting Yad Vashem and I saw the rows of pages filled with the names of Jews who were killed. 

I had the unfortunate misfortune to go to Poland and walk through the camps and saw what hatred does and how it grows and festers and is normalized. I saw pictures of mothers and fathers, the babies and children, the men who were sent to their deaths. I bore witness.

It was a moment of deep sorrow and powerful education. That is what we should be teaching on our college campuses [about] what has happened so we won't have to go backwards. It gave me reflection, it was a moment of renewal and commitment to not only saying never again, but living never again through action. 

That is why today I am signing a historic executive order to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism. This EO will enable us to promote understanding and facilitate a thoughtful response to antisemitic hate in New York City, a thoughtful response. 

The IHRA non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism states in part, antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews. 

Examples include accusing the Jewish people or the state of Israel of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. You believe it's an exaggeration, then you go to [Oświęcim] and walk through the camp and you'll see the reality of what happened. 

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination by claiming that their very existence [as] a state of Israel is a racist endeavor, or holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of any state, including the state of Israel. 

I want to be clear, so it is not intended to restrict speech or conduct that is protected under the First Amendment, and antisemitic acts are criminal only when they are defined by law. We will follow the law. 

But from today forward, the entire Adams administration will use the IHRA working definition to identify and address incidents of antisemitism across the city, as well as to raise awareness of this crisis. 

For example, if a city-funded organization denies the right of the Jewish people to self-determination or makes implication using stereotypes for Jewish people, this definition gives us the tools to crack down. 

It also puts New York City in alignment with the State Department, 35 states, Washington, D.C., and over 80 other localities. While the IHRA definition of antisemitism will always be policy under this administration, today we want to be clear. Let's take it from policy, let's codify it in law. 

Speaker Adams, you stated that you [would support an executive order implementing the IHRA definition of antisemitism]. Now it's time to make sure when I give you that bill, you will [pass it so I can] sign it into law. Let's make this a law. Let's live up to the commitment of a city that houses the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. 

Lives are at stake, and we have no time to lose. I find it challenging to believe that if any other group was undergoing what the Jewish community is experiencing right now with a high level of percentage in antisemitism, if any other group would have been experiencing this, every page of the paper, every community group, every organizer will be all standing up for that group. 

So you cannot be sitting down now. It's time to stand up for our brothers and sisters who are enduring this. So let's pass the bill. Adopting the IHRA working definition of antisemitism is part of a series of vital initiatives we are taking to combat hate in our city. 

This includes the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, the first office of this kind established in a major city across the nation. In addition to our breaking bread, building bonds initiative that will broaden our commitment and being resolved to communicate with each other, we have also established the city's first Jewish advisory council to ensure Jewish communities across New York City are connected with appropriate resources. 

Keeping New Yorkers safe has always been our number one priority, and codifying the IHRA working definition of antisemitism holds us to that commitment. [While] combating hate, promoting [and] understanding and making New York City safer and more welcoming for all groups in general, specifically a group that has gone through dark moments, not only since October 7, even prior to that. 

We stand together to make sure our future does not be a reflection of what happened in the past. And I don't think anyone can express that more than one of the Nova survivors that are here. I'm going to call Ron to the stage to say a few words, and thank him for his resiliency.

Ron Segev: Hi, everyone. My name is Ron Segev, and I'm a Nova survivor. First of all, I want to say that it's not fair that I need to speak after these two great people. And I want to take Dr. Phil's advice and say thank you, brother. I appreciate everything you're doing for us. 

I want you to try to draw a picture in your mind now. I want to take you to a moment of my survival. I was with my brother. We had plenty of encounters with terrorists on October 7th. And in one of the moments we were hiding behind one of the abandoned cars in the open fields, and the terrorists were shooting the other side of the car. 

Somehow with a lot of help and miracles, we managed to get out of the situation. We found the car and eventually we also drove back towards the heavy fire to save more people. And I'm telling you that because I think that probably none of you have experienced anything like that. 

But that's what happened that day, and that's what's happened so many times in Israel. And unfortunately now we can see during the last few weeks so many attacks on the Jewish people. And that's why this bill that we are going to sign today is very important for us. 

And again, I want to say thank you for all your support, Mayor Adams. And I want to say one more thing. I think that it's time for all the leaders around the U.S. and around the world to step up and make sure that the Jewish people around the U.S. and around the world will feel safer because I see how things change for the bad, for the worst, and we need your help. It's time to be brave and to choose to be on the right side of history. Thank you, everyone.

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