New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani visited overnight Tuesday the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York. Mamdani, a Muslim, wore a black velvet kippah as he prayed at the gravesite. The visit was first reported by Jakob Kornbluh of the Forward website.
Mamdani is known for his pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Israel rhetoric. Since his election, however, he has met with leading Jewish figures and pledged to stand with the Jewish community. He was accompanied at the site by Chabad community activist Yaakov Behrman of the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn.
“Mamdani visited the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens this evening to pay his respects to the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack,” Kornbluh reported. “Mamdani also recited a private prayer at the grave.”
The Bondi Beach terror attack struck a Hanukkah celebration organized by Chabad emissaries in Sydney. Among the 15 people killed were Chabad rabbis Eli Schlanger and Yaakov Levitin.
Following the attack, Mamdani issued the following statement: “The attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney today was a vile act of antisemitic terror. I mourn those who were murdered and will be keeping their families, the Jewish community, and the Chabad movement in my prayers. May the memories of all those killed be a blessing. This attack is merely the latest, most horrifying iteration in a growing pattern of violence targeted at Jewish people across the world."
The mayor-elect’s visit joins a long list of appearances by international leaders at the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, including President Donald Trump, Argentine President Javier Milei and other presidents and prime ministers.
Former Mayor Eric Adams regularly visited the Rebbe’s Ohel “to receive inspiration,” as he has said.