A number of pro-Palestine groups slammed Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for his decision to retain Jessica Tisch as NYPD commissioner in an open letter, accusing Mamdani of abandoning a cause central to his political identity.

Dozens of groups signed onto the Tuesday evening letter, including Students for Justice in Palestine’s national and several local chapters, Within Our Lifetime and far-left Marxist and communist Democratic Socialists of America caucuses.

“We strongly oppose this decision,” the groups said in an open letter directed at Mamdani. “Retaining Tisch represents a political alignment with the NYPD’s legacy of racialized policing, surveillance, and repression, and a retreat from the values of justice and liberation that Mamdani’s campaign claimed to champion.”

Tuesday’s letter hinted at some of the challenges Mamdani is likely to face as he seeks to maintain his left-wing allies while also winning the support of more moderate New Yorkers. After announcing that Tisch would stay in her post, for example, Mamdani raised eyebrows when he softened his stance on how much power the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board should have.

The pro-Palestinian groups knocked Tisch’s background rising up the NYPD ranks in the Counterterrorism Bureau, including her lead role in administering a build-out of the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System, a network NYPD uses to track targets though CCTV cameras and license plate tracking.

She and Mamdani stand opposed on many public safety issues — for example, she has been vocal against bail and discovery reform and raising the age of criminal responsibility.

Mamdani’s decision to keep her on has appeased many of those concerned about his stated positions on public safety, including past statements calling to “defund the police” and to prioritize non-police responses to certain emergency situations with a new Department of Community Safety.

Beyond public safety issues, the groups cited Tisch’s support of Israel as a factor in their criticism. “Tisch’s record is inseparable from the NYPD’s direct collaboration with the Israeli occupation,” the letter reads, referencing examples of Tisch’s public support of Israel, including hosting members of Israel’s National Police.

Spokespeople for the NYPD and Mamdani did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In their letter, the pro-Palestine groups accuse Mamdani of forsaking “the communities and movements that propelled him into office.”

Mamdani has long advocated for Palestine, with the issue shaping his political identity. The mayor-elect founded an SJP chapter at Bowdoin College when he was a student there, supported the BDS movement and opposed U.S. military aid to Israel and has said he rejects Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. He’s also pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he land in New York.

Those positions have led to criticism he boosts not just critical positions on the Netanyahu government or the war in Gaza, but those with a deeper antipathy for Jewish people.

But the mayor-elect has also faced flak from some of the groups that signed onto the letter after his performance at a June primary debate where he said he believed Israel has the right to exist as a state with “equal rights” for all.

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(With Chris Sommerfeldt.)

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