Appointee of New York mayor-elect resigns over old antisemitic remarks

ISTANBUL

An appointee of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stepped down Thursday after a series of past antisemitic social media posts resurfaced.

"I spoke with the Mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements. These statements are not indicative of who I am," Catherine Almonte Da Costa said in a statement.

Da Costa was set to be responsible for appointments and managing to strategize recruitment in his administration, according to NBC News.

"As the mother of Jewish children, I feel a profound sense of sadness and remorse at the harm these words have caused. As this has become a distraction from the work at hand, I have offered my resignation," she added.

The posts, originally uncovered by the Judge Street Journal, a New York–based political newsletter, were written more than a decade ago and were initially shared by the New York and New Jersey chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.

According to the newsletter, in a 2011 post from a since-deleted account on Twitter – now the US-based platform known as X – Da Costa used the phrase “money hungry Jews,” and in a post the following year she wrote that "Far Rockaway train is the Jew train," referring to a New York neighborhood with a large Orthodox Jewish population.

The Anti-Defamation League did not immediately reply to a request for further comment on Thursday evening.

Mamdani said in a statement that he accepted De Costa's resignation, adding that she had expressed "her deep remorse over her past statements" over the incident.

A spokesperson said that the posts went undetected throughout the transition’s vetting procedures.

Mamdani, a Muslim who made considerable outreach to New York’s large Jewish population during his successful mayoral run, is set to take office on Jan. 1.