Apollo Global Management CEO and UJA-Federation of New York Board Chair Marc Rowan declared New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “enemy” of the Jewish community on Monday night, vowing that his organization would “call him out” at the group’s 50th anniversary Wall Street Dinner.

In a speech at the event, Rowan discussed the recent demonstrations outside a local synagogue that was hosting an event encouraging immigration to Israel, or aliyah, noting the “intensity of the rhetoric, the hateful chants” in what he described as “Mamdani’s New York City.”

“We should make no mistake, we face challenges at home. I don’t think we have to wait to know. Someone who uses antisemitism in their campaign and normalizes antisemitism, he is our enemy,” Rowan said. “We need to be the ones to call him out. We need to say it. And I know that UJA, as it relates to the Jewish community, is going to do that.”

Rowan called for a “big tent” effort to address the issue of antisemitism, one that includes the left and right wings of American Jewry. 

“We just have differences in strategy. [Rabbi] Angela Buchdahl is not your enemy. [Zionist Organization of America President] Mort Klein is not your enemy. Presidents [Joe] Biden and [Donald] Trump are not your enemy. We have plenty of enemies,” Rowan said. “We have to, at the same time, elevate those people who have taken personal risks. Everyone who steps out, a leader in this community, takes a personal risk. We need to respect that. We need to appreciate that [Anti-Defamation League CEO] Jonathan Greenblatt took a personal risk. I salute you. Rabbi [Elliot] Cosgrove took a personal risk. What [Paul] Singer’s organization has done to create the backbone of so much that all of the U.S. entrepreneurs have done — I salute you as well. So we give, we show up, we have cohesion. We now need to lead.”

Rowan also stressed the need for alliance with evangelical Christians, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and other communities with “shared values.”

The event, which sold out with nearly 2,000 attendees, marked a record-breaking $57 million raised in a single night. At the dinner, the organization also honored Rowan and Julie Solomon, who received Gustave L. Levy Award and the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award, respectively. 

A new award, the Wesley M. LePatner Emerging Leadership Award, was also launched in memory of Lepatner, the Jewish philanthropist and Blackstone executive who was killed by a shooter at her firm’s headquarters in July. LePatner, a board member at UJA,  received the Greenberg Award in 2024 during the first dinner after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Starting next year, the award will honor one of Wall Street’s rising stars, “who, like Wesley, strives to make a difference in the world,” Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer at Blackstone, described in a speech memorializing LePatner.  

“I was proud to be on stage introducing this five-foot-tall giant who represented the very best of the Jewish people. As always, Wesley showed her fair sense of purpose, speaking with passion, instructing us to use our voices to forge ahead in support of Israel, regardless of what stones came our way,” said Gray.  “I still have trouble with the idea that someone who burned so brightly could suddenly no longer be with us.”

While some Wall Street leaders, including activist investor Bill Ackman, have called for cooperation with Mamdani, Rowan was not alone in expressing concerns about the future of the city, though he was the most direct.

“We all know we’re facing a new political era right here in New York City, one that many of us, I imagine all of us, are viewing with watchful and even wary eyes,” said Jeffrey H. Aronson, chair of the federation’s Wall Street division, in his remarks. “And we continue to see antisemitism grow around the world, including right in our own backyard, but we will do what we have done for the past 50 years. Keep going, standing proud, standing strong and never standing still.”

While introducing Rowan, Eric Goldstein, CEO of the federation, discussed rising antisemitism and increased funding needs for security and efforts to combat antisemitism in North America. Goldstein, who has led the federation for 11 years, will be stepping down from the role this summer.

“It’s almost impossible to believe that in 2014, when I began at UJA, domestic antisemitism wasn’t on the communal agenda. As recently as 2017, UJA didn’t have a single dollar in its budget devoted to Jewish communal security. Here in New York today, we spend over $21 million annually for local security and to combat antisemitism. For far too long, our community was overly complacent, even apathetic about the rise of antisemitism from both the far left and the far right,” he said. 

In his speech, Aronson reflected on the history and progression over the past half-century of the Wall Street Dinner, which was started by figures like Alan Greenberg, Gustave Levy and others among their generation of influential Jewish Wall Street professionals who used to gather, smoke cigars and talk about philanthropy. Their names still adorn the awards given out annually at the event, a high-grossing fundraiser that brings together Wall Street figures every winter, even as their field has diversified. 

“Fifty years ago, a small group of men, and it was men only, [got] together… to talk about philanthropy and smoke cigars. And now look around. There are nearly 2,000 people here, men and women, and not a single cigar in sight,” quipped Aronson, the co-founder of investment firm Centerbridge Partners.  

Indeed, while still representing a minority, of the 130 industry leaders who were on the dais at this year’s gala, 31 were women. 

As in previous years, fundraising for Israel was at the heart of the appeal made to the sea of black, blue and gray suits. UJA-Federation of New York has contributed over a quarter of Jewish Federations of North America’s $908 million Israel Emergency Fund, which closed out at this year’s General Assembly, changing to “Rebuild Israel.” 

Speakers at the event included Eyal Ben Simon, CEO of Pheonix Financial, who discussed the Israeli economy’s potential. In stark contrast to last year’s dinner, when Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, gave the keynote speech and urged those in the room to use their influence to free the remaining hostages, this year, recently freed Israeli hostages Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal, addressed the room. Both offered testimony from their experience in Hamas captivity and thanked the attendees for their support. 

“The loss of freedom is greater than most people can imagine. It means losing the ability to control your own life, to make even the simplest decisions. You can’t choose when to go to the bedroom, when to sleep, when to talk, when to move or eat, or even what to look at. You lose your connection to the real world,” said Gilboa Dalal. “I found strength in faith in God, in the thoughts of being reunited with my family and friends, and in the support and the love of the Jewish People.”