American Democratic Jews who consider themselves Zionists must abandon Zohran Mamdani. He advances a clear anti-Israel agenda while using a small circle of extreme-left Jewish activists as political cover. This tactic allows him to claim immunity from accusations of antisemitism because “some Jews support me.” The strategy is transparent—and dangerous.
Mamdani has called on the New York Police Department to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under an International Criminal Court warrant. He has labeled Netanyahu a war criminal committing genocide in Gaza. Coming from the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish and Israeli populations outside Israel, this creates a hostile climate for Israeli leaders. It may help explain why some senior Israeli officials—including Israel’s President Isaac Herzog (a leftist himself)—have shown caution about visiting New York in recent months.
On May 15, 2026, Mamdani marked Nakba Day from the city hall. He “commemorated the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 and the following year,” framing Israel’s founding as a catastrophe rather than the refuge established after the Holocaust and the place where Levantine Arabs thrive the most. His wife maintained public Spotify playlists after October 7, 2023, including one titled “hungry but sexy for Palestine,” featuring tracks such as “Ana Bakrah Israil” and songs repeating “Free Palestine b*tch, Israel gon’ d*e b*tch” and “F–k Israel, Israel a b*tch.”
His mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, received $15 million in funding and patronage from Qatari royal institutions, including the Doha Film Institute, for projects dating back to at least 2009 (Qatar maintains close ties to Hamas). Unlike most of us, Mamdani grew up in a privileged household with academic and artistic parents. He attended elite schools and has acknowledged this background, yet he presents a selective narrative of struggle while building a socialist political brand.
Mamdani has partnered with Jewish Voice for Peace in protests ranging from demonstrations at Grand Central Terminal to campaigns targeting pro-Israel organizations. Jewish Voice for Peace rejects Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. It supports a world with 57 Muslim-majority countries and 22 Arab states, yet opposes the existence of a single Jewish state — even though, if the Muslim world were treated as a continent, Israel could fit inside it 644 times. Mamdani has openly acknowledged and welcomed the group’s backing. These alliances provide him with token Jewish validation that helps insulate him from scrutiny even as he advances positions increasingly aligned with rejectionist networks supported by Qatar and Iran.
The Democratic Party has shifted dramatically from its earlier liberal stance on Israel. A March 2026 NBC News poll found that only 13 percent of Democrats hold a positive view of Israel, while 57 percent hold a negative one. Additionally, 67 percent of Democrats now sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis. This marks a sharp reversal from the more balanced or pro-Israel posture common in earlier decades and aligns the party closer to European extreme left-wing frameworks that routinely portray Israel as genocidal or illegitimate.
Antisemitic incidents remain at historic highs. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 6,274 incidents in 2025—an average of 17 per day. Physical assaults reached 203 cases, a record high. Jews comprise roughly 2 percent of the American population, yet account for a disproportionate share of religious hate-crime victims.
Indeed, both political extremes now converge on outcomes that weaken Israel and undermine American Jewish security. Figures on the right such as Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, and Sneako often criticize the United States-Israel relationship or amplify narratives that isolate Israel. On the left, Mamdani, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Bernie Sanders (a Jew who even lived in an Israeli kibbutz) promote frameworks that portray Israel as a colonial or criminal actor. One side operates through a secular socialist rejection of Jewish self-determination. The other blends isolationist or religiously inflected arguments that arrive at similar practical outcomes. The effect is the same: reduced American support for Israel and greater space for rejectionist forces backed by Iran and Qatar, and ‘low key’ by China and Russia.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer—who is ironically married to a Jewish woman—illustrate the pattern. Both have governed over or enabled environments in which antisemitic incidents rose sharply while advancing strong criticism of Israel. Personal connections or moderate rhetoric have not prevented the strategic damage; and that is exactly what Mamdani is doing.
Zohran Mamdani does not represent a new liberal politics. He fosters the further penetration of Qatar-and Iran-aligned narratives into American institutions through the vehicle of the Democratic Socialists of America and allied groups. His record on hate towards Israel, the Nakba commemoration, family financial ties, and partnerships with Jewish Voice for Peace form a consistent pattern. Democratic Jews who continue to support him—or who prioritize opposition to Netanyahu over Israel’s fundamental security interests—are enabling this shift.
The marches, organizations, and statements tied to his rise are not ambiguous. They advance a geopolitical project that weakens the United States-Israel alliance and normalizes hostility toward Jewish sovereignty. The data and the record are clear. Democratic Jews should withdraw support from Mamdani now. The cost of pretending Mamdani’s alliances and conduct are politically harmless is no longer abstract — it is strategic, moral, and increasingly civic.
Jose Lev Alvarez is an American-Israeli scholar specializing in Middle Eastern security policy.
A multilingual veteran of both the IDF Special Forces and the U.S. Army, he holds a B.S. in Neuroscience with a Minor in Israel Studies from American University, three master’s degrees (international geostrategy, applied economics, and intelligence studies), and a medical degree. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in Intelligence and Global Security in the Washington, D.C. area.
In addition to blogging for the Times of Israel, he contributes to the Washington Examiner, is a writing fellow at the Middle East Forum, and regularly provides geopolitical analysis on Latin American television networks.