{"id":22904,"date":"2025-10-30T18:47:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/22904\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T18:47:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:47:19","slug":"mamdani-and-the-jews-the-american-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/22904\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani and the Jews – The American Prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI will be the mayor who doesn\u2019t just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them,\u201d said<\/a> Zohran Mamdani during New York\u2019s first general-election debate for mayor. Since he launched his campaign in October of 2024, however, Mamdani has faced a barrage of criticism, apprehension, and even attempts to demean his character in response to his views on Israel.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s platform has focused narrowly on innovative policies to make New York, one of the world\u2019s most expensive cities, more affordable and inclusive for all. From rent freezes to raising the minimum wage<\/a>, free child care for all to hiking taxes on corporations and the one percent, Mamdani consistently presents an articulate progressive vision for the city\u2019s future. The excitement created by his campaign, for which an astonishing 90,000 volunteers have walked precincts and staffed phone banks, has reverberated across the country. But in New York\u2014the historic gateway for immigrants from across the world\u2014support for and opposition to the regimes from which those immigrants came, and New Yorkers\u2019 ties to friends and relatives in other countries, have long been part and parcel of the city\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

More from Naomi Bethune<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike his opponents in the mayoral race<\/a>, Mamdani has offered perspectives on Israel, Zionism, and antisemitism that have upset and even alarmed some voters. Although he has never denied that the state of Israel has a right to exist, he simultaneously has not affirmed that it should exist as a Jewish state<\/a>. Mamdani is forthright in his opposition to Israel\u2019s use of violence against the Palestinian people, and has classified the ongoing war in Gaza as a \u201cgenocide.\u201d He also has not swayed from his support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement<\/a>, which aims to pressure Israel so that the state may comply with international law<\/a>. When it comes to New York\u2019s institutional ties to Israel, Mamdani wants to deviate from the past practice of the city\u2019s mayors, who supported initiatives such as the NYC-Israel Economic Council<\/a> and the NYPD\u2019s police exchange programs<\/a>. Perhaps the most remarkable promise Mamdani has made is to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> if he ever enters the city.<\/p>\n

Instead of marketing himself as an ally to Israel, Mamdani has instead channeled his energy into targeting many of the everyday concerns of Jewish New Yorkers. According to data released by the NYPD<\/a>, Jews were the primary target of hate crimes reported (hate crimes remain largely underreported across the board) in the city in 2024, constituting nearly 54 percent of the hate crimes counted. He has called for increasing funding for hate violence programs from $3 million to $26 million<\/a>. He has also signified support for the implementation of the \u201cHidden Voices\u201d program<\/a>, which would teach students from kindergarten through 12th grade about Jewish Americans in U.S. history. On the second anniversary of the October 7th attacks<\/a>, Mamdani released a statement mourning those killed in both Israel and occupied Palestine, and he has repeatedly expressed a continued commitment to condemning antisemitism across the country.<\/p>\n

But connecting with voters in an effort to reconcile his opposition to Zionism with his opposition to antisemitism and his support for the city\u2019s Jewish population has not been an easy task. Mamdani\u2019s campaign has been met by significant resistance from Jewish leaders and organizations that take issue with his stance on Israel. A letter<\/a> signed by over 1,000 rabbis that called for voters to stand up against Mamdani made headlines, arriving in the wake of Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue\u2019s classification of Mamdani as \u201ca danger to the security of the New York Jewish community<\/a>.\u201d Dozens of other individuals have expressed their disdain for Mamdani, with no shortage of commentary online about the subject. In recent weeks, these voices have dominated the public conversation about the city\u2019s mayoral race, but the truth about Jewish New Yorkers\u2019 positions on Mamdani is much more complex. In a Fox News poll<\/a> taken just before the general-election debate, 42 percent of Jewish voters surveyed supported Cuomo, while Mamdani trailed just behind with 38 percent.<\/p>\n

That should come as no surprise. Jewish Americans have widely differing viewpoints<\/a> when it comes to Israel, particularly during the past two decades when that nation has been dominated by right-wing sectarian governments, and most especially during the past two years of the Gaza war. Moreover, New York has long been home to incredibly diverse Jewish communities, most particularly to Reform and secular Jews with progressive viewpoints, as well as to the world\u2019s largest concentration of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside of Israel. Allies such as Brad Lander, the city comptroller who cross-endorsed Mamdani in the primary election, have been acting as the key to the locked door of Jewish communities who are more apprehensive about supporting Mamdani\u2019s candidacy. \u201cMostly what I\u2019ve done is make introductions so that he could fulfill that pledge he made on the night of the primary to go meet and engage with them, and listen to people,\u201d Lander told the Prospect.<\/p>\n

Lander and Mamdani, along with U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) attended Yom Kippur services hosted by Lab\/Shul. They visited Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where they joined the Satmar Hasidic community (whose opposition to Zionism makes it an outlier among the ultra-Orthodox) in observing Sukkot, and attended a vigil on the night of October 7th. Although these efforts, alongside his appearances at events hosted by various Jewish institutions, have garnered mixed results, Lander believes that Mamdani has left a consistent impression on attendees: \u201cHe\u2019s picked up some votes, but I think even more than that, he\u2019s put down and built up a platform in an effort to bring people together after the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of marketing himself as an ally of Israel, Mamdani has channeled his energy into targeting the everyday concerns of Jewish New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

This has been a vital aspect of Mamdani\u2019s outreach to Jewish voters who have been reluctant to cast their votes for his campaign. It\u2019s a matter of building connections that will last far beyond next week\u2019s election\u2014relationships that can be strengthened over time. Some of these attempts have been highly creative, such as sending out an open letter that was published solely in Yiddish-language<\/a> newspapers. The campaign\u2019s endorsements from major Jewish progressive figures such as Bernie Sanders, Nadler, and former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger have helped Mamdani cement links with Jews on the left.<\/p>\n

Messinger, who was the Democratic nominee for mayor in 1997, and thereafter served as the president of the American Jewish World Service, endorsed Mamdani after the primary<\/a>. She readily acknowledges that Mamdani is green, but clearly believes he has potential to be an excellent mayor if elected. \u201cIn supporting him as strongly as I do,\u201d she told the Prospect, \u201cit\u2019s because I believe he understands the challenges and is committed to building the kind of administration that will do this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lander emphasized that Mamdani is not opposed to including people who hold various perspectives on issues related to Zionism and Israel in his possible future administration. On the contrary, \u201che\u2019s been clear that folks with those points of view [perspectives on Israel that do not align with his personal view] are welcome in his administration \u2026 He\u2019ll be looking for the best and the brightest and a broad coalition.\u201d There\u2019s room for differences in Mamdani\u2019s potential leadership of the city, Lander said: \u201cYou build coalitions and governments across these kinds of disagreements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the interiors of synagogues and community spaces, progressive Jewish advocacy groups have immersed themselves in canvassing campaigns to garner more support for Mamdani from Jewish New Yorkers. Organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ)<\/a> have sent canvassers out to communities across the city in hopes of bringing Mamdani\u2019s vision for New York to people\u2019s doors. Audrey Sasson, executive director of JFREJ, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that the city is equitable and accessible to all, told the Prospect about the outreach being done by the group\u2019s organizers: \u201cWe\u2019ve knocked on 6,000 doors and dialed 52,000 numbers. We have over 450 JFREJ volunteers canvassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That outreach has produced fruitful conversations about the mayoral race, said Sasson. \u201cWe\u2019re having these really deep conversations at the doors and on the phone that are about wrestling with whatever questions they have \u2026 just creating space for people to express what\u2019s most important to them in this election and offering up our perspective on some of the thornier questions that have come up in this election, really talking about our proactive vision of Jewish safety that comes through building a real multiracial democracy.\u201d The conversations, said Sasson, \u201cget to the heart of what are people\u2019s fears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than a week away from the election, Mamdani is continuing to face significant challenges, but his prospects still look bright. His campaign has brought us to a pivotal moment in American politics, testing the appeal of a progressive and egalitarian politics\u2014when advanced by a charismatic advocate\u2014to voters. At the core of his attempts to connect with Jewish New Yorkers is a vision that has resonated across the lines of race, religion, and ethnicity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of him persuading Jewish New Yorkers that he\u2019ll keep us safe,\u201d said Lander, but rather of inspiring the conviction \u201cthat the vision of a welcoming, diverse, immigrant-inclusive, multiracial, democratic city is what will keep you safe, what will keep all New Yorkers safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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