The winner of New York’s Democratic primary says, if elected mayor of the city, he’ll arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever sets foot in the city.
Zohran Mamdani also declined to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” three times on NBC’s Meet the Press, a slogan which means a worldwide attack against Israel and the Jewish people. “Ultimately, it’s not language that I use, it’s language I understand there are concerns about, and what I will do is showcase my vision for the city through my words and my actions,” he said.
Mamdani has posted on social media a comedy video making fun of Hanukah and has also been an outspoken supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, which seeks to isolate and destroy Israel.
During the Democratic primary debate, he refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist in its present form.
Still, Zohran Mamdani insists he’s not anti-Semitic and would work to protect the city’s Jews.
“Every anti-Semite that I’ve ever come across in my life says they’re not an anti-Semite,” says former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism. He adds that Mamdani should be judged by what he does, not by what he says.
“If you join people who are chanting, vicious anti-Israel, anti-Semitic chants, you’re part of that, whether you say the words or not,” Hikind says. “He’s very, very smart. Just a week ago, he said, ‘I’m going to set aside more money than ever to fight antisemitism.’ The only thing is, he’s the problem. He is the problem. He represents the outbreak of Jew hatred in America, in New York that we have never seen before. Not in my lifetime, that’s for sure.”
Daniel Greenfield, CEO of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a Jew and former New Yorker, says, “The question is, does he support the murder of Jews? It’s about, ‘do you want to kill me’? And, you know, if the answer is ‘yes’ or you want to kill my family, well, whether or not you consider yourself technically an anti-Semite does not matter very much.”
What has been perplexing for some has been the Jewish support for Mamdani. An ad by the Mamdani campaign features Jewish New Yorkers expressing their support for him.
Hikind reacted to the Jewish support for Mamdani by saying, “Honestly, I’m not shocked by any of it. It’s part of Jewish history that we have people who betray the Jewish people.”
Polling shows most Jewish voters support former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by a wide margin. He’s running as an independent after losing to Mamdani by more than 12 points in the primary.
Greenfield is skeptical of sizeable Jewish support for Mamdani because so few New Yorkers voted in the primary.
Greenfield said, “He won with very minimal turnout. There was less than a 30% turnout, even among Democrats. And in the Democratic primary, only about five to seven percent of New Yorkers actually voted for him.
A socialist, Mamdani is also under fire for wanting rent freezes, city-owned grocery stores, and for saying, “I don’t think that we should have billionaires.”
Hikind warns, “Don’t underestimate this guy. The guy is smooth. He’s suave. He speaks well and is more dangerous than almost anyone else that I’ve come across in a very, very long time.”
The Mamdani campaign did not respond to our request for an interview. Meanwhile, New York’s Jews and non-Jews are mobilizing to try to keep Zohran Mamdani from winning.
