{"id":260532,"date":"2026-08-22T20:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T20:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/260532\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T20:27:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T20:27:31","slug":"pay-attention-to-new-york-not-israel-hochul-tells-zohran-mamdani-in-nyt-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/260532\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pay attention to New York, not Israel\u2019 Hochul tells Zohran Mamdani in NYT interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Governor Kathy Hochul<\/a> navigated the topic of Israel in a sit-down interview with the New York Times earlier this week as she runs for reelection in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The democratic party is currently grappling with an internal rift around support for Israel, where moderate, centerist democrats, like Governor Hochul, support Israel, while a vibrant far-left Democratic Socialist<\/a> wing of the party is staunchly anti-Israel, which could make or break a campaign.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Ms. Hochul argued for the nation\u2019s right to defend itself, even implying that it would be justified in destroying Gaza, which she later apologized for, and has since been more willing to criticize Israel, calling reports of starvation among Palestinians \u201cunconscionable,” the report said.<\/p>\n

In the gubernatorial race in Michigan and the congressional race in Northern California, centrist, Israel-supporting, AIPAC backed democrats lost their races to anti-Israel Democratic Socialists (DSA).<\/p>\n

Governor Hochul will face Republican Bruce Blakeman in November’s election.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Mayor Zohrarn Mamdani speaks during the ceremonial inauguration at City Hall on January 1,2026 in New York City. (credit: John Lamparski\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In the interview, the governor was asked about Mayor Mamdani’s<\/a> comments last month regaring calling for the federal government to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he called a war criminal, and the criticism that he was \u201cfomenting hate\u201d as the city confronts a rise in antisemitic attacks.<\/p>\n

The governor answered by focusing on the needs of New York City and the state, and the policies she shares with the mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage him to – \u2018let\u2019s focus on the blocking and tackling of city government,\u2019\u201d the governor said, noting the two leaders\u2019 shared emphasis on expanding child care, improving bus speeds and building housing. \u201cThat is where I believe the main focus should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also reaffirmed her commitment to the safety of Jewish New Yorkers, saying, \u201cI will throw my body against any antisemitism. I have, and I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described herself as a \u201cBiden Democrat\u201d and said that many of DSA’s goals aligned with hers, including expanding health care and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take care of people – that\u2019s the FDR, JFK, Bill Clinton, Obama, Biden<\/a> wing of the party, and that has not changed,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n

The governor rejected the premise that socialist victories in primaries across the nation were a threat to the party, saying she welcomed the energy they represented, particularly from young people, the report said, comments which differed from fellow New Yorker House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who tried to distance himself from \u00a0\u201cthe DSA agenda\u201d on Meet the Press this month.<\/p>\n

Yet the governor highlighted many of the issues she and the mayor share, including her relationship with President Trump and other concerns such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency being present at polling places in November, intimidating voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to be at polling places,\u201d she said, \u201cand it\u2019s very threatening for Black and brown citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Governor Kathy Hochul navigated the topic of Israel in a sit-down interview with the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[14607,1303,37,24696,8982,8983],"class_list":["post-260532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-anti-israel","tag-elections","tag-israel","tag-mayor","tag-new-york-city","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117141048089219847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}