{"id":26978,"date":"2025-06-30T11:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26978\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:22:09","slug":"zohran-mamdanis-primary-victory-sparks-debate-over-israel-antisemitism-and-nycs-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26978\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani\u2019s primary victory sparks debate over Israel, antisemitism, and NYC\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani\u2019s unlikely victory in Tuesday\u2019s mayoral Democratic primary<\/a> raised various concerns about the 33-year-old Assembly member\u2019s economic policy and comparative lack of experience in politics. He had run a campaign focused on affordability, housing and transportation.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to the primary election, however, much of the conversation surrounding Mamdani\u2019s candidacy revolved around his stances and remarks on Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n

Mamdani has declined to outright condemn the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada,\u201d leading some New York Jewish leaders to accuse him of antisemitism. The Assembly member, when asked on CBS\u2019s \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d<\/a> if he believes Israel has the right to exist, said, \u201cLike all nations, I believe it has a right to exist, and a responsibility also to uphold international law.\u201d He has referred to Israel\u2019s war in Gaza as a \u201cgenocide\u201d<\/a> and been deeply critical of Israel\u2019s far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has said that he personally does not use the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada,\u201d<\/a> a phrase many Jews consider to be a clarion call for war with Israel and her allies, but said the phrase is not inherently a call for violence against Jewish people. Instead, Mamdani contended that the phrase means, to some, \u201ca desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Mamdani cruised to apparent victory in the primary election, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo \u2014 who had made support for Israel a key aspect of his campaign \u2014 saw some of his strongest support<\/a> in NYC neighborhoods with greater segments of Jewish voters.<\/p>\n

Various Jewish leaders and organizations have expressed concern with Mamdani\u2019s rhetoric surrounding Israel, with some accusing the candidate of antisemitism and others expressing concern that, though Mamdani might mean no harm, he lacks an understanding of the concerns surrounding his candidacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

amNewYork reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment on this story and is awaiting a response.\n<\/p>\n

However, during an appearance on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press Sunday morning<\/a>, Mamdani \u2014 when pressed if he condemned the use of the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada,\u201d said the phrase is not \u201clanguage I would use,\u201d but his concern about outright condemning it would put him in a place he says President Donald Trump is bringing the country toward \u2014 a crackdown on language and free speech at large.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is to start to walk down the line of language, and making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible, takes me to the place similar to that of the pres who is looking to do those very kinds of things \u2014 putting people in jail for writing an op-ed, putting them in jail for protesting,\u201d Mamdani said, referencing the cases of R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk<\/a> and Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, respectively. \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s not language I use. It\u2019s language that I understand there are concerns about, and what I will do is showcase my vision for this city through my words and actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani also repeated a commitment to fighting hate crimes in New York City if elected mayor, \u201cand make clear that there is no room for antisemitism in this city.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to root out bigotry, and we have to do that through actions,\u201d not words, the lawmaker said.\n<\/p>\n

Were Mamdani\u2019s remarks \u2018really distorted\u2019?<\/p>\n

Jay Michaelson, a rabbi and journalist who argued in a Wednesday op-ed<\/a> in The Forward that Mamdani\u2019s victory is \u201can opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement,\u201d said he understands the fear that many Jewish New Yorkers are feeling about Mamdani but hopes to see more constructive conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, American Jews have plenty of good reasons to be traumatized, especially in the last couple of years,\u201d Michaelson said. \u201cThat should be the beginning of our exploration of our opinions, not the end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michaelson, who wrote in his op-ed that there\u2019s no evidence that Mamdani is antisemitic and has in fact been endorsed and supported by prominent Jewish New Yorkers, said he sees the accusations leveled at Mamdani as part of a broader project to \u201cuse those fears for political ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposals that he\u2019s put out, whether we like them or not, whether we think they\u2019re going to succeed or not, those are all aimed at just helping people make ends meet,\u201d Michaelson said. \u201cThat\u2019s what he ran on, that\u2019s what he won on. But it is true that in the Jewish community, it got really distorted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaelson said the fact that some people he spoke to \u201cwere treating this as if it was a referendum on Israel-Palestine\u201d is a \u201csign of this trauma that the community is still working with.\u201d He found Mamdani\u2019s statements speaking out against antisemitism, particularly in the immediate lead-up to the election, \u201creally moving and really compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani spoke frequently toward the end of the primary campaign about his dedication to curbing hate crimes and antisemitic hate in addition to battling rising discrimination against other groups, including Muslim New Yorkers and Palestinian New Yorkers. Mamdani was cross-endorsed by City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is Jewish and who said on election night that \u201cwe are not going to let anyone divide Muslim New Yorkers and Jewish New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur safety, our hopes and our freedoms are bound up together. Don\u2019t get it twisted,\u201d Lander said<\/a> after Mamdani\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

As for Mamdani\u2019s defense of the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada,\u201d Michaelson said he thinks the language deserves a stronger explanation from the candidate.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his explanation of the phrase \u2018globalize the intifada\u2019 is really insufficient,\u201d Michaelson said. \u201cHe can say it means what he thinks it means. But the reality is, the Palestinian intifada has been a violent movement for most of the last 30 years. And when people hear globalize the intifada, Jews hear that they\u2019re targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fears of a \u2018Jewish exodus\u2019 from NYC over Mamdani
\n\"RabbiRabbi Marc SchneierCourtesy Rabbi Marc Schneier<\/p>\n

Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and a rabbi who previously served as vice president of the World Jewish Congress, said he is \u201cvery concerned\u201d about the primary win and anticipates Mamdani\u2019s election would lead to a \u201cJewish exodus\u201d from New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only imagine a Mamdani administration when there would be protests at NYU or Columbia, imagine a Mayor Mamdani when Israel is either at war or having to confront its neighbors in the Middle East,\u201d Schneier said. \u201cImagine a Mamdani mayoralty when the Prime Minister of Israel visits New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Schneier, Mamdani\u2019s refusal to condemn the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada\u201d is dangerous for Jewish New Yorkers. He noted that Mamdani\u2019s explanation of the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada\u201d was condemned by the U.S. Holocaust Museum. When discussing the phrase, Mamdani had pointed out that the museum had previously used the word \u201cintifada\u201d in Arabic language accounts of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cExploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize \u2018globalize the intifada\u2019 is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors,\u201d the museum wrote in a June 18 post on X<\/a>. \u201cSince 1987, Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneier said that friends and several members of his congregation have begun discussing plans to leave New York City over concerns for rising antisemitism.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re rebuked by the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington \u2014 which, they simply do not enter the political fray \u2014 for words that you\u2019ve said, that\u2019s a pretty serious response in the Jewish community,\u201d said Schneier, who had supported Cuomo\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

After the condemnation from the museum, Mamdani gave an emotional response to the topic when asked at a press conference and said that it \u201cpains me to be called an antisemite.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said at every opportunity that there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country. I\u2019ve said that because that is something I personally believe,\u201d he said at the June 19 press conference, also discussing Islamophobic rhetoric and threats he had encountered on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

Making sense of the discourse
\n\"Pro-PalestineAssembly Member Mamdani has said that he personally does not use the phrase \u201cglobalize the intifada,\u201d a phrase many Jews consider to be a clarion call for war with Israel and her allies, but said the phrase is not inherently a call for violence against Jewish people.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

Various Jewish groups and organizations had expressed concerns about Mamdani\u2019s candidacy in the lead-up to the election, citing his criticisms of Israel and his refusal to outright condemn the phrase \u201cglobalize this intifada.\u201d The remarks sparked a larger conversation about the responsibility carried by the mayor of New York City to publicly defend Israel in addition to standing up locally for Jewish New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

The American Jewish Committee New York wrote in a Wednesday statement that \u201cmany Jewish New Yorkers are rightly concerned about the dramatic rise of antisemitism in their city and the very real safety concerns that impact Jews daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next mayor of New York City must take those concerns seriously and must not contribute to an environment that accepts \u2013 or even worse, fosters \u2013 antisemitism,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cWe will continue to confront rhetoric or actions of candidates or elected officials that are contrary to these obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phylisa Wisdom, the executive director of New York Jewish Agenda, said that this election cycle, NYJA \u201cunderstood that antisemitism and Israel and the whole region were on the agenda in a way that we\u2019re really not accustomed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were on edge knowing that a lot of political discourse about things we care really deeply about was swirling around,\u201d Wisdom said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to help our community make sense of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom co-authored an op-ed<\/a> earlier this month with Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum titled \u201cCalling balls and strikes on charges of antisemitism.\u201d The piece asserted that the \u201cJewish community needs candidates who treat our safety seriously,\u201d which, to Wisdom and Kleinbaum, includes calling out \u201cefforts to oversimplify or misconstrue the Jewish community\u2019s wide-ranging positions on antisemitism and Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is not necessarily antisemitic to criticize Israel, there are those who are antisemitic who use criticism of Israel as a mask for their antisemitism,\u201d read the op-ed, which was published in City and State NY. \u201cIt can be very confusing to those who are witnessing the debate. We are committed to helping reasonable people understand the nuance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom noted the current division within the Democratic Party on the topic of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not a uniform Democratic Party position on Israel at this moment. So that was really reflected in the range of primary candidates that we saw,\u201d Wisdom said. \u201cIt felt like at some points was that the whole city was having a conversation that we\u2019ve been having as a community for a really long time about, \u2018What does it look like to support Israel?’\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the extent to which New Yorkers factored the candidates\u2019 stance on Israel into their ballots, Wisdom said the issue\u2019s impact on the outcome of the election was \u201cprobably overblown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it\u2019s definitely true that Jewish and non-Jewish New Yorkers were thinking about candidates in terms of their relationship to and views on Israel in a way we\u2019re not used to,\u201d Wisdom said.<\/p>\n

Wisdom said that NYJA is focused on encouraging dialogue across disagreement and a willingness to work together amid disagreements over Israel.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not necessarily accustomed to having a mayor that agrees with us on every single thing about Jewish safety and Israel, and that\u2019s okay. We\u2019ve seen that,\u201d Wisdom said. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is that our voices are welcome and our perspectives are entertained, and whoever is the mayor, the Jewish community should try to work with them and make sure that they understand us and there\u2019s mutual respect and open dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewish New Yorkers defending and supporting Mamdani<\/p>\n

Sophie Ellman-Golan, the director of strategic communications at Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), which endorsed Mamdani and Lander, said Mamdani has been subject to unfair attacks on his character.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of the fear-mongering and smears we\u2019ve seen about Zohran do not square with the person we know him to be and frankly, don\u2019t square with what he has actually said on the record,\u201d Ellman-Golan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JFREJ knocked on 4,000 doors and made 35,000 phone calls in their support of the Mamdani and Lander\u2019s campaigns.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, questions around antisemitism and Israel-Palestine came up at the door, but what also came up were the same issues that come up for all New Yorkers, the questions of affordability and safety and transit and child care and housing,\u201d Ellman-Golan said. \u201cZohran ran a powerful, impressive and compelling campaign on affordability and housing, and on the material conditions that New Yorkers are facing and Jewish New Yorkers are also facing those material conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellman-Golan emphasized a priority to \u201cnot conflate Israel and Jews.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t tell people how to feel; they\u2019re going to feel how they feel,\u201d Ellman-Golan said. \u201cWhat I would urge my fellow Jewish New Yorkers to do is actually listen to Zohran Mamdani\u2019s words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellman-Golan encourages people to \u201clook past the caricature\u201d of Mamdani and \u201clisten to the person himself.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see how being in a constant state of terror makes us safer,\u201d Ellman-Golan said. \u201cI care deeply about Jewish safety, as does Zohran, and I\u2019d like us to think about, \u2018What are the things that actually make us safer?\u2019 Not, \u2018What are the ways that we can demonize our neighbors and police people\u2019s speech?’\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani\u2019s unlikely victory in Tuesday\u2019s mayoral Democratic primary raised various concerns about the 33-year-old Assembly…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,23522,12648,5706,23523,99,23524,23525,5712,5708,23526,23527,13717,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,23528,23529,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-26978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-american-jewish-council","10":"tag-antisemitism","11":"tag-cuomo","12":"tag-holocaust-museum","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-jay-michaelson","15":"tag-jfrej","16":"tag-lander","17":"tag-mamdani","18":"tag-marc-schneier","19":"tag-mayoral-election","20":"tag-mayoral-primary","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-city","23":"tag-newyork","24":"tag-newyorkcity","25":"tag-ny","26":"tag-nyc","27":"tag-nyja","28":"tag-rabbi","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114772059330359748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}