Now that Zohran Mamdani has won, with 60 percent of New York Jewry voting against him, there are a number of points to be made:
Despite a massive effort from the Jewish establishment, many Jews, including supporters of Israel, voted for him. As Peter Beinart wrote in Jewish Currents, “The surprising story of the New York mayoral campaign is not liberal Zionist opposition to Mamdani’s campaign, but their support.”
He energized young progressives, including many Jews who have been alienated both by politics and by Israel. That is no small thing.
Before the election, I was concerned. So much so that I signed - along with 1,100 other rabbis, the letter, titled “A Rabbinic Call to Action: Defending the Jewish Future,” which, as JTA reported, cited Mamdani’s previous defense of the slogan “globalize the Intifada,” his repeated denial of Israel’s legitimacy and his also-repeated accusations that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza. I signed the letter in part because it specifically did not endorse any candidate, but laid down a marker that I hoped Mamdani would notice, urging him, and all candidates, to, in the letter’s own words, “reject antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric, and… affirm Israel’s right to exist in peace and security.”
I have deep concerns about many of the actions the current Israeli government has taken and have expressed them many times, but Mamdani’s delegitimization of Jewish statehood, and therefore Jewish peoplehood, and therefore, the core of my spiritual being, transcends the personalities of any Israeli government and predates actions taken during the current war. His response to October 7, was disturbing. It should have been a blanket, unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’s massacre. It was not.
Israel must be both democratic and Jewish. It’s current extremist leadership is continually trying to subvert the democratic part (even this week, with attacks on the attorney general), while Mamdani denies the Jewish part. Neither is acceptable.
All of that said, a Cuomo upset, driven by a rabidly anti-Mamdani Jewish leadership, would have been far worse, because it would have been a victory for two very undesirable and undesired leaders: Cuomo himself, and Trump. The last minute Trump endorsement of Cuomo, along with Elon Musk’s chiming in, was a bridge too far, even for someone who had concerns about the Democratic Socialist.
I am on record as stating that Donald Trump is the greatest danger, by far, to American democracy, and therefore, in the long run, to freedom and democracy throughout the world, including Israel. I stand by my Hammerman Doctrine, which I articulated after the US bombing of Iran1 and which found added resonance following the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release (both of which have yet to be completed):
I will never give Donald Trump credit for anything - even acts that prove to be for the betterment of humankind - because his ultimate goal is to end American liberal democracy, which would be disastrous for America and the world.2 Trumpism is a virulent autocratic agenda, fascist to the core, and the only way to defeat it is through complete vigilance, all day, every day.
Despite anything Trump may have done that appears positive, we can’t lose our focus on the singular goal of restoring America’s fragile, backsliding democracy. Had Mamdani lost, Tuesday night’s Blue Tsunami would have been overshadowed by what would have been portrayed - unfortunately accurately - as a Trump victory. Here’s what I wrote before this week’s massive showing for democracy:
It’s important to understand that virulence requires vigilance. The malignancy in our society known as Trumpism, which could not be completely removed by a few positive election results in 2018 and 2020, will certainly not be removed with a few off-year elections and large rallies in 2025. Even when the marches are unprecedented in size and scope…. Right now we need to remember the need to oppose 21st century American fascism as if every battle is the most important one - while simultaneously understanding that there will be many more battles to come. It is a marathon AND a sprint.
Today, the Jewish establishment might feel like outsiders in New York’s halls of power, but I think it’s an overstatement to say that Jews won’t be well represented. And anyway, it’s not a horrible thing to be an outsider - we’ve done it quite admirably before, ever since Moses stormed into Pharaoh’s palace armed with his own equivalent of a 1,000-rabbi petition.
We must fight the impulse to let panic overtake us. This is not the time for Jews to pack bags.3 Maybe Mamdani will moderate and become pragmatic, as others have when taking power - like Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon. His response to an antisemitic attack on a Brooklyn day school following the election was encouraging, calling on the need “to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city.” Trump did not do that when antisemites attacked4following his election in 2016. It helps that local newspapers seem intent on holding Mamdani’s feet to the fire. See Thursday’s editorial in the New York Daily News, which begins,
Having now been elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani will have to change his ways of he wants to be effective in City Hall as his term begins on Jan 1. To start and most personally, Mamdani will have drop the pretense that he doesn’t foster antisemitism through his positions, stemming from his monomaniacal obsession on Israel’s being the source of all the world’s problems.
While many Jews feel that Mamdani’s economic plans are unimplementable, his inclusivity stands as a counterweight to the bigotry that has infected our nation. We may be seeing the beginnings of yet another wild pendulum swing as we enter an age of anti-anti-anti racism. There’s a lot of pride in the Muslim community today - and in India too:
Like so many others, I took pride in his depiction of New York’s “gorgeous mosaic” (to appropriate David Dinkins’ term) of diversity in his victory speech. Why should Jews not join in celebrating that mosaic, rather than being seen as sitting in the corner, ruminating with sackcloth and ashes, with oy-vey-itude as expressed in the Israeli press?5
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the end of the world.
The widely respected New York-based Judaic scholar and community leader Dr. Mijal Bitton wrote on her Substack an essay entitled, Welcome to the Resistance:
“What worries me… is what his election portends: the shifting political winds in the country I love, the normalization of anti-Zionism as a moral stance, the slow turning of America’s heart away from Jews who believe in Jewish peoplehood.
I agree with the concern, but not with the lesson she draws from it. She wrote:
Now we must relearn the skills of the outsider. To be a resistance movement means learning to be comfortable being disliked — to stop measuring success by approval. It means showing up in the streets, not just in boardrooms. It means learning the mechanics of power: how to pressure, how to organize, how to sustain energy when the headlines move on.”
That sounds exactly what “No Kings” Americans have been doing since January 20. “Welcome to the resistance,” indeed. Not to be confused with the other resistance….
But that’s precisely the problem. It WILL be confused. And the “No Kings” movement, which is broad-based and larger than anything America has seen since Earth Day 1970, will be lumped together with those progressive protests over the past decade that have ostracized supporters of Israel, like the Women’s March.
Freedom-loving Americans cannot afford to take their eyes off the prize. That goes for both Israel’s supporters and opponents.
By all means, we should hold Mamdani’s feet to the fire. But taking to the streets to protest him, turning this into a movement, would be as shortsighted for Jews as it would be for progressives like Mamdani to exclude Zionists from his government. If he truly wants to mount a resistance to what will likely be a relentless attack on New York by Trump that will likely see military forces entering the city, he’s got to set aside what the Daily News calls his “monomaniacal obsession on Israel’s being the source of all the world’s problems.” And Jews need to show him some deference and his office some respect. I’m looking at you, ADL.6
Yes for vigilance. No for “resistance.”
The streets need to be reserved for saving democracy and protesting only one thing right now.
In our constellation of concerns, there is room for only one pharaoh at a time.
As I wrote at the time, “So I refuse to fall in line with many of my Israel-supporting coreligionists and give Trump an ounce of gratitude for bombing the Iranian reactors, even if the result was a positive one for the security of Israel, America and the world. I believe that if Jews (and others) want a better world, a safer Israel and a more just and compassionate America, there is no choice but to set aside all other considerations and get right back out there and protest, full-time.“
In case you need a refresher as to why, check out Congressman Steve Cohen’s rolling list Tracking the Trump Administration’s Harmful Executive Actions and the NYT list tracking All of the Trump Administration’s Major Moves in the First 100 Days.He’s already caused inestimable damage, and he’s just getting started with the decimation of Medicaid, universities, the rule of law and civil rights.
Speaking in early 2017, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt confirmed a significant, sustained increase in anti-Semitic activity since the start of 2016, adding that the number of incidents had accelerated over the past five months. During the first three months of 2017, 541 incidents were reported, representing an increase of 86% compared to the previous year’s period.
A closer look:
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