The city with the world’s largest Jewish population looks set to have a Mayor who opposes the idea of the Jewish state, after Zohran Mamdani swept to victory in New York’s democratic primary on Tuesday night.
Mamdani, who is currently a New York state representative for the 36th district in Queens, has a long track record of supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The 33-year old ran a high energy campaign, managing to overturn a commanding polling lead previously held by his key opponent, Andrew Cuomo, a former Governor of New York state who resigned in 2021 after numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. Cuomo conceded in the early hours of the morning.
Last week, Mamdani declined to criticise the phrase “globalise the intifada”, claiming that the slogan described “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights”, and claiming that the United States Holocaust museum had used the word “intifada” in Arabic-language descriptions of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against Nazi Germany. In response the Holocaust museum condemned Mamdani, saying that “Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors. Since 1987 Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.”
During his campaign, Mamdani, who set up his college’s ‘Student Justice for Palestine’ chapter while at university, also expressed his intention to attempt to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu should the Israeli leader come to New York, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister. Mamdani acknowledged that the US is not a signatory to the ICC, but told a crowd at the B’nei Jeshurun synagogue that “sometimes courage is required”, attempting to equate his stance with that of the Los Angeles Mayor who issued marriage certificates to gay couples before gay marriage was legal in the United States.
Mamdani has also expressed opposition to the idea of Israel existing as a Jewish state, saying that he is “not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else…. Equality should be enshrined in every country in the world.” Critics have noted that such statements have not translated into specific vocal criticism of any of the many other countries which specifically define themselves as states adhering to a different religion.
Mamdani is now the strong favourite to win the overall Mayoral election later this year. As things stand, his opponents will be Eric Adams, the current New York Mayor who was elected as a democrat but who is running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, a Republican who was beaten by Adams last time around.
