The Blogs: Finding our Way Forward: Creating the Mamdani Political Litmus Test

Liberal Jews do not need to choose between political homelessness and unconditional defense of Israel. But the old arrangement—reliably Democratic at home, broadly supportive of Israel abroad, and accepted across the center-left—is plainly breaking down. I am proposing a third way forward: The viable alternative is to become a more independent, explicit, and organized political bloc.

A necessary first move is to reject two false choices:

“Defend every Israeli policy or help Israel’s enemies.”

“Renounce Zionism or forfeit membership in the progressive coalition.”

These principles are for me non-negotiable. Liberal Zionism encompasses: Jewish and Palestinian national self-determination; Israeli security; opposition to Hamas and political violence; opposition to settlement expansion, annexation, collective punishment, and Jewish supremacism; and democratic equality within Israel.

As we know these principles today are under pressure and threat, but they remain core to a Zionist vision of Jewish national identity.

Diagnosing the American Political Landscape:

The Democratic coalition has moved sharply toward the Palestinians. Gallup’s 2026 survey found that 65% of Democrats sympathized more with Palestinians and 17% with Israelis. Yet sympathy for Palestinians is not necessarily rejection of Israel’s existence. A candidate who opposes offensive weapons, condemns Netanyahu, or favors recognition of Palestine may still accept an Israeli state. Conversely, someone can use the language of human rights while excluding Zionist Jews, rationalizing violence against Israelis, or treating Jews as collectively culpable.

Those distinctions matter. “Anti-Israel” is too broad a category for effective politics.

The party’s last national platform still supported Israel’s security, Palestinian statehood, and a negotiated two-state outcome. The Democratic Party therefore is contested territory, not formally an anti-Zionist party—even though important constituencies within it are increasingly hostile to Zionism and sometimes to ordinary institutional relationships with Israel, Democratic Party platform. Meanwhile, the Republican coalition contains committed friends of Israel but also Christian nationalism, authoritarian populism, and an increasingly visible isolationist or conspiratorial right. Becoming dependent on that coalition would exchange one form of insecurity for another.

Dealing with Mayor Mamdani: A Case Example

Neither normalization without conditions nor permanent excommunication will likely work when dealing with politicians who reject Israel and the Jewish people. The Mamdani situation provides us an opportunity to build an effective political model.

There ought to be a Mamdani Litmus Test in play:

Accountability: Does his administration protect Jewish institutions, prosecute hate crimes fairly, include Jews in public life, and deliver competent government?
Acceptance: Can Zionist Jews participate in civic coalitions without being required to repudiate Israel?
Boundaries: Does he distinguish opposition to Israeli policies from opposition to Israel as a viable national home of the Jewish people? Does he tolerate political disagreement without collective blame?
Expectations: Does he challenge antisemitism when it comes from his own allies, not only when it comes from the right? Is he prepared to include Jewish participation as part of key civic and political activities associated with the governance and management of the city?

His record should not be reduced to a single label. His administration retained an Office to Combat Antisemitism and has publicly acknowledged the disproportionate incidence of anti-Jewish hate crime. Those facts, however, do not erase his opposition to Zionism, BDS-related actions, or confrontational rhetoric about Israel.

These standards of behavior ought to apply to any politician or political figure. This formula must be based on observable conduct rather than caricature. A productive organizing posture on the part of the Jewish community would be:

Cooperate on housing, transit, labor rights, immigration, public safety, and protection from hate.
Continue to contest any actions or statements directed against Israel, Zionists or Jews; and
Insist on regular, substantive consultation with the full spectrum of Jewish New Yorkers.

As an elected official, the mayor, and for that matter any public figure, is accountable to his/her constituencies, and Jews ought to demand that level of performance from Zohran Mamdani and all politicians.

There ought to be an expectation: “You do not have to agree with Zionism; but we are holding you to the following standard by which you need to govern. We have an expectation that Zionist Jews will be treated as equal citizens, as you embrace the full civic participation of all Jews.”

Setting Defensible Boundaries on the Left:

Not every objectionable position is antisemitic, and not every invocation of Palestine is benign. Liberal Jews need language capable of saying both.

The line is crossed more clearly when people:

Hold Jews collectively responsible for Israel.
Exclude individuals from unrelated coalitions because they are Zionists or have ordinary Israeli connections.
Treat attacks on Israeli civilians as acceptable
Target synagogues or Jewish cultural events merely because they are Jewish, and
Demand that Jews pass a political loyalty test not imposed on other minorities.
Invoke conspiracies about Jewish money, media control, or divided loyalty.
Deny Jews any collective rights while recognizing such rights for comparable peoples.

The Nexus Project’s guide is useful here because it distinguishes criticism of Israel from anti-Jewish prejudice without pretending the two can never overlap.

Building a Practical Scorecard:

This formula permits differentiated voting:

Support a Democrat who is highly critical of Israel but protects Jewish equality and accepts Israeli self-determination.
Oppose a Democrat whose anti-Zionism becomes exclusion, collective blame, or indulgence of political violence.
Cooperate with a Republican on synagogue security or antisemitism legislation without endorsing MAGA;
Support an occasional moderate Republican where democratic norms are secure, and the Democratic alternative has crossed red lines.
Withhold endorsements, primary incumbents, or leave a race blank when neither candidate meets minimum standards.

That is coalition politics, not betrayal.

Building a Strategy for Political Repositioning:

A democratic Jewish political movement must include these four non-negotiable positions:

American liberal democracy.
Jewish safety, peoplehood, and Israeli self-determination.
Palestinian recognition of Israel’s political legitimacy to exist as a Jewish democratic state and the corresponding expectation that Palestinians should enjoy equal rights and self-determination.
Opposition to supremacism, dehumanization, and political violence from every camp.

Liberal Zionists can remain inside the Democratic coalition where possible, build relationships beyond it where necessary, and refuse to become captive either to an anti-Zionist left or an illiberal right. Their leverage will come from being organized, morally consistent, and genuinely willing both to cooperate and/or to walk away. By establishing litmus tests as a measure of expected, required political behavior, Jews can leverage their power position.