Mamdani forces New York Jews to look in the mirror

I recently returned from a business trip to Israel. During virtually every one of my 25 meetings, someone interjected to ask me how we allowed Mamdani to become the next Mayor of New York City. After jokingly responding that I do not live in NYC and cannot vote – so don’t blame me! – inevitably these discussions focused on the New York Jewish community’s failure to smell fear before it turns the corner and punches us in the face. To put it differently, how New York Jews should have seen this coming.

In many ways we have ourselves to blame. Some of us predicted this day would come, never thought it would concretize in this form, and failed to stop it. Too many New York Jews were on the front lines embracing the rise of woke politics, allowing anti-Zionist intersectionality to become socially acceptable, and indulging patently dishonest criticism of Israel in the name of free speech. Normalizing these forces ultimately birthed the terrorist-adjacent trash that is Mamdani. For our failures we should beg for forgiveness from future generations.

Mamdani is a symptom of a larger disease; namely, the mainstreaming of anti-Israel rhetoric. These canards include Israel as a colonizing oppressive state, purveyor of a Gazan genocide, and perpetrator of ethnic cleansing. Such blood libels have eroded the bedrock of liberal America’s historic support for Israel and the Jewish people. Mamdani was midwifed by the woke machine, which was cultivated by the Ivy League and anti-Israel college protests, and we are stuck with the gnarly afterbirth. Lest you think this is too gruesome an image, it is nothing compared to the wave of antisemitism unleashed by the rise of woke dogma and anti-Israel politics which converged to catapult Mamdani to power. The real threat is what comes next – Mamdani is now a symbol of the effectiveness of the college protests and the concerted campaign to delegitimize the Jewish State.

Personally, I saw movements such as the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, colleges DEI obsessions, and more recently, the No Kings rallies for what they are – festering cesspools where anti-Israel rhetoric is indulged in the nebulous name of “justice.” I privately contacted several major Jewish organizations, providing well-sourced analyses setting forth why we should disassociate from such causes and kill them in the cradle, but I obviously did not scream loud enough. Shame on me. I must live with my failures and find ways to avoid repeating them. Perhaps this article is an important first step on my penitent road.

Many Jews leaned into allyship, believing it was the right strategy, morally and tactically. But that proved horribly wrong when our purported allies abandoned us when we needed them the most. Every time Jews supported the latest flavor-of-the-month cause by virtue signaling, lawn signs and social media posts, we knowingly or unknowingly fed the spreading blob of anti-Jewish woke dogma – which predictably blew up in our faces. Will we repeat our same mistakes, embrace the same tired paradigms, and step up to the plate with the same broken bat?

There admittedly are bespoke local conditions that coalesced in Mamdani’s favor, including allegations of criminal misconduct against Mayor Adams and accusations embroiling former Governor Cuomo. But something far more sinister is afoot. While those conditions factored into Mamdani’s victory, they do not explain why far-too-many Democratic politicians have tolerated or embraced Mamdani despite his open and notorious antisemitism. These Democratic politicians are complicit in the acceptance of antisemitism as a new normal – ranging from formal endorsements by Jewish Congressman Jerry Nadler and Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jefferies, to Senator Schumer’s and President Obama’s carefully worded support and praise for Mamdani. While Senator Schumer did not formally endorse Mamdani, he largely stood idly by while Mamdani rose to power. I predict that purportedly pro-Israel Democratic politicians will line up to bend the knee, crediting him for “moderating” his views on Israel – perhaps he will even offer a word salad retreat from his unequivocal embrace of globalizing the intifada, i.e., killing Jews.

Put aside the irredeemable “Jews for Mamdani”, which I pray is an oxymoronic fringe feature (although I worry that it is more common than we care to admit), the New York Jews most likely to be panicking about Mamdani are those who descended on Washington DC for the Women’s March (led by notorious antisemite Linda Sarsour), promoted BLM (despite its rabidly antisemitic founders), and continue to attend No Kings rallies. Many of these Jews have their hearts in the right place – they want to fight for “justice”, commit their lives to Tikkun Olam, and generally make the world a better place. But, like many of us, they made enormous miscalculations. Even UJA-Federation of New York made a major misstep when it donated a million dollars to Gaza, deluding itself by that redirecting money donors clearly intended for Jewish causes to Gaza – and tipping its hat to the media-fed blood libel that masses of Gazans were on the verge of dying from starvation – it would somehow placate the anti-Israel movement. History has revealed the foolishness of this decision.

So, what should American Jews do differently?

For starters, Jewish organizations should stop catering to so-called “allies” who abandoned us when the going got tough. Jews also should stop enabling antisemitism by blindly attending rallies led by the cult of intersectionality. For example, the “No Kings” rallies are led by organizations who openly spread blood libels against Israel and support the “Free Palestine” movement — Indivisible, a primary organizer of No Kings, falsely and repeatedly has accused Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing, deliberate starvation, and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians (Mamdani’s own Democratic Socialists of America is one of the organizations working with Indivisible to promote the No Kings movement). These groups overtly peddle anti-Israel blood libels, yet far-too-many Jews ignorantly flocked to their rallies, without giving thought to who they were supporting. We each have the right to support our political candidates of choice, and to criticize our government, but we should avoid fueling antisemitic fires by attending rallies organized and led by those who are anti-Israel.

We also should have a reckoning of our shortcomings. Whether well-intended or not, those of us who enabled this moment ought to have a dose of humility – recognizing that they inadvertently contributed to the normalization of anti-Israel rhetoric across America by emboldening problematic organizations in the name of racial or social justice (or out of a myopic hatred for President Trump). Each time a Jew put up a BLM lawn sign they gave an inch to anti-Israel hate. Each time a Jew joined forces with anti-Israel organizations behind “No Kings” they further empowered the blob of woke intersectionality – which houses anti-Israel sentiment in its core. For those Jews who feel compelled to protest Trump – go ahead, that is your democratic right. Just please don’t join forces with anti-Israel organizations and further enable the rise of another Mamdani. Please do some diligence before joining a cause.

At bottom, Mamdani is the natural result of constant compromise by leaders of major Jewish organizations, who were more concerned with virtue signaling than standing up for their people by drawing strict lines. Have we unleashed the genie from the bottle regarding anti-Israel politics? Time will tell, but let’s hope it is not too late to reverse course or at least minimize the damage.

If the post-October 7 explosion of antisemitism has taught us anything, it’s that we must learn from our mistakes, including the complacent prevalence of anti-Israel blood libels that have stuck us with Mamdani. Mamdani may “only” be the mayor of a city, but it is a city which essentially serves as the capital of the Jewish diaspora. We should be more concerned of the symbolism a Mamdani victory will deliver to the “Free Palestine” movement within the Democratic Party and America writ large. I pray that the New York Jewish community shakes off its slumber, soberly evaluates its strategic errors, and doubles down on supporting our brethren in the State of Israel – who serve us each day on the front lines and wonder how we allowed this to happen.