A Vote for Zohran Mamdani is a Vote Against Jews Living as Jews
Shalom,
I don’t live in New York City and never plan on doing so. Aside from the cockroaches the size of rats and rats the size of cats, New York City remains an overly romanticized city done so to cope with how expensive it is to have both as roommates. Even stranger than the bugs and rodents is the politics. One might think the upcoming election featuring former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was the Presidential general election given how much attention it has received. In reality, it’s not even the general election for the mayor of New York City. No, in fact this is merely the primary to become the Democratic nominee for the general election still to come. Given who the candidates are, the attention is justified.Subscribe
Zohran Mamdani is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America Party and an even prouder supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement—the latter seeks the end of Israel while the former seeks the end of America. Despite his party’s fundamental belief that America is evil, his ability to package his communist agenda through memes, videos, and quips is one of the many reasons for his meteoric rise. On the other hand, his belief in the BDS movement is the tether keeping his rocket ship from reaching the moon. Given the similarly meteoric rise of Judeophobia in the city that hosts the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, his anti-Israel beliefs are justifiably a sincere cause for concern for what would be one of his largest constituencies. Just as he had gained so much ground that polls started to show he might actually pull this off, a sinkhole of his own making collapsed underneath him.
On a recent episode of The Bulwark Podcast, he was asked about the term “globalize the intifada,” and like the good soldier that he is, he held the line. He used the same talking points that his fellow Jew haters have used regarding this term that is some version of watering down its meaning. They focus on the definition of the word “intifada” rather than its connotation. Had he simply kept his answer ambiguous, we all probably would’ve moved on; however, his internet brain got the best of him and he decided to invoke the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as though it is the same thing as the six year suicide bombing campaign in Israel in the early 2000s. This caused the U.S. Holocaust Museum to get involved, which led to Mamdani exacerbating his blunder that much more with crocodile tears as he centered himself during a non-apology apology.
Politics used to be entirely local and now they are entirely universal, and the NYC Democratic Primary couldn’t be more of an example. Yes, Mamdani has focused on issues that pertain to New Yorkers specifically, but the issue of Israel remains an outlier. Jewish New Yorkers keep asking him if he believes that Israel has a right to exist (which he doesn’t) and his supporters keep asking why Jews keep asking a candidate for New York City mayor if Israel has a right to exist (even though AOC yelled “Free Palestine” at his latest rally). Israel’s right to exist is not really what Jewish New Yorkers are asking. They’re asking if he believes that Jews in New York have a right to exist as Jews.
Contrary to the popular belief within antizionist circles, antizionism and antisemitism are in fact the same thing. More specifically, Judaism and Zionism are one and the same. I’ll make it very simple:
- To be Jewish is to follow Hashem’s laws.
- Many of Hashem’s laws require one to dwell in Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel).
- Therefore, to follow all of Hashem’s laws, one must dwell in Eretz Yisrael.
Now of course there are millions of Jews that don’t live in Israel (myself included) and that doesn’t mean those Jews aren’t Jewish. However, if you are someone who claims to be Jewish, and outright reject the connection between Am Yisrael (People of Israel) and Eretz Yisrael, then you are rejecting Hashem’s laws, which would put your tribal membership into question.
But this isn’t about antizionist Jews (don’t worry, that article is brewing), but about what it means for Jews to be able to practice Judaism. We as a people have a right to practice our tradition as we believe it to be not only based on the foundational concept of progressivism (i.e. “lived experiences and what not) but as free Americans. For all the Progressives claim to love freedom of speech (they don’t), they sure do forget about the other clauses inside the First Amendment. They don’t seem to care that the right to assemble only applies if it’s peaceful and the right to exercise one’s religion.
Israel’s right to exist is not really what Jewish New Yorkers are asking.
They’re asking if he believes that Jews in New York have a right to exist as Jews.
Separating Judaism from Zionism gives people like Mamdani and his ilk more free rein to protest Jewish institutions and harass Jews if they convince people they’re merely trying to save us from our own bigotry. More than that, their overall goal rests in the knowledge that American Jews are the main supporters for the state of Israel (regardless how much they repeat the ridiculous line about how many more Zionists are Christian). If American Jews, and our institutions, stop supporting Israel, the state will inevitably fall.Subscribe
Coming back to why every Jew asks Mamdani if he supports Israel’s right to exist, hopefully you now understand what they’re really asking. If Mamdani doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state for the Jewish people, then that impacts Jews ability to live Jewish lives. On the surface, it puts all things Israel in the crosshairs for the Islamist extremists who wish its destruction. Celebrations and gatherings that directly relate to Israel will be high-risk events for violence since evidence has shown that as along as people can reasonably explain the violence is antizionist and not antisemitic in nature, it’s perfectly acceptable. Life for Jews becomes more dangerous as we dig deeper.
If “antizionist” violence becomes acceptable, what happens to any kosher restaurant who has an Israeli flag in its window? What happens to any Jewish day school who advocates for the existence of a Jewish state? What happens to any synagogue that holds events featuring speakers from Israel or celebrations even inside their own building? We don’t need to guess because we’ve already seen countless examples of what happens to any Jewish institution deemed to be Zionist, and therefore a legitimate target for violence.
New York Jews begin to face a serious problem once we reach the bottom of the pit. With a man like Mamdani at the head of the NYPD, what can Jews expect from him when they are attacked for being deemed a Zionist? If a Jew wears an Israel necklace, or any piece of clothing that refers to Israel, they are a legitimate target for violence. What will Mamdani do when Jewish violence continues to rise? Will he call it out for what it is, or will he offer the same platitudes every other Democrat does by speaking about Islamophobia and “all forms of hate” as he did at his recent press conference?
Jews aren’t asking Mamdani if he believes Israel has a right to exist because they want to hear his answer. They’re not even asking a question. They’re making an accusation, a poignant one at that, through code.
After experiencing the last eighteen months of historical levels of Judeophobia, Jews are desperate to ensure that the next mayor actually cares about their safety in a real way.
Jews are desperate to know whether they are going to have to leave a home they’ve known for generations. Jews are desperate to know if they can expect their next mayor to be more like Nebuchadnezzar or like Cyrus.
In reality, New York Jews know who Mamdani is and they’re just trying to show the world the truth. In these last days of the election, they’d be far better off if they stopped using code words and started being more direct like Israelis and just ask him if he cares about the safety of Jews.
I promise you he doesn’t. So just ask him.
This essay was written by Z.E. Silver, who publishes the newsletter, “Gam V’gam.” He is a political and cultural commentator focused on politics both in the U.S. and abroad, with an emphasis on Jewish peoplehood, antisemitism, and Israel. Find him on X @z_e_silver. Follow his Substack here.
