Asked during his own primary campaign for mayor if he would visit Israel, Zohran Mamdani shrewdly told the moderator that if elected he would stay in the city “standing up for Jewish New Yorkers” wherever they might be, and “delivering on their concerns.” He said nothing about making the disavowal of Israel, and the demonization of its supporters, the litmus test for political participation in the city with the largest Jewish population in the country. That, however, is what he has done, though it was Democratic voters who proved the strategy a success, sweeping a trio of Mamdani-endorsed candidates to primary victory, with support from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
A number of the victorious candidates in Tuesday’s primary had indistinguishably progressive platforms from those they defeated, with one key difference. This had less to do with policy than rhetoric: a willingness to speak about Israel and its supporters in the eliminationist language Mamdani showcased at a rally for his chosen candidates last week. Calling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) “monsters,” the mayor accused the American pro-Israel lobbying organization not only of unpatriotic disloyalty to America but also of a murderous commitment to the slaughter of innocents so great that the only thing the organization found “more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and Netanyahu’s wars.”
