 |
| Zohran Mamdani |
It's a hard sell because the city with the largest Jewish
population in the entire country just nominated Zohran Mamdani - a rabidly
anti-Israel candidate - to be the Democratic nominee for mayor.
Just how anti-Israel is he? Consider the following:
According to his Wikipedia biography, Mamdani attended
Bowdoin College in Maine, where he co-founded the school’s chapter of Students
for Justice in Palestine.
As a candidate, he declined to condemn the phrase “Globalize
the Intifada.” Intifada is Arabic for ‘uprising,’ a term used by Palestinians
to describe ‘the waves of terror from 2000 to 2005 that killed an estimated
1,000 Israelis in attacks on buses, cafés, and recreation centers’.
He refuses to acknowledge the intent behind pro-Palestinian
protesters’ calls to ‘Free Palestine from the river to the sea’. Which, in
their rhetoric, means eliminating the Jewish state of Israel and replacing it
with an Islamic state of Palestine.
He has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and is
a long-time supporter of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions). If
implemented globally, BDS would effectively dismantle the State of Israel.
This is the man New York City Democrats - who make up the
majority of the city's electorate - voted for.
All of Mamdani’s anti-Israel positions are in line with his
political affiliation: the Democratic Socialists of America. Personally, I
think they should drop the word “Democratic” from their name and simply call
themselves what they really are: Socialists.
A socialist is the closest thing to a communist one can be
without actually being one. The primary goal of both systems is to redistribute
wealth equally among the people. The only difference is how they do it.
Communism accomplishes this by fully controlling the
economy, taking over the means of production, and paying all workers similar
wages regardless of their profession or contribution. It’s an idealistic system
where everyone works for the common good and shares the wealth. A supposedly fair and just system.
Socialism, on the other hand, seeks to accomplish this
through high taxation. Especially of the wealthy - and redistributing that
wealth to the working class, again, regardless of individual merit. Like
communism, socialism is rooted in a vision of “fairness,” but punishes success
and assumes great wealth is inherently suspect.
By contrast, a free-market economy rewards individual
effort. What you put in is what you get out. With determination, a willingness
to risk and fail, and a little bit of luck, anyone can become wealthy.
Socialism punishes that kind of success and views great wealth as immoral. Lately
referring to people of great wealth in this country as oligarchs!
There is nothing democratic about taxing the rich into
oblivion and redistributing their earnings to the rest of society. Which is
exactly what Mamdani has promised to do. He has pledged to create a chain of
grocery stores that will give away food for free. He promises free public
transportation. He wants to freeze rents, even when rents are already so low in
some buildings that they barely cover the costs of upkeep and taxes. (To a
socialist, this is justified. After all, landlords are presumed to be evil
capitalists getting rich off the backs of the poor.)
All these giveaways will, of course, be paid for by taxing
the ‘rich’. But what Mamdani considers rich remains to be seen. It won’t just
be billionaires. Anyone with a decent income may find themselves targeted. For
Orthodox Jews who work hard to earn enough to pay for tuition and support large
families, these new taxes could be devastating. While it’s unlikely that he’ll
be able to get the city council to approve his give-aways and such sweeping tax
increases, this is clearly his agenda.
But people love free stuff. And the charismatic young Mamdani
knows it. He is offering New Yorkers unprecedented financial relief in one of
the most expensive cities in the country.
That he is virulently anti-Israel doesn’t matter much to the
90% of New Yorkers who are not Jewish. They may not be aware of it, or simply
may not care.
Mamdani claims he’s not antisemitic. He points to
high-profile Jews who are just as anti-Israel as he is, like Senator Bernie
Sanders, who endorsed him. And after the election, he was congratulated by two
prominent Jewish lawmakers: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and
Congressman Jerry Nadler.
I am not especially concerned about the physical safety of
New York’s Jewish community if Mamdani is elected. I don’t believe he would
tolerate or ignore violence. On the other hand, some may see the election of an
anti-Israel mayor as a green light to attack Jews or Jewish institutions. We’ll
have to wait and see.
But one thing is certain: the traditional support that New
York City mayors have shown for Israel will vanish. It will be replaced by a
BDS agenda, which Mamdani will likely try to push through the city council. I
suspect he will fail, but the very fact that he will try is a seismic shift.
As I mentioned a few days ago, Jewish voters who have long
supported the Democratic Party should seriously reconsider their loyalties. If
someone like Zohran Mamdani can win the Democratic nomination for mayor of the
largest city in America, that says a lot about where the party is headed.
Is it really that far-fetched to imagine someone like
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez becoming the Democratic nominee for president in 2028?
If you are Jewish, and care about both your country and the
Jewish ancestral homeland, the party of Mamdani should be rejected. The
direction of the modern Democratic Party is clear: it will no longer support
what they view as a “colonialist oppressor state” like Israel.
One more thing. Those who blame Prime Minister Netanyahu for
the erosion of bipartisan support for Israel should take a long, hard look at
what just happened in New York. This is not about Netanyahu. This is about the
ideological shift that has been occurring in the Democratic Party ever since
the election of Barack Obama.
That said, there is still hope. Only about 20% of New York
Democrats voted in the primary. Perhaps the general election will bring out
those who supported one of the other 11 candidates. And Mamdani will be
defeated. Maybe Mayor Adams will win re-election after all.
We can always hope.
