Mamdani’s Historic Win Divides Jewish Communities

Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Nov. 4, becoming the youngest and first Muslim mayor in the city’s history. 

His election marked a historic milestone, though his statements about Israel, the Israel Defense Forces, and Palestine have sparked controversy in Jewish communities.

Mamdani, 34, a democratic socialist, ran on a campaign of affordability. He pledged to raise taxes on the top one percent of New Yorkers to fund free bus fares, freeze rents, and provide universal child health care.

He won with 50 percent of the vote, according to the New York City Board of Elections. “The first day I spend at City Hall will be very much like the last day I spend at City Hall: It will be focused on the cost-of-living crisis,” Mamdani said outside City Hall the day before the election. 

While his economic message drew broad progressive support, particularly among younger and working-class voters frustrated with rising rents and inequality, many Jewish New Yorkers expressed concern about his foreign-policy statements. 

At the Democratic Socialists of America convention in August 2023, Mamdani said, “We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” 

“That’s why I don’t like him,” said Barbara Silberman, a longtime English teacher at Denver Jewish Day School and a New York City native. 

Comments like those led Silberman and others to view Mamdani with skepticism. “I’m disappointed, but not surprised [that he won the election].”

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York City — one of the city’s largest Reform congregations — declined to endorse Mamdani. “I fear living in a city and a nation where anti-Zionist rhetoric is normalized and contagious,” she said during services in the days leading up to the election. “Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has contributed to a mainstreaming of some of the most abhorrent antisemitism.” 

During his campaign, Mamdani voiced support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, saying his criticism is directed at the Israeli government, not Jewish individuals. He has also said he is committed to representing all New Yorkers and that there is no room for antisemitism in the city. 

Mamdani also said he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever entered New York during his tenure as mayor. He cited an International Criminal Court warrant accusing Netanyahu of war crimes, though legal experts note a mayor would have no authority to enforce international law. “He will be watched closely, and if he doesn’t perform well, voters won’t re-elect him,” Silberman said. 

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of The Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement to Fox News, “Today [the day Mamdani was elected], we are launching a new initiative featuring a tip line for antisemitic incidents and a ‘Mamdani Monitor’ to track policies and appointments, expanding our existing work to protect Jews everywhere. "

In the hours after the election, Mamdani condemned antisemitic graffiti discovered at a Brooklyn Jewish day school, posting on X (formerly Twitter), “This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city.”