I will be voting for Andrew Cuomo, not because he’s perfect, but because he’s capable of leading the largest city in America while his opponent Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old with almost no work experience, is a dangerous ideologue who will continue to fan the flames of anti-Jewish hatred.
While I urge everyone to vote their conscience, it’s important that we be honest about who Mamdani is, what he stands for, and sadly how some within the Jewish community have tried to make Mamdani seem kosher.
I get asked all the time by my non-Jewish friends how and why the Jewish community is voting for someone so actively against Jewish interests. Mamdani is a self-proclaimed antizionist. This does not mean that he has issues with the Israeli government. It means he believes Israel should cease to exist.
Let me be clear, at least 50% of Israelis have major issues with their country’s political leadership (just like we do in America). Criticism of Israel is normal, yet promoting its destruction is beyond the pale.
My own community, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is one of the largest pockets of Jewish support for Mamdani. But it’s also a place that would not be as open to Mamdani were it not for our former City Councilman and current City Comptroller, Brad Lander, who has spent the last 5 months attempting to convince people that Mamdani is not anti-Jewish, including a self-deprecating performance on the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” the night before the Democratic primaries in June.
To be clear, it’s not Mamdani’s position on Israel, but rather his obsession and demonization of Israel that scares us.
The “New York Jewish Agenda”, a partisan political group which Brad Lander co-founded, has been an active participant in helping to minimize the alarm bells that Jewish New Yorkers like me have been ringing about Mamdani. “Jews for Racial and Economic Justice” (JFREJ), “Bend the Arc”, and other progressive groups and Synagogues have also utilized their Jewish credentials to push the false narrative that Mamdani will be good for the Jewish community.
Most Jews don’t understand how or why these groups are endorsing someone who so clearly peddles in anti-Jewish tropes (simply replacing the word Zionist with Jew does not fool us).
Right-wing political figures like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes peddle overtly antisemitic libels while politicians like Mamdani push antizionist ones from the left. It’s clear to anyone paying attention (especially online) that the demonization of Jews is once again becoming mainstream.
What Lander and others don’t seem to understand is that no amount of groveling and self-deprecation will ever be enough for those who despise you. As a proud Jew, I will stand up for my community at the same time that I will stand up for other communities. I can denounce the brutality of ICE whilst also denouncing antizionist hatred.
This election has nothing to do with Israel, but it has everything to do with standing up to those who foster hatred and division. To those in the Jewish community who have helped to whitewash Mamdani’s hatefulness, we will not be fooled.
Ramon Maislen is a member of the Brooklyn Bridgebuilders, a progressive Democratic group.
