WhatsappIf the mayoral candidate wins, antisemites in New York may have free rein to harass, intimidate and attack Jewish communities with few consequences.
(Aug. 13, 2025 / JNS)
Nearly two months have passed since Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic Party’s mayoral primary in New York City. While America’s major Jewish groups underestimated the 33-year-old candidate’s rising popularity before the June primary, their restrained criticism of the anti-Israel ideologue ahead of November’s general election suggests that some of our nation’s most prominent Jewish institutions are absorbing his presumptive mayorship with unspoken acceptance.
The New York state assemblyman’s dangerous positions are well-established. From his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state to his participation in pro-Hamas rallies, voters cannot fault Mamdani for his lack of transparency when it comes to his hatred of Israel.
An electoral win for Mamdani would result in antisemites being given free rein to harass, intimidate and attack Jewish communities and face next to no consequences for their actions.
It’s a frightening prospect that is eliciting little concern from New York Jewish leaders, who, according to certain reports, have accepted Mamdani’s victory as a fait accompli and are failing to organize a serious effort to challenge his candidacy.
Apart from initial, albeit at times, indirect objections to the Democratic candidate’s unwillingness to denounce the slogan and oft-heard chant “Globalize the intifada,” groups such as the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York have not indicated that stopping Mamdani is an institutional priority.
As the Jewish state was fending off an onslaught of pressure leveled by international elites, the decision by some of America’s largest Jewish groups to regurgitate the falsehood that Israel was not doing its share in nurturing the population of Gaza accelerated the spread of world condemnation and helped feed the starvation blood libel.
For its part, the Union for Reform Judaism made the outlandish claim that Israel is sacrificing “its own moral standing” by restricting food assistance to Gaza. Joining the paternalizing chorus of Israel critics was the American Jewish Committee, which urged Jerusalem to increase its cooperation with the entities involved in distributing aid in Gaza.
An announcement by UJA-Federation in New York that the flagship institution plans to allocate $1 million to the Israeli nongovernmental humanitarian-aid organization IsraAID to support its efforts in Gaza demonstrates the depths Jewish groups are willing to sink to virtue-signal their way toward left-wing acceptance.
If Mamdani gets his way as mayor, Jewish organizations, like UJA, may see their tax-exempt status stripped.
While serving in the state assembly, Mamdani sponsored the “Not on Our Dime Act,” which would prohibit charitable organizations from engaging in “unauthorized support for Israeli settlement activity.”
As Mamdani sets his legislative sights on attacking Jewish institutions, UJA’s million-dollar gift to Gazans conveys a pre-emptive attempt to promote the group’s progressive bona fides and paints a troubling glimpse into how a Mamdani mayorship will encourage Jewish groups to intensify their liberal ideological leanings in hopes of currying favor with an unsavory mayor.
Except for a small number of Jewish groups, including the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Zionist Organization of America and the Coalition for Jewish Values, Jewish groups are struggling to become coherent around a sound platform that protects and defends Jewish interests.
When pressed for action against Mamdani, many well-known Jewish organizations reaffirmed their commitment to act as impartial political observers.
Yet, this, too, is hardly believable. Maintaining political neutrality was not on the agenda in 2020 when more than 600 Jewish groups took out a full-page ad in The New York Times in support of the organized and overtly antisemitic Black Lives Matter group.
The notion that these institutions want to retain objectivity lacks credibility when compared against the numerous instances that U.S. President Donald Trump was attacked during his first administration for his appropriate condemnation of congressional antisemites. Or when, more recently, the current administration was denounced by several Jewish organizations for its prescriptive and sound approach to combating antisemitism on U.S. campuses.
For most mainstream Jewish organizations, electoral neutrality is only applied when benefiting Democrats.
Moreover, outspoken pro-Israel advocates, like Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), have found themselves in Jewish institutional crosshairs for their unwillingness to follow the politically correct playbook unveiled by leaders from the Anti-Defamation League and the AJC, who distort with ease online posts by Fine referencing the congressional “Squad” and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
An openly proud Jew like Fine, who dons a kippah on Capitol Hill to demonstrate solidarity with Jewish students, stokes more ire among liberal Jews than antisemitic agitators like Mahmoud Khalil, whose right to “due process” Jewish communal leaders remain quick to clarify in any communication involving the graduate of Columbia University.
The organizations whose responsibilities consist of safeguarding Jewish interests are squandering what should amount to a pivotal era in securing the future of Jews in America. Trying to score political points by pouring money into Gaza and strangling pro-Israel voices on the right will not earn liberal Jews any goodwill from Mamdani.
It’s time for Jewish leaders to cease caving to their liberal whims and start exercising some integrity by imposing a strong institutional posture against radical figures like Mamdani, who, if elected, will alter the New York City landscape into an inhospitable region for all Jews, including those on the political left.
