New York Jews fear partisan Mamdani as mayor

As New York’s political landscape shifts, the possible rise of Zohran Mamdani, a progressive state legislator known for his criticism of Israel, to mayor of New York City, has stirred unease among Jewish communities far beyond the five boroughs. 

For Mica Bloom, an ex-South African schoolteacher who has been living in New York for more than 25 years after leaving South Africa, Mamdani poses a real threat to the modern Orthodox Zionist community in which she lives and works. 

“The Jewish community of which I’m a part is jittery and anxious about him. We believe he is antisemitic. He has never held office in terms of doing anything big. He is hypocritical. He really is an inexperienced and dangerous person,” she said. 

Emma Gordon Blass, who lives in North Carolina but has lived in New York for many years, said she and her family are worried about whether Mamdani will get elected. “Most Jews that I know are the sort of Jews who go to synagogue, they tend to be Israel supporters, and they’re worried about Mamdani because he has never denounced his prior support for the bigger Palestinian cause,” she said. 

For most Jewish New Yorkers, the more worrying thing about Mamdani is that he has been able to appeal to radical Jewish left. 

Serena Steinhauer, who has been living in New York for the past two years, said it has been trendy for Jewish people on the left to support Mamdani. “But interestingly, his choice to always ’plead the fifth’ when asked directly about his views about the Jewish community in New York City and abroad is worrying.” 

“I think he will come in. He will be vocal about the conflict, but since Trump effectively created a treaty of some kind, his campaign doesn’t hold that much ground anymore. It’s more the underground antisemites that would have validation from him,” said Steinhauer. 

Robyn Bluestone, who lives in New Jersey, said she was worried about Mamdani possibly becoming mayor because “he continuously fails to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, and condones ‘globalising the intifada’ by refusing to condemn it”. 

Gordon Blass said that she and her 16-year-old son were at the New York Public Library and were quickly surrounded by a counter-protest supporting Israel which was directly opposite an anti-Israel protest that was quickly becoming antisemitic. She worries that Mamdani won’t stop protests like this from turning violent. 

“In Brooklyn, you’ve got large Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox populations living right next to communities that are often sympathetic to anti-Israel rhetoric. We’ve seen before, like during the Crown Heights riots, how quickly that tension can turn violent,” she said. “Under mayors like [Rudy] Giuliani and [Michael] Bloomberg, Jews felt safe, but that sense of security has eroded since [Bill] de Blasio, and people are calling Mamdani ‘de Blasio 2.0’. The fear is that the Jewish community won’t be protected if things flare up again. 

“As mayor, you’re responsible for keeping communities safe,” said Gordon Blass. “In New York, we’ve seen these anti-Israel ‘global intifada’ protests taking over the streets and even the Brooklyn Bridge. The concern, from a Jewish perspective, is how this demoralises the police – who will protect us if recruitment drops and no one steps in to stop it?” 

“The mayor has a lot of power and oversight over the police – he can tell them to stand down when protests and demonstrations get out of control, for instance,” said Bluestone, “Mamdani has voiced his anti-Israel views loud and clear. How can we trust him to protect the Jewish people under his watch? I’m nervous to wear my Star of David when I’m in New York City so as not to draw unwanted attention to myself.” 

Bluestone said that her neighbour, who wears a yarmulke and Magen David every day, has stopped wearing them in New York City for his safety, and takes off his five-year-old’s yarmulke in certain areas. 

“I fear that with Mamdani as mayor, wearing anything identifying oneself as Jewish will become more and more dangerous as his supporters feel even more emboldened when the leader of their city has reiterated his support of ‘globalising the intifada’.” 

Steinhauer does see why Mamdani has become so popular, as he has campaigned for the regular New Yorker and not the uber-rich. 

“The incoming of Mamdani mayoral rule won’t taint the relationship the Jewish community has with New York, in my opinion. I just feel that he will give access to the voices of those who oppose us, from a place of wanting to play ‘follow the leader’. Of course, I’m biased as a Zionist. However, I’m surrounded by such differing perspectives. I do think he has the correct ideology for making New York City more accessible to those who don’t fall into the category of the uber-wealthy. But it begs the question, how does that uphold the enormous meritocracy that New York is? The thrill of New York is the diversity. Not poor versus rich, but a world of different people joined by one thing: the possibility that lies for every one of us here.”