Words matter: It’s time for New Yorkers to reject Zohran Mamdani’s dangerous ‘genocide’ libel

JTA – Every generation tells itself the same story: We have learned the lessons of history. We are wiser than those who came before us. That could never happen here. 

History tells a different story. 

Violence rarely begins with violence. It begins with words. Before people are attacked, they are vilified. Before they are excluded, they are portrayed as dangerous or uniquely evil. Long before the first blow is struck, language prepares the ground. 

That is why New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s video last week accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “genocide” demands a clear response. 

Genocide isn’t a synonym for a brutal war, civilian suffering, or even grave errors in the conduct of war. It requires the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The accusation therefore turns not simply on the tragic consequences of war, but on an intent to destroy a people. 

Critics cite inflammatory remarks by individual Israeli officials, some stripped of context, as proof of genocidal intent. They are not proof of the policy or intent of the State of Israel. 

The broader evidence doesn’t establish such an intent. Israel entered the war after Hamas massacred civilians, took hostages, and promised further attacks. It has consistently identified the defeat of Hamas and the return of the hostages as its objectives, while stating that its war isn’t against the Palestinian people. It has issued evacuation warnings and agreed to humanitarian pauses that enabled mass polio vaccination campaigns for children in Gaza. 

Taken together, these facts directly contradict the claim of genocidal intent. Presenting genocide as established truth is not serious analysis; it is a defamatory libel, false and dangerous. By stripping away Hamas, the hostages, Israel’s military objectives, and the extraordinary difficulties of fighting terrorists embedded among civilians, Mayor Mamdani transforms a complex war into a morality play in which Israel represents absolute evil. 

Nor was this an isolated episode. 

Last month, Mayor Mamdani referred to Israel lobby group AIPAC as “monsters” and spoke of “dark money” being used to preserve political power. Whatever his intent, describing those with whom he disagrees on Israel as monsters while invoking familiar themes of hidden financial influence echoed some of history’s oldest anti-Jewish tropes. 

The common thread is moral demonisation. Those with whom the mayor disagrees aren’t merely mistaken. They’re portrayed as monstrous, sinister, or complicit in history’s gravest crime. 

That should concern every New Yorker and every American. 

New York City is home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel. Yet its mayor has made denunciation of the world’s only Jewish State and its democratically elected leader a recurring feature of his public leadership. New Yorkers elected him to govern their city, keep its streets safe, and represent its many communities. They didn’t elect him to turn City Hall into a platform for prosecuting the leader of one of America’s closest democratic allies. 

The consequences aren’t abstract. Less than 48 hours after Mayor Mamdani released his video, an assailant stabbed a visibly Jewish man on the Upper West Side and, in a separate attack, stabbed an Asian man. According to witnesses and police, the assailant shouted, “Allahu Akbar.” The NYPD is investigating the attacks as potential hate crimes. 

The timing cannot simply be ignored. Jewish New Yorkers are living amid persistent antisemitic threats and violence. In such an atmosphere, repeatedly portraying Israel and its supporters as beyond the bounds of moral legitimacy contributes to a climate in which hostility toward Jews is normalised and those already inclined towards hatred feel emboldened. 

We Jews know where that process can lead because we have lived it. 

For centuries, antisemites portrayed Jews as malevolent, conspiratorial, and dangerous. Medieval blood libels accused Jews of murdering Christian children. Modern antisemites claimed that Jews controlled governments, finance, and the media. Nazi propaganda depicted Jews as a disease to be eradicated. 

The details changed, but the purpose did not: to push Jews beyond the boundaries of empathy and moral concern, making exclusion, persecution, and violence easier to justify. 

Today, that pattern is often directed at the Jewish State. Israel is stripped of context, subjected to standards applied to no other country, and cast as uniquely illegitimate. The Jewish people are again told that their collective existence stands outside the ordinary protections afforded to others. In effect, Israel is treated the way Jews have so often been treated: singled out, demonised, and denied the benefit of the doubt. 

A mayor’s words carry particular weight. They help define what a city will tolerate and how its residents should regard one another. Accusing Israel’s prime minister of “genocide” and describing political opponents as monsters deepens the fear and isolation already felt by many Jewish New Yorkers. 

That is why silence from other leaders is unacceptable. 

Federal and state officials, members of the City Council, religious and civic leaders, and New Yorkers of every background should say plainly that the “genocide” libel is false and dangerous. Those who oppose antisemitism must confront it not only when it comes from political adversaries, but also when speaking out requires challenging their friends and allies. That is where principle is tested. 

Mayor Mamdani condemned the Upper West Side stabbing as hateful and despicable. That condemnation was necessary, but leadership requires more than denouncing violence after it occurs. It also requires avoiding rhetoric that helps create an atmosphere in which hatred takes root. 

Words are not violence. But violence is often preceded by words that make hatred easier to excuse, accept, or ignore. 

• The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SA Jewish Report, JTA, or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.