New York City, United States – Sitting in a room filled with hordes of Jewish New Yorkers, Zohran Mamdani, was applauded and applauded at the progressive Brooklyn synagogue’s Erev Rosh Hashanah service last month.
One of the Democratic mayoral nominee’s most recent appearances and events during the Jewish High Holy Days was a clear step in the right direction: increasingly engaging with the largest concentration of Jews in any American metropolitan area and holding firmly anti-Zionist views prior to the November 4 general election.
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Mamdani has a strong stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict historically, even founding a Students for Justice in Palestine while he was a student at Bowdoin College. His long-standing, unapologetically pro-Palestinian stance became a rallying point for his platform as well as a source of criticism from opponents a little over a decade later as his name began to become known.
Progressive Jewish organizations like Bend the Arc, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Action, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), which have each published statements on their websites to expose Israel’s role in the conflict in Gaza, have endorsed Mamdani and gotten their support.
In addition, he has been the target of attacks from far-right activists, Jewish Democrats on Capitol Hill, and Zionist activist groups because of his unwavering support for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and his refusal to refer to Israel as a Jewish state.
Despite mixed responses, Mamdani is clearly in the lead among Jewish voters overall in a multiway race.
No group is a monolith, according to the saying.
According to a public opinion poll conducted by Zenith Research  in July, Mamdani held the lead among Jews and Jewish subgroups by 17 points. Mamdani still held the lead, 43-33, in the race against Mayor Eric Adams, who would eventually step down.
According to Adam Carlson, the founding partner of Zenith Research, “I understand that there are many cleavages within the Jewish community.” No group is a monolith, and as a pollster, I believe that if you have a large sample size, you can break it out and discover some nuances. What we found was a better-than-expected result for Mamdani among Jewish voters in New York City.
A portion of this support was shared by Beth Miller, the political director of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action) and a Kolot Chayeinu member, at Mamdani’s last-minute Erev Rosh Hashanah.
“He basically swarmed at the end because people were so excited that he was there,” Miller said. And that’s not because he’s famous; rather, because people are excited about what we can all build together as mayor.
JVP Action, a day-one supporter of Mamdani, is just one organization in a growing number of Jewish organizations supporting Mamdani, similar to JFREJ, which has helped to spearhead outreach efforts among NYC’s diverse Jewish communities.
Since Mamdani’s candidacy for state assembly in 2020, JFREJ’s electoral arm, The Jewish Vote, has backed him. Since then, Mamdani and JFREJ have collaborated on campaigns, canvasses, and protests.
At protests along with Mamdani, Alicia Singham Goodwin, the political director of JFREJ, has been personally detained.
Regarding the arrests, Goodwin stated to Al Jazeera, “That’s the kind of thing that gives me faith in his commitments.” He “is willing to take big risks for the things that matter.”
JFREJ has aided a lot in spreading Mamdani’s message by phone banking Jewish voters and knocking on doors.
We are prepared to meet our neighbors with our analysis of how the city needs to move in order to achieve affordable housing, universal childcare, or to stop the real rise in anti-Semitism and hate violence, according to Goodwin. Zohran, in our opinion, is the best choice for both those goals and all the other issues that surround us.
embracing the Jewish vote
The mayoral candidate has also been strategic in his efforts to win the Jewish vote, despite the fact that Mamdani’s 50 000 volunteer canvassing army has done a good job.
According to Val Vinokur, professor of literary studies and director of the Jewish culture minor at The New School, “He has definitely modulated his rhetoric and has made a concerted effort to reach out to liberal congregations.” To the dismay of his anti-Zionist supporters, he has become more palatable to some progressive Zionists.
His response to the ongoing backlash over the phrase “globalise the intifada” is just one example of Mamdani’s subdued rhetoric.
The phrase, which pro-Palestinian activists used, sparked conflict between Mamdani and Jewish individuals. Some people see it as a call for solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, while others see it as violent and anti-Semitic.
Before the June election, Mamdani resisted using the expression, but according to The New York Times, he has since said he will “discourage” its use.
Mamdani acknowledged the atrocities committed by Hamas’ attack in a four-paragraph statement on X, followed by a statement on the end of the Gaza war, which marked the second anniversary of the attack.
Carlson remarked, “It got s*** on from all sides.” He made no one happy, which is, in my opinion, the right course of action. The mayor’s job sometimes involves pleasing no one, and I believe he is now learning that. If he wins as mayor, it’s like a microcosm of what he’ll be up against. Sometimes you have to make a little snub at everyone for making a compromise.
Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism
The NYC Jewish community has a wide range of political viewpoints and positions on Israel and Palestine, as Carlson’s Zenith Research poll revealed. Although the community can be distinguished between secular and traditional practices in terms of adolescence and age, it becomes clear that these differences are not always so clear as Jewish support for Mamdani increases.
While it’s true that there are significant trends in how younger American Jews view Palestinians more progressively and sympathetically, Miller said that as long as Zionism has existed, there have been anti-Zionist Jews, she added. Elders in their 70s, 80s, and 90s who have been anti-Zionist since Israel’s creation have taught me a lot because they never believed that an ethnostate to represent them was what they needed or wanted.
Alternately, these trends in the Jewish community of New York cause Zionist organizations like Betar to exist worldwide.
It’s heartbreaking to see Jews supporting Zohran Mamdani, the Jewish people’s official supporter of Zionism, according to Oren Magnezy, Betar’s global spokesperson.
American anthropologist Jonathan Boyarin, who is also a Mann professor of contemporary Jewish studies at Cornell University, wondered if anti-Zionism had helped Palestinians in particular but criticized Mamdani’s pathos.
There are “two kinds of people who confuse anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism,” according to one commentator. Zohran Mamdani doesn’t fall under either of those categories, Boyarin said.
“New political moment”
In the end, experts like Vinokur predict Mamdani will prevail, minus the Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa’s exit. Vinokur anticipates Mamdani to win the Jewish vote regardless.
Vinokur predicted that despite and not because of his anti-Zionist beliefs, he would win the Jewish vote. Youthful Jewish voters are overwhelmingly liberal, have been sparked by his campaign’s energy, and ultimately want to improve the city’s quality of life, living, and access.
The Mazals, a JFREJ annual gala fundraiser, celebrated Mamdani’s message and campaign. More than 1, 000 people attended a night filled with music, ritual, and tradition that included New York Comptroller Brad Lander and Mamdani.
Source: Aljazeera
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