Election Day has arrived in New York City’s five boroughs. It’s strange to watch this election cycle from my home in Tel Aviv, where I receive feedback from Americans and internationals alike on this specific election cycle. Not everyone is from New York, but just about everyone has some kind of connection to the city. It is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel, and almost everyone I know has some kind of connection.
My life may be in Israel, but I will always be a New Yorker, and my family will remain there, which is true for so many people I interact with in my life in Israel. As the city’s elections come to a close today, my feelings are the same as those around the US presidency in the fall: I will be glad when it’s over, because it feels like we are doomed regardless.
I am not a fan of writing about political opinions, not just as a journalist but as a person. But here I am, so I will do my best to be short and sweet: no candidate will deliver what is being promised to New York, and if this election goes to Mamdani, whose housing plan alone is equal to just barely under the entire city budget, there will be a lot of disappointed people when he fails to deliver. Or, people will start to see that what seems like a great idea in theory can cause detrimental harm to a population in practice.
While part of me wants to focus my commentary on the potential impact of this city election, what strikes me hardest is what feels like blind support from my peers. Zohran Mamdani has garnered tons of public support, particularly from young people in my age bracket. The people least dependent on the platform points Mamdani is pushing are his fiercest advocates. I recall a friend telling me that “Zohran is giving us all hope in these dark times,” which sounds nice… until you realize that they’re fully unaware of comments he’s made that make their peers feel threatened. They read the Vanity Fair article, they repost a few infographics, they encourage people to “be part of the change,” meanwhile, they haven’t really looked into policies or his commentary.
I’ve also noticed that “love for Zohran” took precedent over just about everything among his fans. The liberal arts school graduates, the pet influencers, the “as a Jew, he isn’t antisemitic” types; they all had things to say about why he was the right fit for New York. It was just as frequent, if not more, than the extremely pro-Trump voters. Everything was MAGA, rarely sharing anything that wasn’t.
During the 12-day war with Iran, a friend failed to check in at any point to make sure I was ok, but what they were able to do was post pro-Mamdani content multiple times a day. Like clockwork, almost every time I came back up from the shelter and into phone service, something new related to his campaign was posted. In what world does campaigning for some political candidate on social media take precedent over checking in on the people you care about? In twenty years, you may not remember every detail of campaigning for Mamdani, but he certainly won’t remember your individual efforts — but the people you ignored in the process will remember.
Mamdani’s strong feelings against Israel would cloud his judgment
I am worried that if elected, Mamdani’s strong feelings against Israel would cloud his judgment in making moves as mayor. I understand, Israel has many critics for a number of reasons, but why is Israel such an important talking point in your campaign if you don’t govern there? In my view, he has spent more time talking about his intention to arrest Netanyahu should he enter the city rather than plans to decrease crime within the boroughs.
With his commentary in favor of defunding the police and attempts at walking those comments back, I’m not confident that his government would respond properly. After a video surfaced of the candidate in question discussing the “boot of the NYPD has been laced by the IDF,” referring to both as oppressive, while referring to exercises the NYPD has done with Israeli armed forces.
It’s not so clear if he would put his hate for Israel under his love for his city. If we’re being honest, Israeli counterterrorism officers are realistically the only ones who have been there, done that in handling terror attacks; by refusing to condemn the statement “globalize the Intifada,” that feels like an invitation to something terrible.
New York is being put to the test. Is Mamdani the right person to lead the city in crisis? I think that if he is elected, New York might see in real time just what a huge mess they have made.