Who’s afraid of Zohran Mamdani? How the mayoral race has divided Jews in New York
We've never seen anything like it here, and we never will. A candidate who comes out of nowhere, not a retired general or a flashy television star, not a privileged prince of the elite, and not even a wheeler-dealer. Someone young, with the background of a foreigner, an immigrant, unknown until just a moment ago; his opinions are unwavering, radical; he is not afraid to say what he thinks and doesn't hesitate to think what he says.
He doesn't care about the pollsters and doesn't pay attention to the advice to moderate his views. He goes on the attack with his own truth – and wins. Defeats the establishment, the other candidate, the heir to a dynasty.
We've never had such a thing here; we'll never have a Zohran Mamdani. If Israeli politics continues to tread water – it's not just that Benjamin Netanyahu is not going away, even his rivals who have been beaten time after time are refusing to get out of our lives – we will never have a Mamdani. Despair.
To understand the depth of the revolution represented by Mamdani, who was elected mayor of the most important city in the world, imagine an Arab or Eritrean migrant candidate winning an election here in Israel. To think about former Hadash MK Dov Khenin being elected prime minister. Think too about a hip-hop artist such as Mr. Cardamom – one of Mamdani's musical monikers – who turned into a leader overnight. Maybe rapper Tamer Nafar?
Within just a few months, Mamdani excited the city and enraptured its young people, even those who didn't care at all about politics. He was elected in the city with the largest Jewish community in the world, even though they maliciously tried to label him as an antisemite. He was elected in one of the most capitalist cities in the world based on a socialist platform, one without any vacillation.
America has once again proved it is the land of limitless opportunity. Mamdani may make it great again, much more so than Donald Trump.
New Yorkers celebrating Zohran Mamdani's victory in the mayoral elections on Tuesday night.Credit: Gili Getz
It's possible, too, that he will fail miserably. The old establishment will do everything it can to eliminate him, as they did in the United Kingdom to Jeremy Corbyn from Labour, another great hope for change, who was cut down. It is also possible that Mamdani's promises will be revealed to be impossible, in spite of the great charm of creating justice and equality in his city, and beyond it.
It is even possible, he is not as talented in leading and implementing as he is in promising. But his very election has already led to an enormous change, instilled hope for something different, brought with it a refreshing new spirit, which hasn't existed in Israel for a long time: Be jealous of New Yorkers.
Newly elected Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a campaign event in New York on Monday.Credit: Angela Weiss/AFP
Next year we will have the "most fateful" elections, and there is not a single person to get excited about, no figure that one hopes will win, no one to make an effort for. Not a single person who can be believed, who offers a restart and revolution. Just more of the same, kudos to the IDF, and now is not the time for a Palestinian state, and above all – continued Jewish supremacy forever.
All this in a country that is desperate for a restart, maybe more than any other nation in the world, and more now than at any other time in its history. Here, everything is more of the same: The supreme leader, the battered pretenders to the throne, the hollow slogans, corruption, emptiness and despair.
An Israeli Mamdani is needed now like a ventilator for the suffocating. When no one dares to offer something different, a path that has not yet been tried, an unexplored point of view, and when the country and society are stuck in the mud – we need a Mamdani.
Protestors gathered outside CBE. Tensions had built throughout the week as news of Mamdani's visit spread.Credit: Gili Getz
Maybe that is why the incitement and fear-mongering machines have begun working against him in Israel; almost every commentator in the television studios has come out against him. After all, he has said Israel killed children in Gaza, just imagine, and even carried out genocide. This must mean he is a proven antisemite. He is also against Islamophobia, and that means he is an Islamist, the Islamic State in New York.
If only he succeeds in fulfilling at least a few of his enormous promises. If only he could manage to shatter the global campaign against progress, too. If he can just take care of New York's downtrodden. Israel's downtrodden deserve a Mamdani, too.