New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has been in office only a few days, has already noticeably gone after the New York Jewish population.
What he is doing, however, is not only about the Jews. It is an attack on all of Western culture. He is not just rejecting the government of Israel; Mamdani is actually launching a global attack on the capitalist economy of Western civilization. It is conscious. It is dangerous. And although it is beginning with the Jews of New York, it is about something much, much more threatening and insidious.
Mamdani has been consistent throughout his career: founding Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at his college; supporting BDS; supporting a global intifada; championing a state of Palestine that defines itself from the river to the sea; condemning Israel at every opportunity; getting sworn in on the Quran, a document devoted to death and hate (Robert Spencer wrote a brilliant article on the significance of this); and, going back to his SJP days, promoting the Quran’s values of fighting against “the people of the book until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (9:29). In the same way that Israel is the first line of defense against the Islamizing of Western culture, and thus is attacked relentlessly by the Muslim world, the Jewish community of New York is being targeted by Mamdani in New York City as another direct expression of Islamic teachings, which say, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.'” (a quote used by Hamas in their charter).This is only a first step in a much larger long-term strategy.
New York City holds a special place in the hearts and history of American Jews. It was the entry point into this nation as they escaped from the pogroms of Russia in the early 20th century, and then as a place of refuge after the Holocaust. Going all the way back to 1654, Jewish settlers entered New Amsterdam, and the Jewish community, culture, and religion were integrated into every aspect of the city from entertainment to business. In 1920, over 28% of New Yorkers were Jewish; and by 1950 there were over 2 million Jews living in the five boroughs. Today, New York has the largest concentration of a Jewish population in the world outside the city of Tel Aviv. (This makes it all the sadder that 32% of New York Jews voted for Mamdani, like chickens voting for Col. Sanders.)
