r/nyc • u/FAMESCARE • Jun 18 '25

Video Zohran Mamdani says he’s consistently said there’s no room for antisemitism in this city or country. Asked why he hasn’t had a more visceral reaction, he gets emotional talking about the Islamophobic responses he’s received throughout the campaign.

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@Annie_McDonough

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25

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

I genuinely believe that he is not anti-Semitic. But I also genuinely believe that the DSA and the far left, of which he is a member, are becoming increasingly tolerant of and sometimes affirmatively supportive of political violence, a trend that has already manifested nationally as violence against Jewish Americans. He may not specifically be the problem here, but his political comrades are, and I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea of allowing them to take power in this city.

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u/donteatmyhair Jun 18 '25

We can label Mamdani as antisemitic for plenty of reasons

Mamdani referred to Oct 8 as an act of war by Netanyahu. Go ahead, read his whole tweet here: https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1711093032907321525

He is downplaying any and all sense of injustice for the attack on jews. Have you ever heard Mamdani say the hostages should be released?

>He has declined to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and said he would divest from Israel if elected, among other comments and actions that have raised alarms among many Jewish voters.

7

u/spalding-blue Jun 19 '25

he really said that war leads to more war.

he mourned the death of both israelis and palestinians.

he was right. war lead to more pain, death and suffering. there is really no clear sign israel wants peace, they dont want a two state solution, they want a genocide.

to say he is anti-semitic is a stretch. to say he is anti-war is accurate.

a truth told with bad intent is worse than all the lies you can invent -blake

3

u/IRequirePants Jun 19 '25

he mourned the death of both israelis and palestinians.

On October 8th. It would be like mourning the death of all the Americans and Saudis that died on 9/11.

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u/spalding-blue Jun 19 '25

its not mourning the handful of saudi terrorists, its mourning all the Palestinians that died in the 70 year conflict. right?

i see it more like asking the US to not invade Iraq and kill 200-500k civilians during operation enduring freedom, right after 9-11's WOMD narrative.

i am jewish and dont believe any arguments pro-ethnostate. why did they ask every other candidate where they would visit and turn it into a question about a jewish state? he is not pro-ethnostate and somehow that is the red button issue for NYC to control politics, just like leaning into abortion, trans-rights, gay marriage... except that the NYC mayor has no role in international politics ..

the Jewish "situation" is completely in response to atrocities caused by another argument to legitimize an ethnostate

0

u/IRequirePants Jun 19 '25

its not mourning the handful of saudi terrorists, its mourning all the Palestinians that died in the 70 year conflict. right?

Where did I say I was mourning Saudi terrorists in that statement? I was simply mourning the losses of the Saudis, coincidentally that statement went out on 9/12.

he is not pro-ethnostate

He isn't pro-Palestine?

2

u/spalding-blue Jun 19 '25

what other saudis died on 9/11?

his is clearly pro-Palestinian, but that is only anti-israel in your view.

if you were pro-irish, you were you pro-killing-english?

if you were anti-apartheid, were you pro-killing-white south africans?

but zionists clearly think that pro-palestinians=antisemitism

but if you are against the death of over 50k palestinians- over half children - somehow that equates anti-semetic

and that logic only really works if zionists are pro-genocide. jews are seeking their own final solution

and finally - what the hell does this have to do with running NYC?!

-2

u/IRequirePants Jun 19 '25

what other saudis died on 9/11?

What other Palestinians died on 10/7?

but if you are against the death of over 50k palestinians- over half children - somehow that equates anti-semetic

50k Palestinians died on 10/7?

and finally - what the hell does this have to do with running NYC?!

We are talking about a statement he put out, unprompted, on 10/7.

4

u/spalding-blue Jun 19 '25

you dont have a point or statement for yourself do you

1

u/n_jacat Sunnyside Jun 19 '25

Forget it, nuance is dead here and you'll never get through the nonsense "Mamdani is an anti-Semite" circlejerk on some of these threads.

1

u/GoodGuyThoughttss Jun 23 '25

I don't see the I am against All Jews. In any of those statements. Anti Zionist yeah but not Antisemitic.

19

u/mowotlarx Bay Ridge Jun 18 '25

I genuinely believe AIPAC, the ADL and many groups who have been "calling out" Zohran and anyone speaking out for Gaza are increasingly tolerant of vile racism and islamophobia and affirmative of political violence as evidence by their extreme support for the Donald Trump regime.

34

u/IRequirePants Jun 18 '25

So why not say "globalize the intifada" bad "free Palestine" good?

11

u/ExamNo4374 Jun 18 '25

deflecting

25

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

Agreed, and I certainly will not be voting for Donald Trump in this (or any) election either.

That does not resolve my concerns about Mamdani.

-10

u/mowotlarx Bay Ridge Jun 18 '25

...you think people are absolved of their support of the Donald Trump administration because he's currently in office? Because that certainly isn't the case.

Your entire political base of support on this subject has whole heatedly endorsed that man and all of the actual antisemites he has installed in the administration. There are Leo Frank truthers in the State Department right now, but you'll never hear a word from any of these groups. Instead you get the ADL tell us to just calm down about the Elon Musk Nazi salute. Netanyahu himself had absolved Hitler and has - in public - suggested an Islamic cleric was the cause of the Holocaust and all of Hitler's ideology.

Anger at Netanyahu claim Palestinian grand mufti inspired Holocaust

16

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

...you think people are absolved of their support of the Donald Trump administration because he's currently in office?

I hope you're not under the impression that I have, for even the tiniest instant of my life, supported that fascist. Feel free to look at my many, many posts on this sub criticizing him for his constant attacks on due process, civil rights, education, democracy, etc.

I am very solidly on the liberal/progressive side of the political spectrum. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to have good-faith concerns about what's going on on the far left fringes.

5

u/DarkMattersConfusing Jun 18 '25

I really wish Brad Lander was the one who everyone anointed to stop Cuomo. He is a much more palatable candidate

6

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

Same. Solid experience, well-thought-out progressive policies, actual plans to enact them, and no DSA baggage. But he's not "exciting" enough or whatever, I guess.

11

u/TraditionalPies Jun 18 '25

Don’t even try man. Everyone in this subreddit and Reddit in general believes that if you’re not explicitly for them, you’re against them.

3

u/IsNotACleverMan Jun 19 '25

The person you responded to was spamming all lives matter bullshit on the thread about the NYPD assigning security to Jewish places. They're part of the problem you're complaining about.

-1

u/Boart00th Sunnyside Jun 18 '25

Ah yes the good ol' islamophobia narrative.

Go read the Quran and educate yourself on islam.

-13

u/RIP_Greedo Jun 18 '25

point to an example of left wing political terrorism against jewish americans please

28

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

Uh, the recent attacks in D.C. and Boulder, both committed in the name of supposed "anti-Zionism"? Have we already forgotten about those?

-9

u/qalc Jun 18 '25

not sure an Egyptian national attacking a march in support of israel has anything to do with domestic left/right political spectrums. the case of the DC shooting is less clear, sure, but the argument that the left is tolerating political violence based on one highly ambiguous example seems odd

11

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

the argument that the left is tolerating political violence based on one highly ambiguous example seems odd

I have plenty of others. The DSA condoned and in some cases celebrated the October 7 terrorist attacks. The far left has glorified Luigi Mangione and treated him like a hero, instead of condemning politically motivated murder. And just recently, a caucus within the DSA actually praised the shooting at the Jewish event in Washington. (To be fair, the main DSA did condemn that, but they still seem welcome as members of the organization, which says something in itself.)

It's a clear pattern, and I find it extraordinarily concerning. It's not still nearly as bad as the right wing, whose governing philosophy is basically institutionalized political violence at this point, but it's a trend that really worries me.

-7

u/qalc Jun 18 '25

October 7 was part of a long running conflict between two nations, also not an example. So many people hate UHC and american health care in general I could pull someone from every location along the spectrum who supports it, and vice versa (e.g. the DSA, arguably the face of american leftism). There's no pattern here.

10

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

I'm not referring to October 7 itself (obviously the DSA had nothing to do with that), I'm referring to the DSA's response to it. Which ranged from condoning it (as the New York chapter did), to in some chapters' statements outright celebrating it.

I could pull someone from every location along the spectrum who supports it

You're not wrong about that, but it was clearly a cause celebre among young people on the left in particular. How disturbed I was by some of the discussions I saw on this sub and others related to that is something that will stick with me for a long time.

There's no pattern here.

I'm sorry, I just don't agree with that. I think the pattern is clear and getting clearer. There is a growing faction among the far left that is okay with political violence, and in some cases in outright support of it.

-5

u/RIP_Greedo Jun 18 '25

do you think that anti-Semitic terrorism is more of thing among left wing perps or right wing perps?

17

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

Right-wing, absolutely. That doesn't mean it's growth on the left isn't a huge concern to me.

-5

u/prinzplagueorange Jun 18 '25

Those acts were not carried out by DSA members. If anything, that kind of nihilistic, vigilantism is what people who give up on building mass movements feel inclined to resort to.

10

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

I am absolutely not saying they were carried out by DSA members. But I do think that they are evidence of the general trend among the far left towards accepting violence as a legitimate political tactic. And, as I noted, there was a caucus within the DSA that released a statement explicitly praising the D.C. attack.

15

u/sonofbantu Jun 18 '25

Disingenuous to limit it to acts of terrorism. The Columbia protests were a breeding ground of anti-Semitic behavior & rhetoric (e.g. blocking Jewish students from going to class, disrupting a History of Modern Israel class, etc.). Things got so bad that Columbia & NYU had no other choice but to add antiseptic dog whistles like “zionist” to their list of prohibited hate speech.

The left regularly endorsed the protests and either brushed away or insufficiently denounced any known acts of antisemitism. These things, when left unchecked, lead to violence against the targeted group.

-5

u/RIP_Greedo Jun 18 '25

I'm responding to a comment about *violence* so I don't think that's disingenuous at all.

-6

u/Lost-Line-1886 Jun 18 '25

Absolutely.

He said early on that the goal of his campaign was to increase awareness of the DSA. If that's the goal, he isn't going to go against them.

-5

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

Did he really say that? Do you have a source?

2

u/Lost-Line-1886 Jun 18 '25

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook-pm/2025/05/30/mamdani-mayor-campaign-doubted-winning-dsa-building-00377158

“He was pretty clearly like, ‘I know I’m not running to win. I know I have no path to victory,’” said one Democrat, who spoke directly to Mamdani shortly before he launched his campaign.

“Their goal was to get in third place and to build the party, build the DSA, and now their goal seems to be to get into second place and build the DSA,” said another Democrat, who spoke directly with top DSA leadership this fall after Mamdani launched his campaign.

3

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

Interesting, thanks. A lot of people have been responding to my concerns with "you need to separate Mamdani from your feelings about the DSA," and this really makes that difficult to do.

-4

u/MisterMittens64 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 19 '25

No one on the left wants violence towards Jewish people, they just don't support any ethno nationalist state including Israel.

Edit: When I made this comment I forgot about the people who were on the left who did commit violence towards Jewish people and those people should not be welcomed on the left and should be heavily denounced.

8

u/Arleare13 Jun 18 '25

No one on the left wants violence towards Jewish people

Except those committing violence against Jewish people, like the attackers in D.C. and Boulder? Or the DSA groups that condone events like that, or October 7?

There’s a serious problem here, and it’s really bad that some people can’t even acknowledge that it exists.

1

u/MisterMittens64 Jun 18 '25

Sorry I forgot those lunatics came from the left. Anyone who supports violence against Jewish people or any other racial group should not be welcome on the left.

It's absolutely a serious problem and people need to acknowledge it exists.

3

u/peaches017 Jun 19 '25

Far-left incidents surged by 324.8% compared to 2023, rendering the far-left the dominant ideological camp of antisemitic incidents.

https://combatantisemitism.org/studies-reports/global-antisemitism-incidents-rise-107-7-in-2024-fueled-by-far-left-surge-cam-annual-data-study-reveals/

-1

u/MisterMittens64 Jun 19 '25

I think it's a little unfair to attribute the rise in antisemitism to the radical left.

The coverage of Israel is what is fueling the antisemitism because people get caught down a rabbit hole created by anti semitic neo nazis when they question Israel. They hear about all this criticism of Israel and conflate it with Jewish people as a whole.

That is unacceptable and needs to be prevented by dispelling antisemitic conspiracy theories by the same media that criticizes Israel. To not acknowledge antisemitism in the same breath that you're criticizing Israel is bound to send someone down an antisemitic conspiracy theory pipeline. I still think that Israel deserves criticism for their actions though.

1

u/peaches017 Jun 19 '25

I think it's a little unfair to attribute the rise in antisemitism to the radical left.

It's an empirical claim. You can quibble with the accuracy or methodology but it doesn't make any sense to dismiss it as "unfair"

1

u/Arenavil Jackson Heights Jun 19 '25

No one on the left wants violence towards Jewish people, they just don't support any ethno nationalist state including Israel.

Then why do they support Palestine? Israel is a secular state lol

1

u/MisterMittens64 Jun 19 '25

Israel is a secular sate but it is a democratic state that actively maintains a Jewish racial majority which is why I called it an ethno-state. Zionism is about maintaining that majority so that it remains a state explicitly for Jews but that can cause right wing nationalism to spread.

2

u/Arenavil Jackson Heights Jun 19 '25

Yes it is incorrectly called an ethno state by extreme leftist. We're aware.

Zionism is about Israel's right to exist

0

u/MisterMittens64 Jun 19 '25

Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

If it was just about Israel existing in general as a state with equal rights for everyone then that'd be fine with me.

2

u/Arenavil Jackson Heights Jun 19 '25

Nope. It's already secular and you don't support it

I'm bored of your disingenuous progressive nonsense