Candidates To Hold Rallies In Queens This Sunday
In an effort to show widespread support for his mayoral candidacy, Zohran Mamdani began with liberal synagogues in Park Slope and downtown Manhattan, and recently visited the Satmar chasidim in Williamsburg, at each stop sitting next to prominent Jewish elected officials in his party, such as Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep.
Jerry Nadler. Polls show that even if one dismisses the question of “who is a Jew,” the percentage of our coreligionists voting for Mamdani despite, or perhaps because of, his insistence on Israel committing “genocide” and practicing “apartheid” is troubling.
Perhaps, then, it is refreshing to see two high-profile non-Orthodox rabbis denouncing Mamdani from their pulpits last week.
“To be clear, unequivocal, and on the record, I believe that Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the New York Jewish community,” Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue said in a videotaped speech this past Shabbos. The Conservative rabbi listed the Democratic nominee’s failure to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada,” refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, threatening to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, and calling Israeli actions in the Gaza war “genocidal.”
“For these and so many other statements, past, present, and unrepentant, he is a danger to the Jewish body politic of New York City,” he said. “To accept me as a Jew but to ask me to check my concern for the State of Israel and its people at the door is a nonsensical proposition and an offensive one no different from asking me to reject G-d, Torah, mitzvos, or any other pillar of my faith.”
Across Central Park on the Upper West Side, Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue issued his own video statement addressed to Mamdani.
“It is, of course, entirely legitimate to criticize any government, including Israel’s. The Jewish community is famously diverse and we ourselves vigorously debate American and Israel policies,” he said. “But your opposition to Israel is not centered around policies. You reject the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.” The Reform rabbi then criticized Mamdani for insisting that Israel was practicing genocide when, in fact, it is Hamas that is committed to the indiscriminate murder of Israelis, as it did in the October 7 attack that launched the Gaza war.
Such public declarations by leaders of sizable Conservative and Reform synagogues demonstrate that even as the religious divide grows between Orthodox and non-Orthodox communities, recognition of our historical homeland and commitment toward its security are shared by Jews across the denominational spectrum.
Beyond religious spaces, opponents of the Democratic Socialist can also share Amy Schumer’s Instagram photo in which she wears a voter sticker captioned as “rhymes with duomo,” and a video from a pro-Israel rally that she attended earlier this month in Washington Square Park. “I want to say that I love you,” she told the crowd. “We stick together.” Such posts earned Schumer thousands of hateful replies, as she is reliably liberal on most social and political topics. Her advocacy and endorsement stand in contrast to her relative Sen. Chuck Schumer, whose Park Slope home was picketed by leftists during the Gaza war, despite his open criticism of Netanyahu. To date, the Democratic Minority Leader has not endorsed nor condemned Mamdani.
Closer to our readership area, there will be two competing rallies this Sunday relating to the mayoral election. At 1 p.m., there will be a rally in front of the Kew Gardens Hills Library expressing support for Israel, with Cuomo as the headliner. This very spot hosted many such vigils over the years, particularly in the early days of the Gaza war, when some of the leading elected officials in Queens stood with the Jewish community demanding the release of hostages.
Among them, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards not only endorsed Mamdani after he won the Democratic primary, but he is also actively supporting his campaign by touring with him and tweeting his talking points. On Monday, he wrote, “Islamophobia at its peak. Y’all need therapy, not Twitter fingers.”
For much of his first term in office, Richards had positive interactions with the Jewish community, but his dismissal of opposition to Mamdani as merely anti-Muslim shows a political calculation that puts identity politics above the campaign’s stated focus on affordability above all other matters. When it is convenient, Mamdani relies on affordability to deflect from answering questions on anti-Semitism, as seen in last week’s candidates’ debate when he refused to say which parades he would not be attending as mayor. However, when faced with evidence of anti-Semitism, such as his photo-op with Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has a history of inflammatory remarks about this country, neither Mamdani nor Richards has a comment – only to say that it’s Islamophobic to call him out.
While Cuomo will be speaking in Kew Gardens Hills, Mamdani will be introduced at Forest Hills Stadium by Reps. Bernie Sanders and AOC, in a get-out-the-vote event titled “New York Is Not for Sale.” The stadium can fit 13,000 participants, and likely many of them will be coming by subway from neighborhoods closer to Manhattan, where progressives dominate the political scene. Perhaps they can be greeted with American and Israeli flags flying from windows, to show that his canvassers are not welcome here. Our community’s ability to mobilize voters is a proven strength. With this year’s mayoral election as the toughest test to date, we must rise to the occasion.
