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How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose campaign was powered by youthful energy, a surge of new voters, and a promise of unconventional change, completed his yearlong journey with a decisive victory — to be elected the 111th mayor of New York City and the first Muslim to hold the office.
Mamdani’s victory, with just over 50% of the vote, was made possible by a splintered opposition. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after his bitter primary loss, hoped for a comeback by highlighting Mamdani’s harsh criticism of law enforcement and of Israel, rallying much of the city’s Jewish and older Democratic voters after Mayor Eric Adams withdrew.
But Cuomo’s lingering unpopularity — he resigned as governor in 2021 after numerous women accused him of sexual harassment, allegations he denied — combined with his campaign’s lackluster strategy and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa’s continued presence in the race, helped clear the path for Mamdani to prevail.
Voting turnout surged past two million, with early voting also at a record high.
Cuomo received about 41% of the vote, according to unofficial results, higher than the 36% he got in the June primary.
A campaign that redefined Jewish politics in New York
Democratic nominees for mayor typically win in November — with about two-thirds of New York voters registered as Democrats. But Mamdani was not the typical Democratic frontrunner in the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. An outspoken and unapologetic critic of Israel and defender of Palestinians, Mamdani’s stance on the conflict in Gaza resonated with a majority of voters, according to public opinion polls.
His campaign roiled the Jewish community more than any mayoral contest in recent memory. Rabbis across the country weighed in on Mamdani’s candidacy. More than 850 rabbis and cantors signed a letter opposing Mamdani and the “political normalization” of anti-Zionism. Other prominent rabbis, who refused to issue political endorsements, called out Mamdani’s rhetoric but cautioned against the potential consequences of an increasingly divided Jewish community.
Felice Schachter, an Upper West Side resident who has been involved with the Facebook group Mothers Against College Antisemitism, is planning her possible exit from the city after the votes are counted. “If God forbid, Mamdani wins, I’m leaving here. I’m moving. I don’t think it’s safe for Jews,” she said at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in midtown Manhattan at the watch party for Cuomo.
“I already spent time in Long Beach. I have a real estate broker. I got my pre-approval. I’m ready to go. My real estate broker knows tomorrow, I said, ‘If Mamdani wins, call Wednesday morning. I’m gonna have an offer in by December 1.’”
Mamdani is the first major party nominee to pledge to publicly back the movement to boycott Israel, which some in the pro-Israel community see as an assault on the legitimacy of the Jewish state’s existence. He also said he would not visit Israel, breaking with a tradition upheld by mayors since 1951 to show solidarity with Jewish constituents at home.
Mamdani promised to end the city’s half-century practice of investing millions in Israeli government debt securities and said he would dissolve a council Mayor Eric Adams created in May aimed at strengthening the U.S.-Israel economic ties. Recently, he said he would reassess a partnership between the Roosevelt Island campus of Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology because of the Israeli university’s ties to the IDF.
The war in Gaza was also a flashpoint in the campaign, with Mamdani tapping into the anger over the loss of life and the dire humanitarian crisis.
Mamdani attended some of the protests just after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and led a hunger strike outside the White House to call for a permanent ceasefire in November 2023. Though he condemned Hamas’ attack as a “horrific war crime,” he defended the campus protests, some of which included offensive displays or antisemitic statements, and he criticized the Adams administration for its crackdown on them.
Mamdani faced the most scrutiny for refusing to outright condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada,” for saying he doesn’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and for a newly surfaced 2023 video in which he said that the New York Police Department’s boots are “laced by the IDF.”
He also clashed with the Anti-Defamation League, saying the organization does not speak for New York Jews’ concerns.
Mamdani enjoyed support among progressive and younger Jews who see his criticism of Israel as compatible with Jewish values of justice. He was also boosted by local Jewish elected officials such as Ruth Messinger and embraced by prominent liberal rabbis.
A letter signed by more than 250 rabbis and cantors stated, “we recognize that candidate Zohran Mamdani’s support for Palestinian self-determination stems not from hate, but from his deep moral convictions.” It also defended attacks against his Muslim identity, arguing, “Jewish safety cannot be built on Muslim vulnerability, nor can we combat hate against our community while turning away from hate against our neighbors.”
Mamdani’s extended olive branch and coalition
Despite the backlash and the opposition, the son of Ugandan and Indian immigrants embarked on an unprecedented outreach effort to a broad spectrum of Jewish New Yorkers across the city’s five boroughs, even finding allies in segments of the Hasidic community.
He attended High Holiday services at Kolot Chaiyeinu and the Lab/Shul, he addressed members of Congregation Beth Elohim for a community conversation earlier this month, and visited Hasidic leaders in South Williamsburg during Sukkot. On the second anniversary of Oct. 7, he appeared at an Israelis for Peace vigil alongside hostage families. Mamdani also recently published an open letter in Hasidic Yiddish, outlining his plans to combat antisemitism and advance his affordability agenda, and gave an interview to a popular Yiddish magazine, Der Moment.
In public appearances, he highlighted conversations he had with Jewish New Yorkers, in which he listened to their concerns and expressed solidarity with their struggle amid rising antisemitism.
Mamdani reassured the community that he would increase police protection outside houses of worship and Jewish institutions and invest in hate crime prevention programs. He also vowed to retain police commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, and said he would use a city curriculum in public schools that teaches about Jewish Americans, even as it contradicts his own position on Israel. He also assured liberal Zionists that support for Israel would not be a litmus test for serving in his administration.
The road ahead
In his primary victory speech, Mamdani promised, if elected, to govern for every New Yorker, “including Jewish New Yorkers,” and those who didn’t vote for him. He’s expected to echo that sentiment in a victory speech at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater.
Building his administration and governing will test whether the promise of inclusion can overcome the scars of the campaign.
Jewish leaders will be closely monitoring to see how Mamdani reacts to the first antisemitic incident under his watch and whether he will move to implement his boycott and divestment agenda across city agencies.
There are also open questions about whether activists critical of Israel and with troubling pasts will fill senior roles at City Hall, and who will have a seat at the table when critical issues impacting the community are discussed.
Business and law enforcement leaders are bracing for his proposals to redirect police funding toward housing and mental-health programs and are unsure how his budget priorities will impact the economy.
A check on the mayor
Even as he takes office with a clear mandate, Mamdani faces a complex political landscape filled with powerful Democrats who did not endorse him and could act as a check on his more controversial ambitions in a city of 8.5 million with deep Jewish roots and global connections.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, both of whom pointedly stayed neutral in the mayoral race, could be persuaded to speak out if Mamdani’s policies threaten to alienate the city from federal partners or jeopardize cooperation with Israel.
Rep. Dan Goldman, Councilwoman Julie Menin — who is running to become City Council Speaker in January — and former Comptroller Scott Stringer, all of whom withheld their support, could be part of an influential bloc of Jewish voices demanding accountability and moderation from City Hall.
Comptroller-elect Mark Levine, a key ally who campaigned with Mamdani but has publicly vowed to reinvest in Israel Bonds and use his platform to speak out for Israel, could become both a bridge and a brake on the administration. If Levine follows through on his promises and the mayor pursues divestment, a public clash between the two men could be one of the defining political dramas of the new administration.
For President Donald Trump, who endorsed Cuomo at the last minute, and New York Republicans, Mamdani’s win was expected to be a political gift. GOP officials intend to highlight the election as proof that Democrats have lost the center and use it to rally Jewish voters in next year’s gubernatorial race against incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Leadership, who earned plaudits in the pro-Israel community after confronting the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania over campus antisemitism, is expected to launch her campaign for governor in the near future.
Hannah Feuer contributed reporting.
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UK threatens sanctions after Israel opens bids for E1 settler homes
(JTA) — JERUSALEM – The United Kingdom threatened to sanction Israelis involved in West Bank settlement expansion after the Jewish state’s Lands Authority opened bids for 1,234 homes in the largely underdeveloped E1 section of the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.
Construction in E1 “would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” the British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said in a special statement he posted on X on Thursday.
Targeted sanctions, Miliband wrote, would be part of a series of measures his government would take. His office also summoned Israel’s charge d’Affaires Thursday to demand a closure of the bidding process, which first opened on Tuesday, and a withdrawal of the construction project altogether.
“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution,” he wrote. Miliband has held his position for a month and is part of the new leadership Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed when he took office in July.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar attacked Miliband on X, stating that Britain’s “decision to damage the relationship between our countries is deeply unfortunate.”
He said that the U.K. government’s “systematic policy of blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism has already contributed to a massive wave of antisemitic hatred and attacks against the British Jewish community.”
The Jewish people have the same right to “live throughout the Land of Israel” just as the British people have a right to live anywhere in the U.K., Sa’ar wrote.
Plans to expand the built-up area of Ma’aleh Adumim settlement by constructing some 3,400 housing units on a largely underdeveloped hilltop within the city’s boundaries have been in place since 1994 when Yitzhak Rabin was prime minister.
Israel mostly froze those plans under pressure from the international community, including the U.S., with many countries warning that building homes in E1 would harm their diplomatic ties with Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began to advance the project in earnest in 2012 to protest the United Nations General Assembly decision to grant the Palestinians the status of a non-member state and has since pushed the project forward in spurts, particularly during election seasons.
The publication of the bidding process for the homes was first announced on Tuesday and is set to close on Oct. 19, one week shy of the Israeli elections on Oct. 27. Opening the bids is a move that plays well with Netanyahu’s right-wing voter base, which opposes Palestinian statehood and believes that settlements like Ma’aleh Adumim and the E1 area should be annexed into sovereign Israel.
But the move reverberated globally, with the U.K. signing onto a joint condemnation by France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, in which they warned that settlement building in E1 distanced peace and undermined the country’s international standing.
They also reminded businesses who might bid for E1 construction that they could face legal or reputational consequences, given that such companies could be in breach of international law.
Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein Al-Sheikh said he welcomed the condemnation, explaining on X that such a position “reflects the importance of the international role in confronting settlement activity and safeguarding the two-state solution.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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Argentina removes federal judge over antisemitic remarks in historic first
(JTA) — An Argentine federal judge was removed from office Tuesday for a series of antisemitic posts on his social media accounts that constituted misconduct incompatible with his role, an impeachment panel ruled.
Alfredo Eugenio López, who headed Federal Court No. 4 in the coastal city of Mar del Plata, was removed by Argentina’s Jury of Impeachment, a special panel composed of judges, lawmakers and lawyers.
It is the first time in Argentina’s history that a judge has been removed over antisemitic remarks.
In López’s social media posts, the judge referred to the Jewish people as “a brood of vipers,” Israel as a “fictitious state” and Argentinian Jews as “foreigners.” He has also used such terms as “Zionist” and “gay” as insults.
According to the panel, the judge committed acts of “discrimination and the denial of equal rights against the Argentine Jewish community. For the purposes of these proceedings, it is particularly significant that, by acting in this manner, he shattered public confidence in his continued fitness to administer justice impartially.”The case reached the panel through Argentina’s Council of the Magistracy, based in Buenos Aires, the constitutional body responsible for the selection and discipline of federal judges.
The first complaint against López was filed in February 2025 by the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, which is the umbrella organization representing Argentina’s Jewish community. One month later, the Argentine Forum Against Antisemitism also filed a complaint. In July 2025, attorney Yamil Santoro from Apolo Foundation added another one.
In his defense, López argued that his messages were “ subjective and decontextualized interpretations of exchanges on social media, which in no way affect the administration of justice or his impartiality” as a judge. He added that his remarks were unrelated to any pending case and that he had never been recused or removed from any judicial case.
Neither Lopez nor his attorney were immediately available for further comment.
“He was removed because he simply would not stop engaging in hate speech,” jury member Alberto Maques said during a live interview Tuesday on the A24 news channel. “It is absolutely disgraceful for a federal judge to engage in this kind of conduct.”
Maques said there were 15 social media posts that he acknowledged, but more than 50 posts in which he said “outrageous things that are not worth repeating because they truly constituted hate speech.”
“This is not merely an issue of hate speech against the Jewish community. This is someone who lacks common sense,” he added, interviewed by A24 news channel.
Prosecutors in the impeachment proceedings argued that the messages were not isolated political comments but reflected a pattern of hostility toward Jews, Zionism, and the State of Israel.
“No position of authority can shield hatred. This is not a matter of punishing an opinion. It is about sanctioning repeated conduct involving antisemitism, hostility and dehumanization, conduct incompatible with the impartiality, dignity and public trust required of the judiciary,” DAIA said Tuesday in a statement.
“This case sets a precedent: for the first time in more than a century, DAIA initiated proceedings of this nature against a judge. No office is above democracy.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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California progressive Wahab defeats AIPAC-backed Hernandez in close race
(JTA) — California progressive Aisha Wahab defeated AIPAC-backed moderate Melissa Hernandez in a congressional runoff this week, capping off a contest that had become unexpectedly tight after the pro-Israel lobby entered the fray.
The Associated Press called the race between the Democrats — who were vying to replace a disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell — a full two days after polls closed, when Wahab secured 53.1% of votes to Hernandez’s 46.9%, with 95% of ballots tallied. The gap between them grew by four percentage points from Tuesday evening, when Wahab had held a narrow 51% lead to Hernandez’s 49%.
“We stayed focused on the people, and I will fight for this district that raised me,” Wahab said in a Thursday statement, noting her journey “from foster care to Congress” in her East Bay community.
Although Wahab ended up victorious, the narrow initial margin on Tuesday shocked California’s 14th District, given that she had secured a double-digit lead in preliminary races two months ago.
But in the past few weeks, an unforeseen variable appeared to influence the trajectories of the two campaigns: a massive spending push from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee aimed at turning the tides for Hernandez.
Since the beginning of August alone, AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, and other affiliated groups spent more than $2.5 million on both boosting Hernandez and denigrating Wahab with negative ads and mailers, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
“This was not a landslide for Wahab by any means,” local Democratic strategist Noah Finneburgh, who is not affiliated with either candidate, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“They narrowed the gap for sure,” Finneburgh added, referring to AIPAC. “They spent millions of dollars attacking Wahab very aggressively.”
These attacks, he explained, did not involve Israel and instead focused on divisive issues for the Bay Area, such as public safety and protecting kids.
“Negative advertising with a persuasive message can be very effective,” Finneburgh said.
In her Thursday night statement, Wahab declared that her “district cannot be bought,” describing the race as “one of the ugliest, most expensive elections we’ve ever seen.”
Prior to this influx of cash and related ads, neither AIPAC nor Israel had played a significant role in this short-lived race — which began in April following Swalwell’s resignation over allegations of sexual assault.
When the district held a special primary to seek Swalwell’s replacement on June 16, Wahab and Hernandez finished as the top-two candidates and moved on to this week’s special general runoff election.
California primaries are “nonpartisan” or “top-two” races, in which the two highest ranking candidates move on to the general election, irrespective of their parties. The top-two in this case were both Democrats, like Swalwell, in a district that the Cook Political Report deems solidly blue.
Even though Wahab will now finish the remainder of Swalwell’s term, she will have to compete with Hernandez again in the November general election for a full term that begins on January 3, 2027.
In a June 16 special primary that preceded this week’s runoff, there was still a massive gap between the two candidates, with Wahab accruing 42.8% of the votes, compared to Hernandez’s 16.8%. A separate primary for the November race, which occurred two weeks earlier, placed Wahab at 38.3% and Hernandez at 17.2%.
Wahab, who will be the first Afghan American in Congress, has focused on affordability, civil rights, education and climate change. Her campaign calls for an end to wars and “prolonged occupations” but only specifically calls out U.S. military activity in “Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, and elsewhere.”
Though Wahab has been critical of Israel and its operations in Gaza, she has not been as vocal about the issue as many other progressive colleagues nationwide. She responded “yes” when asked if Israel was committing genocide in a primary debate, but she didn’t include Israel or Gaza in her campaign priorities.
During a recent appearance on far-right influencer Hasan Piker’s livestream, Wahab acknowledged that “it’s not a zero-sum game in the Middle East,” adding that “we can care for all people.” She also referenced a resolution she introduced last year in the California legislature, pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza but also condemning Hamas and demanding the release of the hostages.
“We talk about both Palestinians and the Israeli victims there,” Wahab told Piker. “We talk about holding the perpetrators accountable from both sides.”
Asked if she was in favor of “ending all U.S. aid to Israel,” she responded “yes,” while stressing that “humanitarian aid is important to me, too.”
Wahab has earned the backing of multiple labor unions, the California Democratic Party and Our Revolution, the group formed by Sen. Bernie Sanders to advance the progressive movement. The liberal pro-Israel group J Street also recently invested $108,000 in her campaign, according to the FEC. American Priorities, a pro-Palestinian PAC, also spent at least $200,000 on supporting her.
Hernandez has received endorsements from several police and fire unions, as well as Democratic Jewish Reps. Lois Frankel of Florida and Brad Schneider of Illinois.
Come November, Hernandez will gain one additional asset. Due to statewide redistricting, the 14th District will gain about 26,000 new voters from Dublin, where Hernandez previously served as mayor, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
But Finneburgh said he believes that Hernandez has only a minimal chance of winning that race, especially because Wahab will be heading into that election as an incumbent.
He also suggested that if “she plays her card right,” Wahab could even take some endorsements away from Hernandez.
“There’s going to be people who are going to probably move over from the Hernandez camp and back her,” Finneburgh added. “It’s going to be hard to unseat her.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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