What Zohran Mamdani says about Israel is irrelevant

“In the last couple of weeks, the questions about Jews, Israel and Zohran Mamdani have rushed back into the news. It began with a dramatic speech from the pulpit from the rabbi of a prominent New York City synagogue, Elliot Cosgrove, and it’s been kept in the news by a public letter signed by 600 or so rabbis and cantors. I don’t know how much this has broken through into the mainstream press but it’s been on a loud speaker in Jewish communal publications. Cosgrove began his speech (you can call it a sermon if you want) saying he believes “Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community” and a “danger to the Jewish body politic of New York City.”

Look, you may disagree with Mamdani about Israel and Zionism, but claiming that his beliefs on those issues are an existential threat to the New York Jewish Community is just bullshit. You know who is a threat to the Jewish body politic of New York City? Donald Trump and his followers.

Mamdani is running for mayor of New York City, not president of the United States or Secretary of State. NYC has no foreign policy. Mamdani is running on local pocketbook issues, not US foreign policy. What he thinks about Israel or Zionism is irrelevant. He has never attacked or threatened the New York Jewish community. These phony attacks on Mamdani are lies manufactured in order to get Cuomo elected.

“The principle danger faced by Jews both in the U.S. generally and in New York City specifically is the imposition of fascist autocracy from the White House. Set aside whatever you think about Andrew Cuomo as governor during COVID or accusations of sexual harassment against him. In his effort to make inroads against Mamdani, Cuomo has increasingly allied himself with the MAGA movement and a president who is itching to unleash his lawless paramilitaries on the city. Trump is treating blue states and cities as conquered territory and trying to steal the republican self-government the federal Constitution guarantees them. That is the threat.”

 

The Imam of Mar-A-Lago is leading the real jihad in America. Shame on those who manufacture grievances when the real threat is in plain sight.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/what-to-make-of-those-anti-mamdani-rabbis

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