Something deeply troubling is happening in New York City and, by extension, in the heart of American Jewish life. The meteoric political ascent of Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist and virulent critic of Israel, marks not only a seismic shift in municipal politics but a moral turning point in America.
Mamdani’s likely election as mayor of New York, a city once defined by its Jewish dynamism, philanthropy, and faith in the promise of America, symbolizes more than generational change. It reveals that hostility toward Jews and Israel has been mainstreamed, normalized, and is now even politically rewarded.
Once upon a time, overt anti-Jewish rhetoric or anti-Israel agitation would have been a career killer for any serious public figure in New York. Not anymore.
Mamdani has made his name as a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a movement that supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign targeting the Jewish state.
He has accused Israel of “apartheid,” “genocide,” and various other alleged sins, vilified Zionism as “colonialism,” and said he does not recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. On the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, he chose to condemn Israel while uttering nary a word about the terrorists who murdered and kidnapped innocent Israelis.
Yet far from disqualifying him, these positions have helped galvanize and energize his base. His victory in the Democratic mayoral primary and now his impending election to City Hall show that such rhetoric no longer shocks and may even endear a candidate to sizable parts of the electorate.
Mamdani's triumph: Antisemitism is socially acceptable
That is the real story. Mamdani’s triumph is not only his; it is the triumph of an ideological shift in which antisemitism – whether wrapped in the fashionable garb of “anti-Zionism” or shouted on the campuses of Columbia and CUNY (City University of New York) – no longer carries a political cost. Just the opposite. It has become socially acceptable, even admirable, in certain circles to attack Jews collectively by attacking Israel.
Let’s be clear: Mamdani is poised to win not despite his record on Jews and Israel but in some large measure because of it. The cheers that accompanied his campaign rallies, the endorsements from radical activists and cultural influencers, and the silence of mainstream Democrats all point to one stark conclusion: Antisemitism has been normalized in American politics.
This is a dangerous development not only because it legitimizes hatred but also because it signals to Jews that their safety, history, and identity are under attack. The taboo has been broken. The moral immune system of American liberalism has failed.
For Jews, particularly those living in the United States and throughout the Diaspora, this development should sound an unmistakable alarm.
If in New York City – home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel – a Jew-hating politician openly aligned with anti-Zionist movements can win the mayoralty, then what remains of the traditional alliance between Jews and liberal democracy in America?
To be sure, Mamdani’s platform on social policy, which consists of promising free transit, rent freezes, and soaking the rich, may appeal to the urban Left.
But beneath the populist veneer lies a moral relativism that undermines the very foundation of pluralism. His rhetoric divides society into oppressors and oppressed, recasting Jews, a small minority, as part of the privileged class.
This inversion of history, this moral gaslighting, is one of the most pernicious aspects of contemporary antisemitism. It cloaks itself in the language of social justice, all while demonizing the one Jewish state and, by extension, those who identify with it. And now, with Mamdani’s imminent victory, that ideology has been elevated from the campus quad to the mayor’s office.
FOR GENERATIONS, New York’s Jews believed their city was immune to this sort of contagion. They built synagogues, schools, hospitals, and charities that became civic pillars. They felt secure enough to thrive. But the same progressive current that once celebrated diversity now increasingly singles out Jews for derision, particularly when they express support for Israel.
The uncomfortable truth is that Mamdani’s success exposes the moral drift of a society where the world’s oldest hatred has been rebranded as a legitimate political position. It reveals a generational shift in which moral clarity is replaced by moral confusion, where sympathy for Hamas apologists sits comfortably beside slogans about human rights.
It is no coincidence that antisemitic incidents in New York have surged even as progressive politicians speak loftily about inclusion. Words have consequences. And when public figures like Mamdani are rewarded, not punished, at the ballot box for vilifying Jews and the Jewish state, the consequences will reverberate far and wide.
For American Jews, this should be a moment of reckoning. The Zionist movement was founded precisely because such moments recur in every generation: The ground beneath Diaspora Jewry begins to shift when the implicit security pact with the host nation begins to fray.
That moment has now arrived. The normalization of antisemitism in American public life, symbolized by Mamdani’s rise, is a flashing red light. It does not mean that American Jewry must flee in panic. But it does mean that they must begin to think soberly and seriously about their future in America and acknowledge the writing on the wall.
The incontrovertible truth, one that an increasing number of American Jews are waking up to, is that the only country that can guarantee Jewish sovereignty and safety is the State of Israel.
Hence, American Jews need to start viewing aliyah not merely as an act of faith but one of foresight. Jewish history has taught us that the privileges of Diaspora life can fade with shocking speed. The political winds that now lift Mamdani and his ilk will, if left unchecked, make life for proud Jews in America increasingly uncomfortable and, perhaps one day, even untenable.
Zohran Mamdani’s election is therefore not simply another chapter in New York’s colorful political saga. It is a warning shot across the bow. It tells us that the institutional and social barriers in America protecting Jews from open hostility are eroding, that antisemitism has become acceptable in polite society, and that the world’s greatest Diaspora community can no longer assume it is immune to the winds of change.
For American Jews, the lesson is as ancient as it is urgent: When antisemitism rears its ugly head and becomes legitimized, it is time to put one’s affairs in order and finally come home.
The writer is founder of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which assists lost tribes and hidden Jewish communities in returning to Israel.