NEW YORK CITY, USA – Sitting in a room of several hundred Jewish New Yorkers on a Monday night last month, Zoran Mamdani was greeted with cheers and applause during an Erev Rosh Hashanah service at Korot Chayeinu, a progressive synagogue in Brooklyn.
It was one of the Democratic mayoral candidates’ recent appearances at synagogues and events on the Jewish holy holiday, a visible step toward navigating a politically tough line that increasingly engages the largest concentration of Jews in America’s metropolitan areas and firmly holds anti-Zionist views ahead of the Nov. 4 general election.
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Historically, Mamdani has held strong positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even founding a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine while an undergraduate at Bowdoin College. More than a decade later, as Mamdani’s name began to be recognized, his longstanding and unapologetically pro-Palestinian stance not only became a target of criticism from opponents, but also a rallying force behind his platform.
Mamdani has received support and lobbying support from progressive Jewish organizations such as Bend the Ark, Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) Action, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ). Each of these groups has confronted Israel’s role in the Gaza war through statements on their websites.
At the same time, he has come under attack from far-right activists, Jewish Democrats on Capitol Hill and Zionist activist groups for his staunch support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and his refusal to refer to Israel as a Jewish state.
But despite mixed reactions, the poll results are clear. Mamdani has an overall lead among Jewish voters in a multi-pronged campaign.
“There is no monolithic group.”
A poll published by Zenith Research in July found Mamdani leading by a 17-point lead among Jews and Jewish subgroups. In a scenario in which Mayor Eric Adams withdrew from the race, Mamdani would still have a 43-33 lead.
“Being Jewish, I understand that there are many rifts within the Jewish community,” said Adam Carlson, founding partner of Zenith Research. “As a pollster, one of the important things for me is that no group is monolithic. If you have a large enough sample size, you can break it down and glean nuance. What we found was a better-than-expected result for Mamdani among Jewish voters in New York City.”
Beth Miller, political director of the political advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action and a member of Kolot Chaieinu, described what it was like to witness some of this support last month at Erev Rosh Hashana, which Mamdani attended.
“People were so excited to have him there that he ended up basically flocking to him,” Miller said. “It’s not because he’s a celebrity, it’s because people are excited about what we can all build together if he becomes mayor.”
JVP Action, a first-day supporter of Mamdani, represents one of a growing group of Jewish supporters of Mamdani, as does JFREJ, which has spearheaded the movement among New York City’s diverse Jewish communities.
JFREJ’s elections arm, Jewish Vote, has supported Mamdani since he first ran for state House in 2020. Since then, JFREJ members and Mr. Mamdani have been working together, campaigning, and protesting.
Alicia Singham Goodwin, JFREJ’s political director, was personally arrested at the protest along with Mamdani.
“That gives me confidence in his commitment,” Goodwin told Al Jazeera of the arrest. “He’s willing to take big risks for important things.”
JFREJ has played a major role in spreading Mamdani’s message by door-knocking and phone-banking Jewish voters.
“We care about what our neighbors are worried about, excited about, and excited about — what they need for their families — and we’re ready to meet them on the ground, analyzing how the city needs to move to achieve affordable housing, universal child care, or combat the real rise in anti-Semitism and hate violence,” Goodwin said. “We believe that Mr. Zoran is the best candidate on that as well as on all the other issues we are discussing.”
courting the Jewish vote
While there is no doubt that Mamdani’s recruitment army of 50,000 volunteers has helped, it is also true that the mayoral candidate has been strategic in attracting Jewish votes.
“He’s definitely made a concerted effort to adjust his rhetoric and reach out to his liberal congregation,” said Val Vinokur, professor of literary studies and associate chair of Jewish culture at the New School. “This makes him more palatable to some progressive Zionists, and much to the outrage of his anti-Zionist supporters.”
An example of Mamdani’s subdued rhetoric includes his response to the continued backlash over the phrase “globalizing the intifada.”
The phrase was used by pro-Palestinian activists and caused tensions between Mamdani and parts of the Jewish community. For some, this represents a call for solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, while for others it is seen as anti-Semitic and violent.
Mamdani resisted rejecting the term before June’s election, but has since said he is “discouraged” from using it, The New York Times reported.
To commemorate the second anniversary of the Gaza war, Mamdani posted a four-paragraph statement on X in which he acknowledged the brutality of Hamas’ attacks, called Israel’s response a genocide, and finally expressed his commitment to human rights.
“We were hit hard on all sides,” Carlson said. “He didn’t make anyone happy. In my opinion, that’s the right way to go about it…Sometimes it’s the mayor’s job to please everyone. I think he’s learning that now. This is kind of a microcosm of what he’s going to face as mayor, assuming he wins. Sometimes you have to piss everyone off a little bit to make a compromise.”
Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
As Carlson’s Zenith Research poll reflects, New York City’s Jewish community holds a wide range of opinions about politics and positions regarding Israel and Palestine. This community is most clearly differentiated along age, secular and conservative customs, but as Jewish support for Mamdani increases, it is clear that these distinctions are not always so clear-cut.
“While it is true that there is a strong tendency for younger American Jews to be more progressive and sympathetic to Palestinians, it is also true that as long as Zionism has existed there have been anti-Zionist Jews,” Miller said. “I learned a lot from the elders in their 70s, 80s, and 90s who have been anti-Zionists since the founding of Israel, because they never felt that what they wanted or needed was a nation-state representing them.”
Alternatively, Zionist organizations like Betar around the world are troubled by these trends within New York’s Jewish community.
“It is heartbreaking to see members of the Jewish community support Zoran Mamdani, who openly opposes Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement,” said Betar Worldwide spokesperson Oren Magnesy.
Jonathan Boyarin, an American anthropologist and Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at Cornell University, wondered whether anti-Zionism has done much to help the Palestinians, but said the line Mamdani walks is distinct.
“They say there are two kinds of people who confuse anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism: Zionists and anti-Semites. I don’t think Zoran Mamdani belongs to either of those categories,” Boyarin said.
“A new political moment”
Ultimately, experts like Vinokur predict Mamdani to win, barring a scenario in which Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa drops out. In any case, Vinokur expects Mamdani to secure Jewish votes.
“He will win the Jewish vote despite his anti-Zionist background, not because of it,” Vinokur said. “Young Jewish voters are overwhelmingly liberal, inspired by the dynamism of his campaign, and ultimately want to make our city a more livable, affordable, and fair place.”
Mamdani’s message and campaign was celebrated at Mazarus, JFREJ’s annual gala fundraiser. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Mamdani were honored together in an evening filled with music, ceremony, and tradition, along with more than 1,000 attendees.
“For Zoran, this was probably the largest single Jewish gathering,” Goodwin said. “They solidify this new political moment that we find ourselves in, where people like JFREJ members, movements like ours, are neither marginal nor aspirational, but we are popular among the majority of New Yorkers.”
