Zionists Tried to Make NYC Race About Israel. Zohran Mamdani Didn’t Give In.

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani secured a landslide victory in the New York City mayoral primary on Tuesday, beating enormous odds after the entire media and party establishment worked against him — and, at every turn, made Mamdani’s candidacy one big referendum on Israel.

As of Wednesday morning, with 93 percent of the vote in, Mamdani was the top candidate by far, garnering 44 percent of the vote to Andrew Cuomo’s 36 percent. Because it was a ranked choice ballot and many of the votes for third place candidate, Brad Lander, would be redistributed to Mamdani in subsequent rounds, it was clear that Mamdani had won just hours after polls closed; in a stunning move, Cuomo conceded the race early in the night.

Mamdani’s win is being hailed as a major victory for progressives and the left, in a race where Cuomo, the establishment candidate, outspent Mamdani four to one.

“We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford. A city where they can do more than just struggle. One where those who toil in the night can enjoy the fruits of their labor in the day,” said Mamdani in his victory speech. “Where hard work is repaid with a stable life. Where eight hours on the factory floor or behind the wheel of a cab is enough to pay the mortgage, it is enough to keep the lights on, it is enough to send your kid to school.”

Mamdani went on to quote President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his speech, extolling the virtues of a government that works for the betterment of all and excoriating the right’s fascist vision for the future. “As FDR said, democracy has disappeared in several other great nations, not because the people disliked democracy but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity,” Mamdani said. “In desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat.”

Corporate media, billionaires and establishment Democrats opposed Mamdani at every step of his meteoric rise. Attacks came from every angle, though ultimately proved unable to beat back what was a history-making campaign centered around the authenticity of its candidate and his platform focused on pocketbook issues.

Media outlets and his opposition were especially focused on trying to drum up controversy over his views on Israel and Palestine — to a bizarre degree for a U.S. mayoral race. At seemingly every turn — at debates, in interviews with figures like Stephen Colbert, and out on the campaign trail — Mamdani was badgered with questions on whether or not he supported Israel, at a time when Israel was waging war on Iran and committing a genocide in Gaza.

Pro-Israel figures were seemingly trying to make the entire race about Israel, even to the point of sweeping aside candidates’ stances on issues that affect the city. (New Yorkers also rejected this framing in other races on Tuesday, voting for numerous candidates critical of Israel who had faced pushback for their stances.)

One particularly memorable moment came during the first mayoral primary debate, when other candidates were asked about where their first visit abroad would be as mayor. But the hosts specifically asked Mamdani whether or not he would visit Israel, as a seeming “gotcha” question directly following a line of attack by Cuomo and others accusing Mamdani, without evidence, of being antisemitic.

Mamdani, as he did numerous times throughout the campaign, sidestepped the question by addressing New Yorker’s concerns specifically. “I believe that you need not travel to Israel to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers,” he said. When asked specifically if he thought that Israel has the right to exist, he said, “I believe Israel has the right to exist as a state with equal rights…. I believe every state should be a state of equal rights.”

Answers like this were continually used against Mamdani to accuse him of antisemitism, with critics saying that his refusal to accept Israel in its current form as an ethnostate fueled by apartheid meant that he was dangerous to the Jewish population. This line of attack was persistent even as Mamdani affirmed Israel’s right to exist — a line that sparks frustration for many advocates for Palestinian rights.

More recently, Mamdani was criticized and badgered by numerous news outlets after offering a simple definition of the phrase “globalize the intifada” in a podcast interview, saying it spoke to “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” He alluded to the racist fear mongering around the Arabic word “intifada,” which means rebellion or uprising, even pointing out that the U.S. Holocaust Museum used the word “intifada” in its Arabic translations for the Warsaw Uprising.

While Mamdani faced constant questions about Israel, Cuomo faced effectively no scrutiny over his foreign policy interests — including the fact that Cuomo is part of the legal team challenging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza.

Inseparable from the fear mongering around Mamdani’s stance on Israel was the open and brazen islamophobia of many who opposed him.

Mamdani, a Muslim, was repeatedly portrayed as dangerous because of his faith, with many right-wingers outright saying that it would be dangerous for a Muslim to be in charge. Some right-wing commentators outright said that Mamdani’s win would spark another tragedy akin to 9/11, explicitly blaming his faith. Last week, Mamdani faced an alleged death threat by a caller who reportedly used Islamophobic language.

Meanwhile, Mamdani spoke openly about the hurt it caused him to face repeated attacks accusing him of hatred based on his faith.

“It pains me to be called an antisemite. It pains me to be painted as if I am somehow in opposition to the very Jewish New Yorkers who I know and love,” he said, in emotional remarks last week.

“It takes a toll to wake up in the morning and read messages that say things like,” he said, pausing to gather his emotions. “I get messages that say, ‘The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim,’ I get threats on my life, and on the people I love. And I try not to talk about it, because the function of racism, as Toni Morrison said, is distraction.”