Being someone who opposes Israel’s existence and favors legitimizing terrorism and antisemitism now means never having to say you’re sorry in New York City. That’s the conclusion JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin drew from the victory of Socialist Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City.
He’s joined in this week’s episode of “Think Twice” by Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior analyst and JNS columnist Ben Cohen, who believes Mamdani’s win must be seen in the context of an “eye-watering escalation of hate crimes against Jews” in New York since the terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Cohen also sees this as an example of how the antisemitism of the elites and the rougher version of Jew-hatred that happens on the streets have merged in the form of the pro-Hamas mobs chanting, “Globalize the intifada,” that Mamdani supports.
The writer also believes that events in New York are mirroring those that happened in the previous two decades in London. There, in part as a result of statements and actions by its equally radical former mayor, Ken Livingstone, antisemitism and anti-Zionism became normalized. That also set the stage for the takeover of Britain’s Labour Party by a left-wing anti-Israel faction led by Jeremy Corbyn. That’s an ominous portent for the future of the Democratic Party that is also now veering to the left.
Cohen makes another ominous prediction in that he thinks that, just like in the 1960s when left-wing radicals shifted from politics to violence, the same thing is possible for those who are now chanting for violence against Israel and the Jews. The three incidents of domestic terrorism by supporters of “free Palestine” that have taken place in the last three months may be a trend that could only continue unless checked rather than encouraged by the mainstreaming of views such as those held by Mamdani.
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