Jewish support for Mamdani shatters long-held views on US ties with Israel

If there is one myth, among many, that Zohran Mamdani’s victory demolished in New York’s mayoral poll, it is that he would not get Jewish support for being a loud “pro-Palestinian”.

For long in United States politics, candidates across the political spectrum have been cagey when it came to criticising Israel for fear of losing elections. The pro-Israel lobby, rich, powerful and feared, represented by organisations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), has meticulously built the narrative that no one can take on the Jewish state and survive.

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This was a key reason why the previous Joe Biden administration and the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 elections turned a blind eye to Israel’s “genocidal” assault on Gaza. Not just that, they repeatedly supported the actions of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, which in a two-year period after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack killed around 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Tears for Israel

The Netanyahu government’s defence, parroted by the US administration, was that the assault was in retaliation for the attack by Hamas that killed around 1200 Israelis, around 250 taken hostage and scores injured. The Biden administration shed tears in public for Israel. Biden declared himself a “Zionist” in solidarity with Israel.

Eventually, money played no part in the outcome. The massive groundswell of support was more than enough to see Mamdani through.

Kamala Harris attempted to be slightly moderate during her campaign, stating she would convince Netanyahu to stop the “war” in Gaza while fully backing the right of Israel to “defend itself”.

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She did not criticise Israel’s assault, which was widely called out as genocide, in a case pending before the International Court of Justice. This led to thousands of Democratic supporters, including Arab-Americans, to abandon her, and boycott voting on polling day-reasoned as an important cause of her defeat.

Obama’s diluted position

Earlier, Barack Obama, who during his campaign to become president had taken on a pronounced pro-Palestinian position, toned it down considerably once he entered office. As president, he went soft on Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian areas and let the issue lie almost untouched, leading some to conclude that the idea of a two-state solution died with his administration.

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As a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, Khalid Elgindy wrote, “no US president has promised more and accomplished less than Obama” as far as the Israeli-Palestinian issue goes.

These are but two of recent instances of powerful individuals who probably would have liked to be more supportive of Palestinian causes but desisted as they feared the much-feared pro-Israeli lobby.

The donation factor

More than Jewish voter support, candidates vie for the huge campaign donation that accompanies pro-Israel positions. In the latest New York mayoral poll, Mamdani’s opponents received massive donations from the pro-Israel lobby. Mamdani, on the other hand, was funded by ordinary voters.

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Reports quoting an independent action group, Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund (ATFAF), say that at least five dozen billionaires have pumped more cash into the election than have the 60,000 small-dollar donors who have directly given money to the candidates' campaigns. The billionaires backed Mamdani’s opponents, including Andrew Cuomo.

Eventually, money played no part in the outcome. The massive groundswell of support was more than enough to see him through. The vote percentage was the largest since 1969. In the previous election, a mere 21 per cent had voted, and less than 30 per cent in three earlier polls, a precipitous fall from the highs of 90 per cent and above in the 1950s.

Money fails to stop Mamdani

Clearly, the huge voter turnout was a reflection of anger against traditional, establishment politicians and hope this time. The massive groundswell propelled Mamdani to a victory that, along the path, toppled several notions of how candidates and parties win elections in the US.

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In New York, which has the biggest Jewish population for any city after Israel’s Tel Aviv, Mamdani showed that it is possible for a candidate to take a pro-Palestinian position and win.

Of the over a million Jews in New York City, according to reports, Mamdani secured a sizeable chunk of the community’s votes. This, despite the fact that he criticised Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu government, warned he would get the Jewish Prime Minister arrested on charges of war crime if he stepped into New York, supports the boycott of Israel and has declared that he would cancel an exchange programme between the Roosevelt Island campus of Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology because of the Israeli university’s ties to the Israeli Army.

Do US Jews support Israel?

It would be simplistic to assume that just because 33 per cent of the Jews in New York voted for Mamdani, it meant they do not support Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians, or even on the specific issue of the assault on Gaza. At the same time, one cannot assume that, though the Jews voted for Mamdani, they were pro-Israel.

Mamdani may have won the election, but the real fight is beginning only now.

The truth lies somewhere in between, which is that there are sections in the Jewish community that do not support either Israel or the Benjamin Netanyahu government in its Gaza attack. Or, support Israel but decided that Mamdani’s promises to make New York more affordable and a better place for the middle and working class were a better cause worth backing, as it directly relates to their day-to-day living.

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According to an independent Jewish publication, Forward, “more than 850 rabbis and cantors signed a letter opposing Mamdani and the 'political normalisation' of anti-Zionism. At the same time, the magazine pointed out that “Mamdani enjoyed support among progressive and younger Jews who see his criticism of Israel as compatible with Jewish values of justice”.

Lessons in courage

Again, this holds a big lesson for well-meaning Mamdani-like aspirants as they get ready to fight future elections. That they need not fear taking bold, contrarian positions on several contentious issues that face the US today – like the unquestioning support for Israel in whatever actions it takes in the conflict with Palestinians including the two-year Gaza assault, the contentious gun laws that have made the US a trigger-happy nation where access to firearm is as easy as buying candy in a general store and regressive anti-women laws including the right to abortion.

Of course, it is not going to be easy. Traditional, well-entrenched corporate interests in the US, backed by all the money and power in the world, along with conservative sections, will go out on a limb, successful or not, to ensure that the status quo remains – as witnessed in the Mamdani election.

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Many outside New York are watching with great interest, and possibly concern, not least US President Donald Trump himself, who has bluntly threatened “we will take care of it”. Mamdani may have won the election, but the real fight is beginning only now. Indeed, the US’s future trajectory may even hinge on how successful Mamdani is in implementing his “socialist” policies in the heart of capitalist America.