What does the victory of Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of New York, the capital of “global finance”, imply for the world?
Mamdani will be New York City’s first Muslim mayor. Though the U.S. is essentially a country of migrants, Mamdani is perhaps the youngest migrant to become the elected head of the country’s richest city.
Though Mamdani, during most of his electioneering, projected himself as of African origin and a proud Muslim, towards the end, particularly days before and after the Hindu festival of Deepavali, he did court South Asians in general and Indian Americans in particular for votes.
He was seen along with his Hindu Indian-American mother, noted Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, in temples in New York. So many see him as the first South Asian mayor, too.
However, the fact that he has strongly projected himself to be a Muslim fighting for Muslims’ rights and dignity in a Western country dominated by White Christians, those offering similar hope and political voice for Muslim communities in European and other global capitals are going to be emboldened.
This is definitely good and inspiring news for the Muslim immigrants in Europe, where anti-immigration has become a dominant political feature.
Mamdani spoke about his Muslim identity throughout the campaign. He made a point of visiting all the mosques. His supporters saw his openness about his faith as part of his broader pitch: that he understands the struggles and experiences of New Yorkers from minority groups.
His approach has been justified by his supporters as “a distinctively Muslim approach to democratic socialism… articulation of an understanding of Muslimness that is tied to marginality, invisibility, not being seen.”
In that sense, Mamdani has proved that there is no harm in being a Leftist in politics and yet talking about one’s faith and religious beliefs.
Secondly, by promising to be a democratic socialist mayor of the world’s financial capital, Mamdani has caused apprehension on Wall Street and in international business circles. There are legitimate concerns now about potential new taxes on the wealthy, increased regulation, and the city’s future business competitiveness.
The success or failure of his pledge of an “affordable New York“ by freezing rents for all stabilized tenants, by allowing free rides in city buses, by ensuring free childcare for every New Yorker aged six weeks to five, and by establishing city-owned grocery stores to fight rising food costs will be watched closely by other global cities considering similar policies.
That, in turn, will likely have a big impact on the progressive or left wings of the so-called liberal parties around the world. It will reignite debates over capitalism vs. socialism.
Will capitalism sustain itself when Zohran Mamdani’s political economy takes wealth from those who have earned it and gives it to those who haven’t, or forces people to spend their money in ways they don’t want? The answer will be much sought-after.
Thirdly, that Mamdani attained success despite his vocal advocacy for Palestinian rights and his critical stance on Israeli policies represents a generational shift not only within the Democratic Party of the United States but also among American jews. And that too when New York City has 1.6 million Jewish residents.
His victory signals a potential erosion of the previously strong, bipartisan pro-Israel consensus in American urban politics, a trend that is being closely monitored by Israeli officials and the global Jewish community, as well as by pro-Palestinian advocates worldwide.
In fact, Israel’s diaspora minister Amichai Chikli wrote on X soon after Mamdani’s victory that the Jews of New York should now leave for Israel.
“The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter — to someone whose positions are not far from those of the jihadist fanatics who, 25 years ago, murdered 3,000 of its own people,” Chikli writes on X, referencing the 9/11 attacks.
“This is a critical turning point for the city of New York,” he adds. “The choice New York has made shakes the very foundations of the place that gave freedom and the opportunity for success to countless Jewish refugees since the end of the 19th century — a place that became home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel.”, he wrote.
Chikli suggests that the changing face of New York “didn’t happen overnight — it began with the anti-Zionist atmosphere on campuses overtaken by Qatari money, continued with the violent demonstrations of Hamas supporters at CUNY, NYU and especially Columbia University, which became the stronghold of Hamas support in the United States — and reached its peak this morning, when the last of the bullies who back Hamas’s rapists and murderers was elected mayor.”
The minister asserts that “New York will never be the same again, especially not for its Jewish community. The city is walking with open eyes into the abyss that London has already plunged into… It’s pointless to waste words claiming that everything will be fine. Nothing will be fine in this city.”
Chikli ended his statement by saying that he invites “the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel.”
Incidentally, Mamdani has been quite outspoken over the years, calling Israel an apartheid state. He has championed “the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement”.
Mamdani has said that he believes that Israel has a “right to exist,” but not as a Jewish state. He has never answered the question directly whether Israel should be a Jewish state.
Reportedly, he only went to the extent of telling a reporter in June: “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else … Equality should be enshrined in every country in the world. That’s my belief.”
Mamdani has long been a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions(BDS) movement against Israel. He called BDS a “legitimate movement… My support for BDS is consistent with the core of my politics”.
He had promised that if elected, he would dismantle a council created by current mayor Eric Adams to strengthen economic ties between the U.S. and Israel. For him, BDS is an important mechanism to push Israel into “compliance with international law,” which he has accused Israel of repeatedly violating both before and after the October 7 attacks.
In 2023, he also pushed the “Not On Our Dime Act,” which would have banned New York nonprofits from supporting groups involved in West Bank settlements. That it was not legislated successfully is a different matter. He had also called for boycotting Israeli academics based on their national origin.
Significantly, in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Mamdani had said that he mourned the death of Israelis, but did not mention Hamas in his statement. Instead, he turned his attention to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for declaring war on the terrorist group, adding that “The path toward a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.”
In fact, Mamdani has also said that he would arrest Netanyahu if the prime minister entered New York City, despite the U.S. not being a signatory to the International Criminal Court.
However, if with such views about Israel, Mamdani won in New York, hitherto considered a citadel of American Jews, it gives ominous signals to Israel as far as its traditional support base in the U.S. is concerned.
The American Jews are changing their opinions about Israel.
If one goes by an opinion poll of 2020, eight-in-ten U.S. Jews cared about Israel. Nearly six-in-ten said that they personally felt an emotional attachment to Israel. The study also found that a slim majority of U.S. Jews had heard about the BDS movement and opposed it.
Even in 2023, prior to the events of October 7, Jewish New Yorkers reportedly felt strongly attached to Israel, more so than Jewish Americans as a whole. They widely supported Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and believed that caring about Israel was essential to their Jewish identity.
In 2023, most Jewish adults in the New York area were emotionally attached to Israel: Overall, 64% reported being either very attached or somewhat attached to Israel. When compared with all American Jews, New York Jews reported higher levels of attachment to Israel than the national average (58%).
However, today, Jewish adults’ levels of emotional attachment to Israel significantly vary by denomination, age, the extent to which being Jewish is important to them, and political affiliation.
A recent study found that younger adults now have the lowest levels of attachment to Israel, and older adults have the highest.
Seventy-two percent of adults aged 65 or older reported feeling at least somewhat attached to Israel, compared with 56% of adults aged 18 – 29. Younger adults also have the lowest rates of attachment, with 44% of Jewish adults under 30 stating they feel either not very or not at all attached to Israel.
Only orthodox adults report the highest levels of attachment to Israel, with 86% feeling somewhat or very attached, followed by Conservative Jewish adults (80%), Reform Jewish adults (62%), and Jewish adults of no or some other denomination (46%).
This explains why Mamdani got so many votes, mostly from the young Jews in New York. According to a recent CNN poll, he received 33 percent of Jewish votes —a remarkable feat by any standard.
- Author and veteran journalist Prakash Nanda is Chairman of the Editorial Board of the EurAsian Times and has been commenting on politics, foreign policy, and strategic affairs for nearly three decades. He is a former National Fellow of the Indian Council for Historical Research and a recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize Scholarship.
- CONTACT: prakash.nanda (at) hotmail.com
