In the News
B’nai B’rith CEO Dan Mariaschin criticized NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for refusing to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state—calling it deeply troubling in a city with the largest Jewish population in the U.S. Read the article at JNS.org.
With five minutes to spare in the two-hour New York City Democratic mayoral primary debate, which NBC carried on Wednesday night, the candidates were asked what their first foreign trip would be as mayor.
“Given the hostility and the antisemitism that has been shown in New York, I would go to Israel,” said Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who is trying to make a comeback and who recently scored the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance’s endorsement.
Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Israel New York state representative who just received the endorsement of far-left, progressive “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), said that he would stay in the city. “My plans are to address New Yorkers across the five boroughs,” he said.
“Can I just jump in?” a moderator said. “Would you visit Israel as mayor?”
“I’ll be standing up for Jewish New Yorkers, and I’ll be meeting them wherever they are across the five boroughs—whether that’s in their synagogues and temples or at their homes or at the subway platform, because ultimately we need to focus on delivering on their concerns,” he said.
“Yes or no?” the moderator asked. “Do you believe in a Jewish state of Israel?”
“I believe Israel has the right to exist,” Mamdani said.
Pressed if he believes it should exist “as a Jewish state,” Mamdani said it ought to “as a state with equal rights.”
“His answer was no, he won’t visit Israel,” Cuomo said. “That’s what he was trying to say.”
“I believe every state should be a state of equal rights,” Mamdani said.
Daniel S. Mariaschin, the CEO of B’nai B’rith International, told JNS that “there is something definitely wrong when a candidate for mayor of New York City, which has the largest Jewish population in the United States, equivocates on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and refuses to say he will visit Israel.”