Zohran Mamdani admits anti-Israel fervor helped his radical NYC House candidates sweep
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted that his slate of candidates campaigning against Israel in favor of the Palestinian cause helped secure Tuesday’s election sweep — and repeated that he opposes Israel functioning as a Jewish-led state.
Mamdani, 34, said it’s a turning point in the Democratic Party with rank-and-file members opposing — rather than supporting — Israel in Middle East conflicts.
“We’ve seen on Tuesday evening, we saw Democrats turn out in districts across the city to make clear that they were tired of tens of billions of dollars being spent in our taxpayer dollars to violate international law, to kill thousands of civilians,” the mayor said Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week” program.
He said there’s supposed to be a “cease-fire” in Gaza but “more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed in that cease-fire.”
“And what New Yorkers want to see is a politics of conscience, a politics of clarity, a politics of conviction. And to follow international law, to believe in the humanity of all people, it shouldn’t be a journey too far. And I think that our party needs to hear what Democrats are telling them,” Mamdani told host Jonathan Karl.
That puts Mamdani in agreement with New York state Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs, who told The Post Sunday that anti-Israel fervor played a role in sinking more pro-Israel establishment incumbents.
Mamdani-backed candidates Israel-bashing firebrand Darializa Avila Chevalier and former city Comptroller Brad Lander upset incumbent Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman, respectively. Both incumbents back the Jewish state.
Assemblywoman Claire Valdez — a Democratic Socialists of America member also backed by Mamdani — also won a vacant seat over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez in Brooklyn-Queens District 7.
“Yes, I do think the Israel-Palestinian issue had an impact in the election,” said Jacobs, a pro-Israel moderate. “It hurt establishment Democrats.”
“There are people who may have voted against Espaillat and Goldman because of it,” he added. “It was important to the activists who came out and voted.”
Meanwhile, Mamdani repeated that he opposes Israel being run as an official Jewish state.
“The way I see it is, equal rights for all people. And I think that’s the truth for Israel,” Mamdani said Sunday.
Pressed on whether he supported Israel as a Jewish state, Mamdani said, “I think any state that privileges one religion over the other is one that I can’t tell you I support, whether it be Israel or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else. And a lot of that comes back to a fundamental belief that we should all be considered equal, no matter what our faith is.”