Purity Testing

Mamdani attempted to strike an extremely delicate balance on Wednesday, denouncing both Israel’s genocide in Gaza while simultaneously acknowledging the anniversary of Hamas’ war crimes. This sparked backlash from both ends of the left and led to a Pro-Palestine protest at an Oct 7th vigil Mamdani was attending. Though surprising to some, some popular leftist figures have begun to sour on the socialist superstar. 

Walking the tightrope

Liberals found issue with Mamdani’s lack of focus on the Oct 7th attacks themselves, instead choosing to highlight grievances with Israel’s conduct of the war that came after. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, praised Mamdani’s policies, saying he had done “really important things”. This didn’t stop her from critiquing his post, saying it “seemed to ignore the deep trauma and pain many in the Jewish community and beyond feel related to October 7.” Mamdani’s self-styling as a fierce Palestine supporter had always been a bane to his support amongst Jewish New Yorkers. 33% of Jewish voters cast their ballot for Mamdani in the election, compared to Cuomo’s 63%. Approval ratings seem to indicate middling to poor ratings among Jewish voters. Though Mamdani may have expected some form of backlash to his statement, he may not have seen the critique coming from the Pro-Palestine side.

5 days before Mamdani’s statement caused a protest at a vigil, a YouTuber by the name of Noah Samsen uploaded a video titled “Zohran Mamdani lies to protect Israel supporters”. The subtle messaging in the title hints that it is a small hit piece, and according to Samsen, one piece of a much larger video in the works. 

Mamdani had been on Theo Von’s podcast and gave clarification when asked on how he distinguishes between zionism vs antisemitism, saying that not every Jewish person is responsible for the actions of the state of Israel. Noah takes issue with this point by saying Jewish religious institutions almost unanimously support Israel in America. Less than 1% of synagogues are anti-zionist. Samsen claims Mamdani openly employs and normalizes zionist politicians, endorses them, invests in Zionist organizations, and kept the NYPD police commissioner on after being elected, who is a zionist. Noah builds an idea of a betrayal from Mamdani, another politician who left behind his values for power and cozying up to a genocidal state. He reminds the viewer of Mamdani’s promise to arrest Netenyahu upon entering New York, only to backtrack once push came to shove. Samsen claims that Mamdani’s replacement idea of the US joining the ICC and getting the federal government to execute a warrant is a dead end political solution that is impossible to come about. The response to the video is relatively positive, showing an already growing discontent with Mamdani’s perceived weakness on Israel before the statement. 

(Two months after Mamdani was elected, Noah made this tweet. He would clarify in a follow up tweet that he was referring here to Mamdani, and other politicians.)

After Mamdani’s statement, he attended the October 7 Coexistence Vigil, organized by Israelis for Peace NYC. Despite Mamdani’s emphasis on Israel’s actions throughout the war and the thousands of children killed, Pro-Palestine protestors still crashed the vigil. They waved Hamas and Palestinian flags, chanting “Death to the IDF” and “Mamdani, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.” Mamdani remained expressionless throughout. According to Jacob Kornbluh at Forward, a man in a kippah and a man in a keffiyeh shook hands over their mutual hatred of Mamdani. 

Hasan to the rescue 

On Oct 6th, Hasan Piker reviewed the Theo Von interview on stream and addressed the controversy around Mamdani’s appearance on the podcast. Unlike Samsen, Piker took a more pragmatic perspective towards Mamdani’s appearance. 

Hasan defends Mamdani’s position, noting the difficulty of balancing both sides of the left - the more radical side, which was Mamdani, to flex “academic rigour”, and regular people who look at the interview and think Mamdani did well. Later on in the stream, he asserts that he does not believe Mamdani would betray the socialist ideal, and that he is a “big fan” and “loves” him. Piker acknowledges that Mamdani has to compromise while in office until there are more socialists in office to help push him further left. Piker makes it clear that he wants Zohran to not rock the boat, and to govern successfully as a socialist mayor, and a better mayor than any liberal mayor could be. “He just wants to avoid additional friction”, Piker claims, and he doesn’t oppose that strategy at all. Piker would rather Zohran focus on issues more within his realm of power, like banning synagogue land sales or disbanding the SRG. 

However, Piker had his critiques of the mayor. 

Piker’s main criticism was that Mamdani risks allowing pragmatism to become a one-way street. Piker understands the need for compromise, but worries that Mamdani could set a precedent for future socialist candidates. He claims Mamdani is setting the example of running as a radical but governing as a liberal. Once election time comes, Mamdani can position himself against his opponent and guilt socialists into voting for him, since he presumably aligns more with their ideals than the theoretical liberal candidate. Hasan ascribes this as the “Obama method” and fiercely states that socialists will not accept this anymore. 

He also claims Zohran is capitulating to Zionist ideals. Piker claims Mamdani listens too much to “interest groups” in his ear, causing him to attempt to placate them more than the socialists who supposedly elected him. Hasan posits a solution to this: add more pressure. Mamdani feels pressure from Zionist interest groups, as New York City has the most Jews in any place outside Israel. Without strong pressure from socialists and pro palestinians, he may feel able to neglect them to ensure a frictionless mayoralty from the Zionist side. 

Mamdani’s attempt to walk the tightrope has left him caught between two sides of his own political coalition. If he doesn’t strike the right balance soon, he may see himself losing allies from both ends of the leftist spectrum.