The rise of New York’s new socialist mayor marks an inflection point as Israeli officials and Jewish leaders brace for its wider implications, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told The Media Line.
The morning after New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim and socialist mayor, Israeli officials and Jewish community leaders awoke with a sense of disbelief. The man who once accused the Israeli army of “lacing the boots of the NYPD” would now govern a metropolis that hosts the world’s largest Jewish population outside Israel. For some, it was a celebration of diversity; for others, a sign that America’s cultural fault lines had reached the emblematic city.
Speaking with The Media Line, Oren described the outcome as “a dark day.” To him, the election was not a local curiosity but “a watershed moment for our relationship with the Democratic Party, which from Israel’s perspective can now seem irredeemable.”
Oren warned that “antisemitism has not only been normalized, it’s been popularized,” arguing that Mamdani’s victory “came not despite or in spite of his anti-Israel views, but because of them.”
In his view, the shift is emblematic of a deeper ideological realignment in American politics. “We’re witnessing the extreme progressive left exert an out-of-proportion gravitational pull on the party,” Oren said. “Even I, who am deeply committed to bipartisanship in the US-Israel relationship, don’t know how we restore it.”
Oren’s alarm echoed through Jerusalem. Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, called the result “a critical turning point” and urged New York’s Jews “to consider positively determining their new place in the Land of Israel.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went further, describing Mamdani’s election as “antisemitism’s triumph over common sense.” Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told local radio that the outcome “can harm the Jewish community’s sense of security,” noting that the mayor now directly oversees the NYPD.
In New York, leading Jewish organizations framed the event as a moment of collective vigilance. Betsy Berns Korn and William Daroff, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, called it “a grim milestone” and pledged to strengthen activism and coordination among Jewish institutions. Their statement warned that “antisemitism remains a clear and present danger, even in the places where American Jews have long felt most secure.”
For Oren, such concern is warranted. “My major concern is the safety of the Jews of New York, including those Jews who voted for Mamdani,” he said. “I fear for their safety as well.” He argues that rhetoric once confined to fringe activism has entered mainstream discourse. “When people shoot Jews or paint swastikas and shout ‘Free Palestine,’ those are things the mayor says,” he continued. “There’s no way antisemitism won’t rise sharply in New York.”
Mamdani attempting to fight antisemitism allegations
Mamdani has tried to counter that perception. In a televised exchange with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he explained that his 2023 claim about “the IDF lacing the NYPD’s boots” referred to post-9/11 training exercises between New York police and Israeli security forces, not to any “conspiracy.”
He acknowledged those exchanges “are of concern” but said his priority would be “working with the NYPD to deliver public safety.” The International Liaison Program, which connects the NYPD with allied counterterrorism units, including a permanent post in Israel, has existed for two decades and is funded partly by the New York City Police Foundation.
Yet Oren remains skeptical of what he calls an “attempted rebranding.” “He was saying that Israel has no right to exist,” Oren argued. “He was going to put the democratically elected head of the only Jewish state in the world into jail. If that’s not antisemitic, I can’t figure out what is.”
The reference was to Mamdani’s campaign statement that, as mayor, he would honor an International Criminal Court warrant for Netanyahu over alleged Gaza war crimes. “He wasn’t going to arrest Putin or Xi,” Oren noted. “Only the Jewish state’s leader.”
Oren dismisses the distinction often drawn by progressives between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. “Does Israel have a right to exist? Does Israel have a right to defend itself? If you answer yes, you’re inside the tent; if no, you’re outside,” he said. In that sense, he sees Mamdani’s worldview, and the enthusiasm it inspired among younger Democrats, as part of a growing movement that “answers both questions in the negative.”
He also worries about tangible consequences for Jewish and Israeli institutions in New York. “Technion has a campus in New York City that Mamdani has said he will defund,” Oren said. “It develops technologies crucial for the health and well-being of New Yorkers. He doesn’t care—he’s going to defund it.” Oren fears that the city’s traditional role as a bridge for Israeli innovation could erode under an administration ideologically distant from Israel’s government.
Those concerns are shared, though expressed differently, across Israel’s political spectrum. Opposition lawmaker Meir Cohen of Yesh Atid told the Knesset that “this morning in New York is a black morning,” condemning colleagues who praised the new mayor.
“He calls for a permanent intifada against the State of Israel,” Cohen said. “He has not once condemned violence against Jews or against Israel.” The former education minister added that Mamdani’s opposition to Israel “was the basis of his entire campaign.”
Within Israel’s coalition, reactions were harsher but less introspective. While Chikli and Ben-Gvir cast the event as proof that Jews must “come home,” opposition voices like Cohen viewed it as a warning sign about Israel’s waning moral credibility abroad.
Analysts note that both interpretations stem from a shared anxiety: the fear that Israel is losing influence not only in global forums but within American liberal culture itself.
For Oren, the implications reach far beyond city politics. “If you are a rabid anti-Zionist and you have this mayor, you might think you can protest far more robustly with impunity,” he said. “Maybe take over another building at Columbia University, and the mayor won’t send the NYPD to kick you out.” The blurred boundary between activism and intimidation, he warned, could become “the new normal” in liberal strongholds once seen as safe for Jews.
Mamdani’s defenders argue that he has consistently denounced hate crimes and that critics are conflating disagreement with bigotry. During his campaign, he pledged that City Hall would “stand steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers” and “not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism.” His supporters, including some progressive Jews, insist that his opposition targets Netanyahu’s government, not the Jewish people.
But Oren regards such nuance as academic. “It’s unique to the antisemitism of the left,” he said, “that the left is uncomfortable with antisemitism, so it frames it as anti-Zionism. The right, maybe to its credit, just says it hates Jews.”
He believes Israel must adapt by diversifying alliances and reinforcing Jewish education worldwide. “We have to wean ourselves from dependence on a single alliance with the United States,” he said. “The ultimate way to get through this period is by educating ourselves, understanding who we are far more deeply. I wonder how many of those Jews who voted for Mamdani actually know anything about Jewish history.”
Across both hemispheres, the debate has exposed the uneasy intersection between Israel’s identity politics and America’s evolving liberal conscience. The Conference of Presidents urged “unity and resolve,” while Israeli ministers called for aliyah, and opposition lawmakers warned against moral complacency. Yet beneath the discord lies a shared recognition: a symbolic line has been crossed.
As Oren told The Media Line, the challenge now is less about the new mayor than about what his election reveals. “We’ve been through dark days before,” he said quietly. “We’ll get through this one, too—but it’s going to test who we are, and how much we still believe that our story matters.”