If you’re wondering how a win for Zohran Mamdani, who just became the next mayor of New York City, will influence the city since he’s an avowed socialist, you might concentrate more on how his Muslim faith will impact the Big Apple.
Upon hearing the news of his victory, Mamdani took to the stage and said, “I’m not the perfect candidate. I am young, I am Muslim, I am a Democratic socialist, and most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”
The thundering round of applause that he received when declaring that he is a Muslim was a telltale sign of a newfound acceptance and respect by the Americans who supported his candidacy. There to celebrate his win, they were the ones, in addition to Muslim voters, who got him over the finish line.
But there is more to worry about than the direction he chooses for New York, because he’s not alone. American extreme political activist Linda Sarsour reportedly has already vowed to make sure Zohran Mamdani “doesn’t backtrack on his radical campaign policies,” boasting that she and a Hamas-linked nonprofit helped fuel his rise.
Claiming to be a political mentor and close friend of Mamdani, Sarsour has every intention of taking advantage of a fellow Islamist who has managed to secure the top office in the city whose financial reputation is described as a global powerhouse, home to major financial institutions and the world’s largest stock market exchange.
However, it’s not only a place known for its wealth and upward mobility. It’s also home to the second-largest population of Jews, just behind the State of Israel. What will that mean for them with a Linda Sarsour on the shoulder of Mamdani?
As a fervent supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants is no lover of American culture. Known for donning the hijab, she chooses to identify less as an American and more as a devotee of the extreme Islamic sector, which promotes jihad, a term she has used as a means to fight against the Trump administration, which she defines as oppressive.
Like Mamdani, she, too, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, influencing people such as US Senator Bernie Sanders, another socialist, but one with little power to effect the kind of change she hopes will take place.
That is why she likely sees this win as her big chance to help bring about policies that could dramatically change the face of the diverse melting pot that especially characterizes New York City.
Saying she will not work within the Mamdani administration, she will, undoubtedly, do her best to cultivate a very different atmosphere – one that is sympathetic and deferential to the city’s Muslim-American community.
The question is how much that would disenfranchise the very large Jewish population, who could end up feeling marginalized and sidelined. At best, we can expect to see one token Jewish employee amidst an administration probably composed of other like-minded individuals who support a prominent Muslim influence in the city.
That is one of the things upon which Sarsour is counting. Another thing is that Mamdani “follows through with his Marxist promises.” As she put it: “We’re not going to vote for Zohran and just let him do whatever the hell he wants when he gets to City Hall. Our job as a movement is to hold whoever goes to City Hall accountable.”
That won’t be too difficult, given the amount of financial support she was responsible for bringing in via the Unity and Justice PAC to which she has connections through the Council on American-Islamic Relations. It is believed that the lion’s share of Mamdani’s financial support came from Muslim groups. Consequently, he is beholden to them and will now have to make good, giving them their money’s worth.
What will that look like for the City of New York?
While Linda Sarsour, as a fellow Democratic Socialist, has a vested interest in seeing to it that Mamdani follows through on all the free stuff he promised, such as public transportation, rent freezes, and much more, Muslim PAC groups are not focused on the goodies dangled in front of the noses of New Yorkers as an enticement to vote for him.
They are more interested in how to make changes to the American way of life and its culture, something they are loath to share. Everything from the American patriotic parades to the Judeo-Christian biblical character of the country is a value that could easily be challenged by a willing Muslim mayor who sees himself as the chosen messenger who will pave the way for a new climate.
How will that impact public dress for women, or what will surely become a steady increase of anti-Israel demonstrations, also spilling over to campuses? Will Jewish schools and houses of worship feel an increased threat – more than they already do?
Given Mamdani’s low opinion of the type of protection offered by the police, who will be there to make sure that Jews whose identification is unmistakable are protected if they are given orders to stand down? Why wouldn’t they be rendered obsolete if that is the desire of his financial sponsors?
Already fearful and concerned over the expected shift that a Mamdani administration will bring, New York Jews are already beginning to wonder if their days are numbered in the city that has been their home for many generations.
After all, when their new mayor cannot disavow the call for a global intifada, how can they feel secure, knowing that his benefactors are those who hate them the most?
Jewish New Yorkers are alarmed as they look into the future, but ironically, Mamdani may go down in history as having done something really great for the Jewish community. That would be to bring them home to Eretz Israel.
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is also the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, available on Amazon, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs.