The Israel Lobby Hates Zohran Mamdani

It was mayoral win that surprised and pleased many, but outraged others.

Zohran Mamdani is an American politician, born on October 18, 1991, who has served in the New York State Assembly, representing the 36th district in Queens since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, he is the presumptive Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City in the 2025 election.

Born Zohran Kwame Mamdani in Kampala, Uganda, he immigrated to the United States with his family at age seven, settling in New York City. He is the son of academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. Mamdani graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and earned a bachelor's degree in Africana studies from Bowdoin College. He became a naturalized American citizen in 2018.

Before entering politics, Mamdani worked as a housing counselor, helping low-income homeowners, and was also involved in hip-hop music. He was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020, defeating a four-term incumbent, and was reelected without opposition in 2022 and 2024.

Mamdani announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York City in October 2024. His campaign focused on affordability initiatives such as fare-free city buses, public childcare, city-owned grocery stores, a rent freeze on rent-stabilized units, and a $30 minimum wage by 2030. He also supports tax increases on corporations and individuals earning over $1 million annually.

And, Mamdani is sharply critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians and has pledged to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit New York City, in adherence to International Criminal Court arrest warrants. Mamdani’s mayoral campaign has garnered endorsements from prominent progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But in Trump’s America (and most other Western nations), support for Palestine is a criminal act, having been made akin to terrorism. Never mind that Israel, in its genocidal fervor, has by now slaughtered nearly half-a-million Palestinians—which is dutifully proclaimed as “self-defense” by all the Zionist lickspittles.

For the morally bankrupt Western political class, genocide is not a crime (when Israel does it)—objecting to genocide is.

Therefore, Mamdani is hated by the Israel lobby in the United States, and of course by MAGA.

The Israel lobby tried to derail Mamdani's New York City mayoral campaign primarily by focusing intensely on his critical views of Israel and his support for Palestinian rights. Mamdani, a Muslim socialist and state assemblyman, has long held strong pro-Palestinian positions, including support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and calls to arrest Netanyahu for alleged war crimes if he enters New York City jurisdiction. These stances made him a target for attacks, accusing him of antisemitism and portraying him as dangerous to Jewish New Yorkers.

During the campaign, Mamdani was repeatedly badgered about his Israel policy, with critics using his refusal to affirm Israel's “right to exist” as a Jewish state as a weapon against him. Media outlets and political opponents framed his views as radical and threatening, often conflating his anti-Zionist stance with antisemitism. This included efforts to shift the mayoral race's focus away from local issues like affordability and towards Mamdani's positions on Israel, which Mamdani resisted.

The pro-Israel lobby and some right-wing commentators escalated their attacks by invoking Islamophobic rhetoric, portraying Mamdani's Muslim faith as a risk factor and even suggesting his election could lead to events comparable to 9/11. Mamdani faced death threats and hateful messages, reflecting a toxic mix of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian sentiment aimed at undermining his candidacy.

Despite these efforts, Mamdani did not give in to the pressure. He maintained his positions on Israel and Palestine, continued to advocate for Palestinian human rights, and refused to soften his rhetoric. His campaign's success, culminating in a decisive primary victory over Andrew Cuomo, demonstrated that many Democratic voters in New York are no longer swayed by traditional pro-Israel lobbying tactics or the fear-based smears that once dominated political discourse on this issue.

Like so many of the Zionist tactics, the narratives used against Palestine are now failing—Mamdani just proved this. And in the spirit of, if you can’t defeat the message, attack the man, all the MAGA stalwarts are going full-bore, with all the insults available in their rather limited arsenal.

These attacks go beyond political disagreement and focus on Mamdani as a Muslim, an immigrant, and a progressive socialist. Here is list:

Donald Trump referred to Mamdani as "a 100% Communist Lunatic" and criticized his appearance, voice and intelligence in social media posts.

Elise Stefanik initiated fundraising efforts, stating that the idea of a "self-proclaimed socialist and Hamasizer like Zohran Mamdani" becoming New York City's mayor is "truly appalling."

Stephen Miller, an architect of Trump's immigration policies, called Mamdani's victory "a warning" about immigration. The New York Young Republican Club also sought action from Miller regarding Mamdani's citizenship.

Nancy Mace posted a photo of Mamdani in traditional dress and referenced 9/11.

Andy Ogles publicly advocated for Mamdani to be stripped of his citizenship and deported, while calling him “little Mohammad.”

Charlie Kirk, a prominent podcaster, attempted to link Mamdani to the 9/11 attackers, stating, 24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City," linking Mamdani’s religion to terrorism.

The New York Young Republican Club launched a "call to action" on X, urging Trump to invoke the Communist Control Act to revoke Mamdani's citizenship and deport him. They also suggested action from border czar Tom Homan.

Conservative social media personality Laura Loomer (and Trump whisperer) claimed that "Muslims will start committing jihad all over New York" and warned of "9/11 2.0" if Mamdani were elected mayor. She identifies as a "proud Islamophobe."

New York City Council Member and Republican Vickie Paladino has also called for Mamdani's deportation

Islamophobia is the last redoubt of the scoundrel, it would seem.

Beyond policy critiques, these attacks are designed to undermine his credibility and paint him as a radical extremist, often ignoring his actual platform and focusing instead on personal traits and identity. As well, these attacks serve to distract from substantive political debate by appealing to fear, hate, and contempt. They bypass discussion of his policies and instead seek to exclude or delegitimize him based on identity and character smears.

The Zionist solution is to be trundle out yet another billionaire, namely, Bill Ackman. It is not really the money (!), but Ackman’s staunch support of Israel that makes him the perfect foil for Mamdani (for the Zionists, that is).

For example, his support for Israel has become especially pronounced and public since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Ackman has described himself as always having supported Israel and the Jewish community, but this support intensified into a high priority following the attacks and the ensuing conflict.

Ackman’s pro-Israel stance is deeply personal: he is married to Neri Oxman, an Israeli-born designer and academic. Oxman was in the Israeli Air Force for three years, where she reached the rank of first lieutenant, and her career as a academic is marked by charges of plagiarism, while her scholarly work is noted as being less than stellar. More crucially, her early career was funded by Jeffrey Epstein.

Ackman has expressed a commitment to support Israel on multiple fronts—financially, politically, and culturally—and has become one of the most outspoken defenders of Israel and the Jewish people globally.

In addition to his vocal support, Ackman has taken concrete actions such as seeking to delist his investment firm Pershing Square from the Amsterdam stock exchange in response to antisemitic violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam. Ackman and Oxman acquired a significant equity stake (about 5%) in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, investing $25 million, signaling a strong economic commitment to Israel.

More recently, Ackman urged (successfully) the United States to provide military support to Israel in its campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, framing this as a strategic move in the interest of global and American security. He advocates for U.S. involvement through air power and advanced munitions to help Israel neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat, emphasizing that this would be a limited, low-risk engagement without the need for ground troops.

His organization, the Pershing Square Philanthropies funds organizations that contribute to social innovation and urban development in Israel, such as the Jerusalem Foundation, which aims to foster a flourishing Jerusalem.

Ackman also participated in high-level discussions and a WhatsApp group with Israeli military and U.S. business leaders to help shape public opinion in favor of Israel, including organizing screenings of a clumsy propaganda film, Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre, which seeks to reify the failing narratives of Jewish victimhood.

Norman Finkelstein, a political scholar, identifies Ackman as a "Jewish supremacist," not merely a Zionist. This characterization comes from Finkelstein's analysis and commentary, which distinguishes between Zionism and what he terms Jewish supremacism, implying a more extreme or exclusivist stance. Jewish supremacists believe that Jews can do no wrong.

So, in the face of a true populist in Zohran Mamdani, the Israel lobby brings out yet another billionaire who they believe will know how to fix things. All the Israel-lobby shills (like Ayaan Hirsi) are certain he is their man. A sure-fire formula for political success.

Money can certainly make you blind to reality. Come to think of it, the Roman god of wealth, Plutus, was blind. Which is to say the next mayor of New York City will be Zohran Mamdani, a real man of the people.