A Red Line for Jewish New Yorkers

By Bruce Backman

This is not politics as usual. This is a five-alarm fire.

The upcoming Democratic mayoral primary is the most consequential election in recent memory for Jewish New Yorkers. And let’s be clear: if we sit this one out, we may wake up in a city where antisemitism isn’t just tolerated—it’s elected, funded, and given a seat at the table.

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani isn’t just “anti-Israel.” He is the poster child for a radical movement that’s actively hostile to Jewish life, to Israel, and to everything our community has spent generations building in this city.

He doesn’t hide it. He’s proud of it. Mamdani has made a career out of demonizing Israel, aligning with hate-fueled causes, and undermining Jewish institutions. He refused to support police protection for Jewish students being harassed and threatened on at Columbia University. He openly sides with individuals who justify terrorism like pro-Palestinian agitator Mahmoud Khalil. And he’s gone so far as to say Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested—on American soil—based on a corrupt ruling of the kangaroo International Criminal Court (ICC) that targets Israel while letting real war criminals off the hook or ignoring them entirely.

While Jewish homes and synagogues were being threatened nationwide, Mamdani said nothing and did nothing. But he did find the time to equate calls to “globalize the intifada”—a slogan rooted in violence—with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. That’s not just offensive—it’s morally repugnant.

Let’s stop pretending this is about policy differences. Mamdani is the hand-picked candidate of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose first reaction on the very day of Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians—October 7—was to issue a press release standing in “solidarity with Palestine,” and to host an unfathomable celebratory rally in Times Square.

On October 8th Mamdani issued a statement which failed to condemn or even mention Hamas’ role in the horrid massacre which is the worst that befell Jewish people anywhere since the Holocaust.
He’s a proud supporter of the antisemitic BDS movement. He co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization notorious for spreading hate and intimidation on college campuses. And in Albany, he pushed the disgraceful “Not On Our Dime Act,” a direct attack on Jewish nonprofits that support our fellow Jews in Judea and Samaria—from Chabad of Hebron to religious schools and institutions in Gush Etzion.

This isn’t just dangerous. It’s an ideological battle versus our community.

So, what do we do? We speak out and push back—with our voices and our votes.

Let’s address the obvious: Andrew Cuomo is no hero. I fought against him during COVID. I helped lead protests when he and Bill de Blasio imposed unfair restrictions on our communities. I haven’t forgotten.

But this election isn’t about grudges. It’s about survival.

Right now, Cuomo is the last line of defense between our communities and a political movement that sees our existence as a problem to be solved. Supporting him isn’t about love—it’s about necessity. At present, he’s the only candidate who can stop Mamdani.

To every Jewish voter in New York City voter eligible to participate in the Democratic primary: it’s time to get serious. Your vote is your right. Use it. Use it loudly. Use it like your future depends on it—because it does.

Early voting has already begun. Election Day is Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Show up. Bring your friends. Bring your family.

Vote for Cuomo—not because he’s perfect, but because he’s the one standing between our city and disaster.

This is a moment history will remember. When it came time to defend our community, will we say we stood tall—or that we stood by?

Silence is surrender. Complacency is complicity.

Cast your vote like everything’s on the line—because it is if Mamdani wins.

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Bruce Backman is a small business owner, a former political appointee under New York Governor George E. Pataki, and the former spokesperson for Re-Open New York, a coalition of small businesses that actively opposed the state’s restrictive COVID-19 policies.