Israel is abuzz over the election of Zohran Mamdani as the next mayor of New York, the city with the world’s largest Jewish population outside of the State of Israel.
It’s no secret that global opposition to Israel’s war on Hamas, fueled by exaggerated and outright libelous claims of Israeli wrongdoing, has resulted in harassment of and physical violence against not only Israelis, but all Jews. Mamdani threw gasoline on that fire by publicly accusing Israel of genocide, tacitly blessing calls to “Globalize the Intifada,” and threatening to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he again sets foot in the city.
Himself a Muslim sympathizer of the Hamas cause, it was little surprise that Mamdani’s landslide election was greeted by chants of “Free Palestine” from the mobs that gathered on the streets.
#WATCH | Slogans of “Free Palestine” being chanted outside the Zohran Mamdani campaign HQ in New York City, as hundreds of his supporters gather here. Mamdani has won the New York City mayoral election. pic.twitter.com/ejW1cpLits
— ANI (@ANI) November 5, 2025
In Israel, there is mounting concern not only for its own relations with the city of New York, but for the 1.3 million Jewish residents of the New York City metropolitan area.
Israel’s diaspora affairs minister, Amichai Chikli, said Mamdani’s election was a “critical turning point for New York City,” one that had “undermined the very foundations of the place that provided freedom and opportunity for masses of Jewish refugees since the late 19th century, a place that became a stronghold for the Jewish community outside of Israel.”
העיר שבעבר הייתה לסמל החירות העולמי, מסרה את המפתחות שלה לידיו של תומך חמאס, לידיו של מי שלא רחוק בעמדותיו מהפנאטים הג׳יהאדיסטים שרצחו לפני 25 שנה שלושת אלפים מאנשיה.
זהו רגע מפנה קריטי עבור העיר ניו־יורק. הבחירה שעשתה ניו יורק מערערת את יסודותיו המקום שהעניק חרות והזדמנות… pic.twitter.com/Nl8Sjpm7RG
— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) November 5, 2025
But all of that is now gone. New York, lamented Chikli, “has handed over the keys to a Hamas supporter, one whose positions are not far removed from the jihadist fanatics who murdered three thousand of its own people 25 years ago.”
Chikli noted that Mamdani did not, could not win on his own. His ascendancy was the result of a concerted effort that began on university campuses “that were taken over by Qatari money” leading to “violent demonstrations by Hamas supporters at CUNY, NYU, and especially at Columbia University.”
Chikli stressed that “New York will never be the same, certainly not for its Jewish community,” and urged “the Jews of New York to consider taking up their place in the Land of Israel.”
The Israeli minister ended his post with the biblical phrase “the Eternal One of Israel does not lie” from 1 Samuel 15:29, which has become a rallying cry amid Israel’s current travails.
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