Former Israeli Consul General to New York warns Mamdani’s rise signals growing mainstreaming of anti-Israel extremism in US politics.
Former Israeli Consul General to New York, Asaf Zamir, published a strongly worded post on X expressing serious concern over the election of Zohran Mamdani as the Democratic Party’s mayoral primary in New York City.
“The news that came yesterday from the Democratic Party primaries in New York is bad. Very bad,” Zamir wrote. According to Zamir, Mamdani is “inexperienced, young, a council member without any significant accomplishments, and a rapper who doesn’t like Zion,” who supports the BDS movement, called the war in Gaza a “genocide,” and declares that he intends on arresting the Prime Minister of Israel if he comes to the city.
Zamir notes that the growing support for Mamdani stems from the strengthening of the super-progressive faction in the Democratic Party and the weakness of current Mayor Eric Adams, who is an avid supporter of Israel.
This being said, he noted: “The good news (kind of) is that now Adams, the incumbent Mayor and a great lover of Israel, who is running as an independent, has more of a chance to be elected again. There is a good chance that the silent majority in New York won’t go so far as to vote for insanity such as Mamdani.”
The former Consul explained that Mamdani is drawing young people with “radical socialist” messages such as free housing and “globalizing the Intifada.” Zamir also stressed that even the New York Times, which is not a right-wing publication, called on voters not to vote for Mamdani, yet he still won.
“What has to frighten us all,” he concluded, “Is the status of Mamdani’s messages that drew votes. The day the democrats return to power, those positions can become mainstream since those who lead those positions are seen as legitimate on other issues, and it will be difficult to differentiate.
