Where Mamdani Has Refused to Moderate

Mamdani’s decision to speak up for Khalil is certainly consistent with his past support for Palestine. It might register as an act of kindness. Khalil has had a very rough year indeed; ICE separated him from his wife right before she gave birth, and held him for 104 days. The Trump administration accused him of leading demonstrations at Columbia that it deemed anti-Semitic, seemingly targeting him for his speech.

But Mamdani’s publicized dinner party reinforces the extent to which opposition to Israel is central to his worldview—it’s not just another item on his ideological list; it’s at the very top. A few years ago, he said that the struggle for Palestinian liberation lies at “the core” of his politics and that it was the issue that drew him to the Democratic Socialists of America, which describes Israel as an apartheid, settler-colonialist state with fascist aspirations. During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani refused to recognize Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, saying that he supports its right to exist “as a state with equal rights,” which would end Israel’s role as a refuge for Jews worldwide. “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else,” he told a local Fox television affiliate. He has supported a boycott of Israel and promised to honor an international warrant to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in New York City. Evidently, he will soft-pedal none of those views as mayor.

This kind of thinking is EXTREMELY dangerous, it distracts from genuine antisemitism and stokes the narrative of "us vs them".