Jewish World Update Nov/Dec 2025
On Israel, Mamdani Is No Longer a Democratic Outlier
by Jonathan S. Tobin
(JNS)—When Zohran Mamdani entered into the New York City mayoral race, some doubted whether a party that still aspired to represent mainstream voters would rally behind a man who is not only a Socialist but an anti-Zionist. It quickly became clear that his position on Israel may be closer to mainstream Democratic officeholders and voters than his critics thought.
In June, following Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic mayoral primary, former President Barack Obama—an iconic figure for Democrats—called him to offer encouragement and advice. Key members of Obama’s circle also communicated with top Mamdani advisers. The Democratic base largely views Mamdani’s platform of Marxist economics and opposition to a Jewish state as emblematic of a revival of Obama’s “hope and change” movement that propelled him to the White House in 2008.
Obama at least had to pretend to be a friend of Israel in 2008 and again in 2012 when his reelection campaign marked a yearlong pause in his ongoing hostility to the Jewish state before it resumed in full force with his appeasement of Iran. Things are very different in 2025.
Not long ago, Mamdani’s record of opposition to Israel’s existence, his membership in antisemitic organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine, and his refusal to disavow chants in favor of Israel’s destruction and Jewish genocide (“From the river to the sea,” “Globalize the intifada”) would have disqualified him, even in deep-blue New York. Now, Obama’s cheers are not the only or even the primary indication of the shift among Democrats.
A wide range of officeholders are adopting positions on the Middle East far closer to that of Mamdani than pro-Israel stalwarts like U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA). Their acceptance of Hamas propaganda about “genocide” and “starvation” in Gaza proves that Mamdani is no outlier in the Democratic party when it comes to the Jewish state.
Mainstream Democrats have concluded that it’s better to join Mamdani and his anti-Israel ideology than to fight him. As a recent Gallup poll showed, while a decisive 71% of Republicans endorsed Israel’s actions in Gaza, a staggeringly low 8% of Democrats agreed with them. That Mamdani and other Democrats are embracing the cause of Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian organizer (whom President Trump wants to deport) of the pro-Hamas demonstrations and encampments at Columbia University, is just the icing on the anti-Zionist cake.
This shift is the culmination of a long process rooted in the progressive conquest of American education and liberal media, which have falsely labeled Israel as a “white” oppressor of Palestinians, a “people of color.” As long as virtually every media outlet mainstreams the “genocide” lie, politicians who look to the consumers of those outlets for support cannot be expected to stand up for the truth.
Voters holding onto the belief that a bipartisan, pro-Israel coalition can be resurrected from the political dead are dreaming. That’s a tragedy for Israel, and even more so for the majority of American Jews. Liberal Jews who aren’t willing to abandon Israel are finding themselves politically homeless.
Given the ideological motivation for most Democrats’ willingness to buy into Hamas blood libels, it’s fantasy to believe that even an Israeli decision to end the war and surrender to the terrorists’ demands to hold onto power in Gaza would change things. The Democrats appear to be a lost cause for the pro-Israel community.
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