With all of the talk about Venezuela, the controversy over New York City Mayor Mamdani’s revocation of a number of his predecessor’s Executive Orders has been upstaged in the media. So let’s go back to them this morning.

As I understand it, Mamdani revoked about 15 Executive Orders that Mayor Adams had issued over the past year or so. They covered a variety of topics, but two of them (actually three of them) dealt with issues that impact New York City’s Jewish community. One of them, issued last June, adopted the definition of antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and the other, issued just one month ago today, forbade certain city officials and appointees from divesting city funds from Israeli related investments or otherwise cooperating with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The third Executive Order dealt with religious institutions in general and required police to investigate ways to create no-protest zones around them. The third one, for whatever reasons, seems to have not raised the objections that the other two have.

A number of Jewish organizations (I have not actually surveyed them) have spoken in blunt terms against these two actions by the Mamdani administration, saying that they portend problems in the future for the Jewish community and potentially for Israel. That is to be expected and I assume that the reasons given by each organization do vary a bit, and would have to be examined, or at least read, before meaningful comments could be given.

What I am more interested in the reaction of the State of Israel, which issued apoplectic statements, basically saying that this demonstrates that Mamdani is an antisemite who on Day 1 is showing his true colors. Those are the terms used.

I maintain that, in responding with this attack, Israel has made the mistake it always makes, and demonstrates one reason why so many Americans, including many American Jews, describe themselves as anti-Israel, or as opponents of Israel’s government.

New York City has more than 1 million Jews. Of those who voted in the mayoral election, about 1/3 voted for Mamdani. They provided a significant amount of his support, and his leadership team contains a significant number of Jewish appointees. They presumably largely approve of his revocation of the Adams orders.

Talking about this is complicated. I will try to simplify it.

1. Zohran Mamdani is ethnically Indian, born in Uganda, and is religiously Muslim. He identifies with Muslims and particularly with the Palestinian experience in the Middle East. I can’t tell you what his internal feelings about Israel are, but clearly he believes that Israel has engaged in genocidal activities in its treatment of its Muslim neighbors after the October 7, 2022 attack (which he has strongly condemned).
2. As opposed to the majority of Israelis, the majority of American Jews, while not identifying with the Palestinians as Mamdani does (of course, they would if they were Muslim and not Jewish), have also condemned much of what Israel has done, both in Gaza and the West Bank.
3. I myself do believe that the ultimate goal of Israel is to force many Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank, and that Israel, and many (but not all, of course) Israelis feel that if this requires violence, so be it. Whether this constitutes acts of genocide is a legal question that, except in legal fora, may not be that important. But I do believe it is happening.
4. Israel (under its current government and perhaps under all of its governments) is a remarkable country with remarkable accomplishments. Some (but certainly not all and perhaps not even the majority) of these accomplishments have been achieved with the help of the United States, and with the help of Jews worldwide. Particularly because of the Holocaust, this is not surprising.–
5. But Israel wants to be treated as something special. It has declared itself a Jewish State in spite of the fact that 20% or more of its citizens are not Jewish, and it has “settled” about 600,000 of its Jewish citizens in the West Bank, on land occupied by Israel, but not a part of Israel. By doing these things, Israel has declared itself special in two ways: first, it wants to be known as the homeland of Jews, no matter where they live, and second, it clearly expresses the right to control lands that are outside of its territorial boundaries. Many Jews support these two positions, and the American government, while sometimes expressing opposition to the second, in fact has supported them as well.
6. In order to further its presumption of special status, Israel has supported the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which conflates anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitic sentiments. Under this definition (I am speaking broadly), opposition to Israel defines you as an antisemite. Of course, Jews who are against Israel’s current government or policies do not view themselves as antisemitic and oppose the IHRA definition. Because so many of these Jews are Mamdani supporters, the adoption of the IHRA definition by the City of New York is problematic, and the revocation of this Executive Order makes sense. And, again in my opinion, it does not make Mamdani an antisemite, no matter how loudly Israel proclaims that it does.
7. As to the Order involving the BDS movement, it is again important to know that has only been in effect for one month. So, it isn’t that Mamdani is overturning a long lasting New York City written policy. I have no idea why Adams thought this Executive Order was necessary less than a month before he was leaving office, except to create controversy for his successor. What its revocation connotes, I do not know. Does it mean that Mamdani is going to sign an Executive Order requiring City agencies to follow the BDS program? Highly doubtful, but we will see. If this does occur, anger is appropriate. And, if it seems like it might occur, the City Council could always pass a law containing the positions set forth in the Adams order.

To make a too long story shorter than if I went on and made it longer, Zohran Mamdani is, for personal and political reasons, separating his position on protecting Jews in the City and his position on whether Israel’s actions should be supported. As the mayor of New York City, his priority has to be protection (in a broad sense) of its residents. He has little to do with Israel in his mayoral capacity. He is entitled to whatever personal thoughts he has on the country and its leaders. As long as he does nothing to set the City of New York on an anti-Israel path, this is not a problem. If he does, it will be, but we have no reason to think that will be the case as of today.

A rational Israel would wish Mamdani luck in his new job, and would communicate and meet with him on a regular basis to attempt to blunt his current feelings towards their country. To simply call him an antisemite, and to say he is showing his true colors is 100% wrong. But it is in character, I am afraid to say, and sets a stage for an ongoing battle that neither side wants to lose, but that each side wants to win big. Winning big won’t happen, and controversy will be the order of the day. It is just too bad.