Jewish leaders condemned Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani Thursday for his repeated refusals to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state — slamming it as a disqualifying and “dangerous” point of view.
“It’s more than problematic,” said Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis. “Jews see this as a dividing line.
“There are 22 Arab Muslim states,” Potasnik noted. “In Mamdani’s world, there isn’t room for one Jewish state. He doesn’t want a Jewish State.”
Mamdani, a pro-Palestinian state Assembly member from Queens who has supported the BDS movement to boycott Israel, has repeatedly been dogged by the issue as he campaigns for the Democratic mayoral nomination.
During Wednesday night’s NBC 4 NY-Politico primary debate, Mamdani hedged and again refused to answer the question.
“I believe Israel has a right to exist,” he said.
“As a Jewish state?” the moderator pressed.
“As a state with equal rights,” Mamdani replied.
But when Mamdani was asked to clarify during a Thursday morning interview on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York,” he said he opposes Israel’s right to exist — as a Jewish state.
“Because I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else,” he told anchor Rosanna Scotto.
“In the way we have in this country, equality should be enshrined in every country in the world.”
Fellow Queens Assembly member Nily Rozic, who was born in Israel, said, “He doesn’t recognize the Jewish state and its right to exist — a method of dehumanizing the Jewish people and a way to sow unnecessary divisions in society.”
She added: “That’s a dangerous point of view for any elected official, let alone one who aspires to be mayor.”
Brooklyn Assemblyman Kalman Yeger, who is also Jewish, said that Mamdani’s refusal to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state was not all that surprising.
“Not at all shocking that the most prominent antisemite running this year can’t bring himself to acknowledge the right of the Jewish state to exist. His hatred for Jews is boundless,” Yeger said.
Democratic National Committee delegate from New York Robert Zimmerman, a pro-Israel Jew, said Mamdani’s answer on “Good Day” was chilling.
“Mamdani clearly disrespects the memory of the 6 million Jews lost in the Holocaust and further empowers those who engage in antisemitic rhetoric and violence,” Zimmerman told The Post.
Like the Democratic Socialists of America that back him, Mamdani is a staunch foe of Israel and even supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Jewish state.
Jewish civil rights groups such as the Anti-Defamation League said the BDS movement smacks of antisemitism because it seeks to harm the world’s only Jewish State.
Mamdani is running second in recent primary polls to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo on Thursday was endorsed by the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, the largest Orthodox Jewish group in Queens — a sign that the more conservative ultra-orthodox Jewish communities will back his candidacy.
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