Zo Far, Zo Good

Do I regret my vote for Mayor Zohran Mamdani?

I’ve been asked. The answer is no regrets.  Yet.

On March 9th, he invited former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and his family for a Ramadan Iftar dinner at Gracie Mansion. This  marked one year since Khalil's arrest by ICE. The visit sparked significant controversy and backlash from various political groups. Jewish organizations, of course, went nuts, as expected. But a gift to the fundraisers.

More or less in the same moment, the mayor sought to create a wall between his leadership of New York City and the private views of his wife, Rama Duwaji, after being asked about her social media activity surrounding the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Ms. Duwaji “liked” posts on Instagram that were supportive of the Palestinian cause immediately after the attacks, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. The mayor said his wife’s views should not be subject to broad public scrutiny. They were not married when she liked the posts; the couple wed in early 2025, and he did not enter the Democratic primary for mayor until October 2024. There’s no reason nor evidence to suggest her views have changed, or should have.

Mr. Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor and a democratic socialist, has long criticized Israel and defended Palestinians — an issue that inspired him to get into politics. He has described the war in Gaza as genocide and he supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel that has gone on for at least two decades, mostly on college campuses. BDS supporters, however, do include Jews. Among them, me. If you don’t like the word “genocide”, call the deaths of more than 75,000 Gazans to date — men, women, children — whatever you like. Trump’s incredibly stupid war against Iran has, for now, moved Gaza from the headlines but Israeli bombs continue to fall there.

Mamdani’s principal rival in the mayoral contest was the disgraced, insolent, ex-NY governor Andrew M. Cuomo. A super-PAC supporting him spent millions of dollars in ads saying Mr. Mamdani was antisemitic. Sophie Ellman-Golan, director of strategic communications at Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, an organizing group for the Jewish left, said that Mr. Mamdani has been clear about his views regarding Israel and the war in Gaza. “He has been really outspoken in calling for a cease-fire and freedom and safety for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” Ms. Ellman-Golan said, “while mourning those killed in the horrific attack on Oct. 7 and also being extremely clear in mourning the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed.”

Public officials have long faced questions over the political activities or other actions of a spouse or partner. Recently, The New York Times reported that Corinne Levy Goldman, the wife of Representative Daniel Goldman, 49, of New York, liked or reposted social media posts from several right-wing accounts that some saw as hateful or insensitive toward Palestinians and Black people. I have met Goldman a few times and I like him; he is a moderate Democrat, unpretentious (though a billionaire scion of the Levi-Strauss family) who self-funds his campaigns. His best known primary election opponent is Brad Lander, a decent fellow who is on the wrong side of bread-and-butter issues affecting Soho, where we live.

Ms. Goldman, 47, is a lawyer who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family. She met Mr. Goldman at a 2012 event for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an erstwhile lobby of dependable liberal views but now a right-wing mouthpiece for Bibi and the Israeli government.

Ms. Ellman-Golan also said it was unfair to equate Ms. Duwaji’s social media likes with those of Ms. Goldman’s, in part because Mr. Goldman’s wife serves as his campaign treasurer while Ms. Duwaji had no official role in Mr. Mamdani’s campaign for mayor. To be fair, that is very thin tissue. With politicians you get two for the price of one, like it or not. “It is neither new information that the mayor’s wife cares about Palestinians,” Ms. Ellman-Golan said, “nor is it new information that the mayor is committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including Jewish New Yorkers.” Real estate biggies, Wall Street and business leaders don’t like him. That’s another reason to wish him well as our Mayor.

Given the profound intractability of changing anything in New York, the SS Progressive Agenda has sailed but is already taking on water and facing howling winds. The sails are luffing, the progress stymied.

But. No regrets. Watchful waiting.

Photo: People.Com