No to Israel and yes to Jews

As last week’s primary results rolled in, I saw the events through two parallel perspectives…two social media universes. In one, I saw fellow interfaith activists, progressives, and those committed to upending the entrenched abuses of New York’s Democratic Party reveling in a moment of vindication.

Months of labor brought us a nomination so few thought possible until recently. But then I saw the anguish of so many of my fellow Jews, fearful of a Zohran Mamdani who bears no resemblance to the principled, positive person I’ve seen advocate for New Yorkers for years in Albany.

To me, as a Jew, interfaith activist, and lifelong New Yorker committed to this city being more livable for all who call it home, the contrast is striking. And the unavoidable truth is that Mamdani’s nomination a terrible blow for Israel’s standing, but it’s actually good for New York City Jews.

I rarely speak about Israel. Even when I helped run a Muslim civil rights organization, as a Jewish man, I feverishly focused my work on the bridges we could build here in the U.S., avoiding the debates that divided us abroad. But Israel’s horrific death toll in Gaza, the abject suffering unfolding on our screens, has brought us to a fundamentally different place.

For most of my life, New York politicians treated Jewish identity and support for Israel as indistinguishable. It was a profoundly uncomfortable place for those of us who felt no connection to this country halfway across the globe, but remained deeply connected to Judaism. Of course, there have always been dissenting voices, those who spoke up in support of Palestinians no matter how unpopular, but they were outliers.

But this arbitrary conflation of American Jewish identity and Israel has reached a point of rupture, and Mamdani’s election must be a moment of reflection for both American Jews and the Democratic Party. If so many Jews continue to write off those who oppose Israel as antisemites, if they continue to wall off the range of permissible discourse in public life, it will doom American Jews (particularly Democrats) to isolation and irrelevance.

For generations, American Jewish civil society promoted a connection to Israel for younger Jews. But watching Israel inflicting such historic horrors, watching a generation recoil in disgust at the images they see, a broader shift is needed.

Mamdani’s partnership with so many progressive and leftist young Jews, partnering because of, not in spite of his position on Israel, we are starting to see a new model of what is possible in American Jewish politics. And it’s long overdue.

The challenge now, and it’s a big one, is to see how we can bridge the divide between those building a sense of American Jewish identity without Israel, and those stuck in the parallel social media universe where a kind man like Mamdani can be so easily painted a monster.

I’ve watched helplessly for nearly two years as so many friends fell down this algorithmically generated rabbit hole of radicalization, reading story after story to compound the trauma of what they witnessed on Oct. 7. Convincing themselves that somehow the grotesque suffering Israel inflicted in Gaza wasn’t real, or that somehow it was justified. But to prop up the illusion of righteousness, they need to wall off more and more of the world, which is part of what gives me so much hope right now.

With Mamdani’s victory, we have a chance to prove to them that the boogeyman they’ve been obsessing over these past few weeks isn’t real. Yes, this is a man who may disagree with them vehemently about Israel, but he’s also the man who has locked arms with New York Jews to oppose the right-wing extremists who target Jews and Muslims alike. This stands in such contrast to those who loudly support Israel’s actions abroad, but give a pass to the white supremacists and neo-Nazis here at home.

As a mayor, Mamdani could show how a new generation of leaders can both stay true to their values opposing Israel and support the safety of their Jewish neighbor. If Mamdani succeeds, it will not only be good for New Yorkers, it will be good for so many of those most afraid of his election right now. It will create a roadmap for how we redefine Jewish political identity at a moment when more and more refuse to accept Israel’s abuses.

I just hope my friends will escape their social media echo chambers long enough to see the reality.

Cahn is a New York City-based civil rights lawyer.