Israeli lawmakers across the spectrum express concern over Mamdani’s election

Coalition and opposition politicians unite in condemning far-left Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York mayoral race, highlighting his antipathy toward Israel and accusing him of supporting Hamas.

“The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York will be remembered forever as a moment when antisemitism triumphed over common sense,” declares National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, calling him a “supporter of Hamas, a hater of Israel and an avowed antisemite” and slamming his “false claims that we are ‘committing genocide in Gaza.'”

Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu opposition party, likewise bemoans that “the man who supported Hamas, attacked Israel, and blamed the West for all the world’s troubles has been elected mayor of New York.”

“Just three decades after the Twin Towers disaster, New York has elected a racist, populist, and openly Shiite Islamist as its mayor,” Liberman adds. “Mamdani is the poster boy for the silent jihad,” and his election is a “wake-up call for New York Jews who want to immigrate to where they belong – the Land of Israel.”

“The Big Apple has fallen,” Liberman adds in English.

Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs committee chairman Gilad Kariv, of Labor, expresses his confidence that New York’s Jewish leadership will be able to “successfully navigate the new reality following Mamdani’s election” and says that Israel will offer its support and “assist in combating manifestations of antisemitism in the city.”

“Together with the Jewish community in North America, we will continue to oppose any attempt to delegitimize the Jewish people’s right to a national homeland and self-determination, as well as the use of unfair double standards toward the State of Israel,” Kariv says, adding the caveat that “Israeli leaders would do well to remember that the New York elections centered on the internal concerns of the American public, not on foreign policy issues.”

“Israel must consistently work to nurture its relationship with both American political parties, even when faced with challenges and obstacles,” he adds.