Split emerges in NYC’s Satmar community over Mamdani endorsement

NEW YORK — A split emerged in the Satmar Hasidic movement in New York City on Sunday over endorsements for the mayoral campaign of the far-left anti-Israel activist Zohran Mamdani.

Local media reported that Rabbi Moishe Indig, a prominent leader in the Satmar Ahronim faction, was set to endorse Mamdani, a state assemblymember representing part of Queens who has alarmed swaths of the Jewish community with his anti-Israel rhetoric.

Indig backed Mamdani during a meeting later on Sunday.

Around the same time, three other leaders of the faction released a statement endorsing former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a pro-Israel centrist and Mamdani’s leading challenger.

“The progressive movement’s crusading agenda is a threat to our ability to live as Torah Jews,” the statement said, according to the Cuomo campaign. “Please out-vote the progressive agenda and vote for Andrew Cuomo.”

Both Cuomo and Mamdani claimed endorsements from the faction, which backed Cuomo in the primary earlier this year.

Cuomo said in a statement that he had won the endorsement of the “executive committee of the Satmar Ahronim in Williamsburg.”

“I’m deeply honored to have the support of these respected community leaders,” Cuomo said. “Their voices carry tremendous weight in standing up for family, faith, and common sense. ”

Mamdani said on X that he was “honored to receive the endorsement of Rabbi Moshe Indig and Ahronim leaders.”

The reason for the split was not immediately clear.

A separate faction of the Satmars said last week that it was not making an endorsement in the race.

Satmar leaders met with Cuomo and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has deep ties to Brooklyn Jewish communities, earlier this week. Adams dropped his reelection bid and endorsed his former rival Cuomo last month.

Mamdani is the heavy favorite to win Tuesday’s election over Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Some far-left Jews are backing Mamdani, while many mainstream and Orthodox groups and leaders have backed Cuomo or issued warnings about Mamdani.

The Satmars, whose New York City community is based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are one of the city’s largest Hasidic voting blocs.

The movement is theologically non-Zionist, making Mamdani’s anti-Israel activism less of an issue, even if the movement is not aligned with left-wing political anti-Zionism.

Mamdani has said that, if elected mayor, he would not restrict yeshiva education, one of the community’s top priorities.

But progressives around Mamdani and in his potential administration could oppose the yeshiva system and other Satmar community priorities, like limiting bicycle lanes in their neighborhood.

Hasidic areas of Williamsburg overwhelmingly voted for Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary earlier this year, which the former governor lost to Mamdani.