Who’s right: Zohran or the Jews?
Wrestling with Zohran and what his victory was really all about.
Zohran madness is upon us! Let’s get into it.
Personally, I think it’s a great idea to globalize the empanada. Viva flavorful food fusion!
Having to run a gauntlet of Andrew Cuomo and then Eric Adams is truly the lowest bar to clear. It’s like asking, “Can you be more popular than Diddy and the Fyre Fest guy?"
I heard Zohran wants to put all the Jews on trains! (Specifically, the LIRR to Southampton for Fourth of July weekend, but still...)
Okay, okay. Let’s get serious. As an extremely online Brooklyn Jew obsessed with politics, this whole thing is almost too up my alley so I have THOUGHTS.
What are people missing about Zohran’s win?
It was generational warfare. A huge reason Zohran won is because he’s, you know, for kids.
And the kids ain’t having it with the olds. They think Boomers screwed ‘em over. They couldn’t care less what Chuck Schumer thinks. In fact, they don’t even care what Clinton or Obama think.
With Israel, they have no memory of the second intifada’s charred buses, but they see dead Gazans daily. It’s tough for stories from the past to compete with a real-time drip-drip-drip of brutality. Plus, October 7th was one day while the IDF is doing a new death “drop” every day. Anyone in marketing can tell you which of those will have a greater impact.
Young people can’t buy a house, they ain’t getting laid, and they feel abandoned. Transgender is their punk rock. They think the olds destroyed the planet and won’t get out of the way. It’s all #FreeLuigi to them. They are desperate for anything that will make olds wake the f– up.
They see the senile Senators. They know about the lobbyists and who’s funding the whole corrupt, sclerotic, dog-and-phony show. Whatever’s happening in politics ain’t working for them. So they showed up, in a Howard Beale primal scream kinda way, to say “Enough.”
Also, they only understand something if it’s delivered via vertical video.
Now, the big question everyone keeps asking…
Is Zohran anti-semitic?
As far as I can tell, he is anti-Zionist, but not anti-semitic. However…(clears throat)…people who are anti-semitic sure do seem to love him. Jews have a right to be skeptical about that.
Did I vote for him?
Nah. I didn’t rank him or Cuomo (went for Brad Lander instead) – and I was basically in agreement with this dude:
What’s the vibe amongst NYC Jews?
The Jews I know who are under 35 are mostly cool with him and those over 35 fear Sharia law is coming to Crown Heights. Remember, this election was largely a generational battle between young and olds with Zohran as the vessel.
Why are so many Jews irked?
They think there’s a double standard going on. The same people who lecture all of us constantly about dog whistle racism seem to be completely blind to the notion of dog whistle anti-semitism. And that’s what a lot of Jews sense coming from Zohran’s army.
What about all the Islamophobic attacks coming at Zohran?
The wild Muslim hate coming at him from FOX News and far right cretins is inexcusable and gross. It all makes the entire conversation so dumb. Their wild “deport him” rhetoric leads to everyone involved hiding behind “I’m the real victim” messaging.
My (ongoing) message to people who will never come to NYC yet have endless opinions about it: Don't sweat what happens here. We don't tell you what kinda wheat to store in your grain silo or whatever.
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What do you mean by dog whistle anti-semitism?
Some examples of why Jews are panicking about him:
In a 2017 rap song, Mamdani said he loves the Holy Land 5 — criminals convicted of providing material support to Hamas terrorists.
He also issued a statement on Oct. 8 condemning Israel and saying that “a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid,” with no mention of Hamas. (He has since condemned the Hamas attacks as a “horrific war crime.”)
You can Google for more about his anti-Israel past. I don’t feel like getting into DSA, BDS, or other acronyms that Jews fear but no one else understands here.
But doesn’t he keep denouncing anti-semitism?
Yes.
Well, kinda.
See, his condemnations always feel a bit meh considering the anti-Israel passion he’s displayed in the past. (Keep in mind a 2021 survey found that 80% of American Jews say caring about Israel is an important or essential part of what being Jewish means to them.)
For example, he recently posted this clip/caption:
"I was asked by a reporter why I haven’t had a more visceral reaction to being called an antisemite. Here was my response."
Considering his past statements, many Jews want him to, with forceful emotion, denounce anti-semitism, including among his supporters. And they want him to do it not in a mealy-mouthed, bothsidesish way.
Instead, this clips shows him claiming that if he were to do so, he'd be labelled a monster by his opponents. Huh? If he got passionate about protecting Jews, Jews would LOVE that. So who are these imaginary opponents that would say he's a monster, barbarian, or a beast for condemning anti-semitism forcefully?
It just felt evasive. Plus, he chose to center himself and portray himself as the actual victim in all this. And there were tears too! So I guess he can show a visceral reaction to something, y’know? Plus, the whole thing was then posted for campaign klout. Um, okay.
"You think YOU'RE the victim!? No way, I'm the REAL victim here."
-Everyone on social media all the time
I don’t want to seem cold; I get that he’s on the receiving end of all kinds of hate, threats, etc. But imagine if a white person did all this when asked to denounce racism. We all know the vitriol they’d receive for making it all about themselves instead of the aggrieved party.
That’s the double standard thing. While other groups get the benefit of the doubt, Jews feel they constantly have to justify their fears and explain why they’re right to perceive certain things as anti-Jewish. Y’know how black people are tired of having to explain why, say, blackface is offensive? Well, same same but different for Jews.
Who’s right about the “globalize the intifada” phrase?
For Israelis, and many Jews, the second intifada is about suicide bombings on buses and cafés that killed 1,000 Israeli civilians.
But Mamdani, in a podcast appearance, defended the phrase as expressing “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” He noted that the U.S. Holocaust Museum has used the word “intifada” in Arabic-language descriptions of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against Nazi Germany. Let’s just say that answer didn’t go over great with Jews or the Holocaust Museum.
On Meet the Press, when asked explicitly three times if he’d condemn the phrase, he kept avoiding the question because "I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech."
My concern is, to start to walk down the line of language and making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible, takes me into a place similar to that of the president, who is looking to do those very kinds of things, putting people in jail for writing an op-ed, putting them in jail for protesting.
Again, the logic here feels pretzel-ish. He won’t condemn “globalize the intifada” because if he does, he’ll be just like 47? Dude, no one’s telling you to put people in jail for it. They’re asking YOU to say that YOU don’t like it. Not "That's not language that I use.”
This also reeked of purposeful evasion. Own it or condemn it – but this bothsidesism based on iffy comparisons feels lame. It’s this kinda thing that makes Jews roll their eyes. (To be fair: An incredible number of things make Jews roll their eyes.)
Why can’t Jews just accept his interpretation of that phrase in good faith?
Admittedly, some Jews are paranoid haters who will never be satisfied with this guy. But I dunno, I've seen the people shouting "globalize the intifada" at rallies and I haven’t gotten a lot of “good faith” vibes from 'em.
And it’s tough to tell Jews "you are afraid in bad faith" since, well, they are afraid. Given the DC murders, Boulder, Tree of Life, it may require more empathy and persuasion than “He didn’t mean it in the murderous way, he meant it in the positive way!”
But has he actually said anything overtly anti-semitic?
You’re missing how dog whistles work. Dog whistle hate doesn't come right out and say it. Instead, it offers a "wink wink you know what it means." It plays footsie with hate. It gives a green light to others.
And 🍊 haters should get this because it’s exactly what 47 and right wing podcasters do with white supremacists – and progressives seem to totally clock that when it happens.
Jews have pretty good radar for what folks really mean when they prattle on about "Rothschilds," "globalists," and "Soros-backed" anything. The people saying that stuff may have plausible deniability, but…c’mon.
What do Jews want from Zohran now?
Thus far, Zohran seems unwilling to forcefully denounce the Jew haters who cheer him on. And judging by the vitriolic comment sections I’ve seen, those who hate Jews seem quite enthused by him.
This Arab Jewish New Yorker went viral for saying what lotsa Jews are thinking:
A lot of Jews just wish Zohran could come out and say, "If you're antisemitic, I don't want your support. Anyone who wants violence against Jews has no place in my camp." I’ve yet to hear him be clear like that.
Any advice for the pro-Israel crowd?
Realize the following if you haven’t already:
No one cares what happens to Jews as much as Jews.
Most people have never even met a Jew.
It’s a numbers game: There are only 15M Jews in the world and there are exponentially more who hate us.
AIPAC is increasingly in the spotlight and the explanations for why it has so much power over US politicians aren’t landing with many.
Where should the pro-Israel crowd focus?
Pro-Israel people are making the same mistake Kamala's team made. They're obsessing over old school methods that don’t matter nearly as much anymore. They keep trying to fight Harvard and the mainstream media when they should be trying to win over Theo Von and online comment sections. They're trying to plug a leaky faucet while ignoring the waterfall.
Theo Von just told Ro Khanna that “it feels like we are just working for Israel,” and that he believes a lot of Americans are beginning to feel “disillusioned” by U.S. leaders. Then he told Thomas Massie that America “feels like a shell company for Israel.” Theo has MILLIONS of listeners while Harvard has 30k students. Yet look at where the pro-Israel crowd keeps focusing. And then there’s Tucker, Candace, and whatever scrub Piers Morgan found under a rock. All of ‘em are racking up tons of views.
And so many comment sections on YouTube, TikTok, IG, Threads, and X contain an avalanche of hate towards Jews and Israel – many filled with vile comments and anti-semitic conspiracy kooks. Yet I never hear Bill Ackman or the “stop hate speech” crowd pipe up about that at all.
Many Jews keep thinking they can put a lid on all this hate from the top down. But it’s coming from the bottom up.
Did you see how Zohran campaigned on social media? Start fighting antisemitism that way instead of complaining about which word the NY Times chose to use in a headline.
Speaking of, to all the Jews who keep attacking the mainstream media: I promise you, a complete distrust in journalism, the fourth estate, and "elites" winds up breaking bad for Jews in the end. When the world turns to conspiracy theories, you oughta know who will get blamed.
Was this Jew stuff a big part of his victory?
Nah, he won because he understands vertical video.
No, seriously.
He listened, he walked, he filmed, he talked, and he met people where they were at. And NYC is filled with immigrants who saw their story reflected in him. Meanwhile, Cuomo was a terrible candidate who totally phoned it in and may have nipple piercings.
And Zohran ran on the thing every New Yorker complains about constantly:
Living in NYC is crazy expensive and affordability was the perfect message. Bernie’s been saying it for years: It’s not the identity stuff, it’s the cost of living.
Up ahead:
Can’t someone be anti-Zionist without being anti-semitic?
What’s the correct way to criticize what’s happening in Gaza?
But what can Zohran really deliver?
Socialism works in Scandinavia. How about that?
What’s going to happen next?
Can’t someone be anti-Zionist without being anti-semitic?
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