Can Mayor Mamdani be as good as Candidate Mamdani on Palestine?
Zohran Mamdani started his term as NYC mayor on a radical note by defending BDS, but we must keep up the pressure to prevent future compromise, warns Nada Elia.
Nada Elia
12 Jan, 2026
The New Arab
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after he was ceremonially sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor at City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I) on January 01, 2026 in New York City. [GETTY]
In addition to the midnight “ball drop,” which symbolises the heralding of welcome change, this new year New York City offered Americans another reason to celebrate, namely the inauguration of Zohran Kwame Mamdani as the mayor of this country’s largest and most diverse metropolis.
A young, African-born, Muslim, South Asian immigrant, Mamdani represents many firsts. He was sworn in on two copies of the Qur’an, his grandfather’s, as well as one borrowed from the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, thus reflecting the diversity of the religion in the city where one in ten resident is Muslim.
For other swearing in events, he used two copies of the Qur’an, his grandfather’s and his grandmother’s, a simple gesture that reveals his embrace of his roots, and of gender equality.
But beyond the symbolism of his complex identity – important as that is in an exceedingly xenophobic country – his politics are what stand out. Mamdani ran on a progressive Democratic Socialist agenda, promising freezes on rent-stabilised apartments, and free public transportation, issues of particular import to New Yorkers.
Campaigning during Israel’s intensified genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, Mamdani repeatedly asserted his pro-Palestine stance, calling for an end to U.S. military support for Israel, and emphasising that what is taking place in Gaza is a violation of human rights and international law.
Nor is his support for Palestine a recent development: as an undergraduate student at Bowdoin College, which he attended from 2010-14, he co-founded that school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that is still active today. While at Bowdoin, Mamdani also wrote a weekly column in the student newspaper, frequently critiquing the school’s administration, and taking aim at the former college president’s criticism of the 2013 boycott by the American Studies Association of Israeli academic institutions, among other issues.
Considering his outspokenness on Palestine, Mamdani’s election proved yet again that Zionism is losing its grip on the country, including among Jews: New York City is home to t
he largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and 33% of New York Jews voted for him. This is a small percentage for a Democratic candidate, but a significant one considering the present times, when many Jews are ill at ease with the global outrage at Israel—a country they still relate to, and identify with.
Yet while Americans are used to the sobering disconnect between campaign promises and actual policy, Mamdani did not dally. On January 1, his first day in office, he reversed every executive order issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, before September 2024. One of these executive orders targeted the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, barring city officials from boycotting or divesting from Israel, and subjecting them to “disciplinary action” should they back such a campaign.
Adams had argued that BDS is antisemitic, and that banning it would protect the city’s Jewish population. But Mamdani was absolutely clear on this issue: while campaigning, he had insisted that he supports BDS as a non-violent movement that puts pressure on Israel to abide by international law, and that banning it stifles free speech.
Mamdani also revoked the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. That definition has long been criticised for its equation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism, especially as seven of the eleven examples of “antisemitism” it cites are actually examples of criticism of Israeli policies.
The IHRA lists, for examples, as a contemporary example of antisemitism, “Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” Here it must be noted that a condemnation of other human rights violators is not required when one criticizes any other country: we can criticize Iran, or Saudi Arabia, for their policies and actions without listing all countries that suppress dissidents. The IHRA definition, then, is asking for exceptional treatment for Israel. But also, there is a presumption that Israel is a “democratic nation,” a qualifier that country itself no longer seeks to project.
Pro-Palestine activists have long been organising to counter the adoption of IHRA by cities and universities nationally, even as Zionist groups keep pushing it. Mamdani’s decisive action on it was therefore a welcome development.
Mamdani also cancelled an Adams order that directed the New York Police Department to take steps towards a ban on protests outside houses of worship.
The new mayor faced his first test with the pro-Palestine community within days of his inauguration, when he criticised pro-Palestine protesters outside a synagogue in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Manhattan that was hosting an event promoting American real estate investment in occupied Palestinian land. The protesters reportedly made pro-Hamas chants, which Mamdani denounced on social media, even as he refrained from criticising the inflammatory remarks made by the pro-Israel protesters.
The pro-Palestine activists have taken him to task on social media, pointing out that Palestinian armed resistance is a right enshrined in international law, whereas the real estate sales promoted at the event were illegal, and asking what other “selling out” he was prepared to do, so as to appease his Zionist constituents.
Those constituents, his foes, have naturally smeared Mamdani as an antisemite. They have foregrounded the fact that he has refused to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada,” pointing instead to its literal meaning as rebellion or uprising, and noting that even the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum used that term when translating official comments on the exhibits from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic.
But let’s be clear about this: there would be nothing wrong with the desire to globalise the intifada, which is a revolt against oppression, against occupation, against injustice. And the reality is, Mamdani’s election does not globalise the intifada, as much as it is a clear indication that the intifada is already global, from Palestine to New York City.
Mamdani’s election, and his decisive actions so far, give Americans reason to believe once again that our vote matters, and that our politicians can and will make a change for the better. Less than two weeks into his mayorship, it is still early to pass a judgment evaluating it.
Given the nature of American politics, Mamdani is bound to feel the pressure to prove Zionists wrong as they accuse him of being antisemitic, rather than critical of Israel. But we, too, must insist on holding him to his proven record of understanding the plight of the Palestinian people, and it is incumbent on us to keep pushing him, and supporting him, as he navigates a very difficult terrain.
Nada Elia is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University, and author of Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine.
Follow her on X: @nadaelia48
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after he was ceremonially sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor at City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I) on January 01, 2026 in New York City. [GETTY]
In addition to the midnight “ball drop,” which symbolises the heralding of welcome change, this new year New York City offered Americans another reason to celebrate, namely the inauguration of Zohran Kwame Mamdani as the mayor of this country’s largest and most diverse metropolis.
A young, African-born, Muslim, South Asian immigrant, Mamdani represents many firsts. He was sworn in on two copies of the Qur’an, his grandfather’s, as well as one borrowed from the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, thus reflecting the diversity of the religion in the city where one in ten resident is Muslim.
For other swearing in events, he used two copies of the Qur’an, his grandfather’s and his grandmother’s, a simple gesture that reveals his embrace of his roots, and of gender equality.
But beyond the symbolism of his complex identity – important as that is in an exceedingly xenophobic country – his politics are what stand out. Mamdani ran on a progressive Democratic Socialist agenda, promising freezes on rent-stabilised apartments, and free public transportation, issues of particular import to New Yorkers.
Campaigning during Israel’s intensified genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, Mamdani repeatedly asserted his pro-Palestine stance, calling for an end to U.S. military support for Israel, and emphasising that what is taking place in Gaza is a violation of human rights and international law.
Nor is his support for Palestine a recent development: as an undergraduate student at Bowdoin College, which he attended from 2010-14, he co-founded that school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that is still active today. While at Bowdoin, Mamdani also wrote a weekly column in the student newspaper, frequently critiquing the school’s administration, and taking aim at the former college president’s criticism of the 2013 boycott by the American Studies Association of Israeli academic institutions, among other issues.
Considering his outspokenness on Palestine, Mamdani’s election proved yet again that Zionism is losing its grip on the country, including among Jews: New York City is home to t
he largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and 33% of New York Jews voted for him. This is a small percentage for a Democratic candidate, but a significant one considering the present times, when many Jews are ill at ease with the global outrage at Israel—a country they still relate to, and identify with.
Yet while Americans are used to the sobering disconnect between campaign promises and actual policy, Mamdani did not dally. On January 1, his first day in office, he reversed every executive order issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, before September 2024. One of these executive orders targeted the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, barring city officials from boycotting or divesting from Israel, and subjecting them to “disciplinary action” should they back such a campaign.
Adams had argued that BDS is antisemitic, and that banning it would protect the city’s Jewish population. But Mamdani was absolutely clear on this issue: while campaigning, he had insisted that he supports BDS as a non-violent movement that puts pressure on Israel to abide by international law, and that banning it stifles free speech.
Mamdani also revoked the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. That definition has long been criticised for its equation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism, especially as seven of the eleven examples of “antisemitism” it cites are actually examples of criticism of Israeli policies.
The IHRA lists, for examples, as a contemporary example of antisemitism, “Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” Here it must be noted that a condemnation of other human rights violators is not required when one criticizes any other country: we can criticize Iran, or Saudi Arabia, for their policies and actions without listing all countries that suppress dissidents. The IHRA definition, then, is asking for exceptional treatment for Israel. But also, there is a presumption that Israel is a “democratic nation,” a qualifier that country itself no longer seeks to project.
Pro-Palestine activists have long been organising to counter the adoption of IHRA by cities and universities nationally, even as Zionist groups keep pushing it. Mamdani’s decisive action on it was therefore a welcome development.
Mamdani also cancelled an Adams order that directed the New York Police Department to take steps towards a ban on protests outside houses of worship.
The new mayor faced his first test with the pro-Palestine community within days of his inauguration, when he criticised pro-Palestine protesters outside a synagogue in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Manhattan that was hosting an event promoting American real estate investment in occupied Palestinian land. The protesters reportedly made pro-Hamas chants, which Mamdani denounced on social media, even as he refrained from criticising the inflammatory remarks made by the pro-Israel protesters.
The pro-Palestine activists have taken him to task on social media, pointing out that Palestinian armed resistance is a right enshrined in international law, whereas the real estate sales promoted at the event were illegal, and asking what other “selling out” he was prepared to do, so as to appease his Zionist constituents.
Those constituents, his foes, have naturally smeared Mamdani as an antisemite. They have foregrounded the fact that he has refused to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada,” pointing instead to its literal meaning as rebellion or uprising, and noting that even the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum used that term when translating official comments on the exhibits from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic.
But let’s be clear about this: there would be nothing wrong with the desire to globalise the intifada, which is a revolt against oppression, against occupation, against injustice. And the reality is, Mamdani’s election does not globalise the intifada, as much as it is a clear indication that the intifada is already global, from Palestine to New York City.
Mamdani’s election, and his decisive actions so far, give Americans reason to believe once again that our vote matters, and that our politicians can and will make a change for the better. Less than two weeks into his mayorship, it is still early to pass a judgment evaluating it.
Given the nature of American politics, Mamdani is bound to feel the pressure to prove Zionists wrong as they accuse him of being antisemitic, rather than critical of Israel. But we, too, must insist on holding him to his proven record of understanding the plight of the Palestinian people, and it is incumbent on us to keep pushing him, and supporting him, as he navigates a very difficult terrain.
Nada Elia is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University, and author of Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine.
Follow her on X: @nadaelia48
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment