They Said NYC Would Never Elect Him… Then This Happened

Right, so When Zohran Mamdani clinched the Democratic nomination for Mayor of New York City, it wasn’t just a political upset—it was a tectonic shift that sent had the sphincters of Zionist powerbrokers from Manhattan to Tel Aviv clenching in fury. In a city where AIPAC’s money flows freer than subway delays and where supporting Israel has long been considered a bipartisan rite of passage, the rise of a proudly socialist, Muslim, pro-Palestinian candidate with the audacity to say he’d arrest Benjamin Netanyahu is nothing short of revolutionary. Mamdani didn’t just win a primary—he lit a match under the crumbling facade of America’s reflexive support for Israeli apartheid, and he did it from within the very heart of the empire, from arguably the most Zionist place in the US, so if this is what can happen in New York, what we’re seeing here and now might just be the beginning of the Great American Intifada.
Right, so in a result that has stunned pundits, political operatives, and power brokers across the United States, blown the polling of just mre days ago apart, Zohran Mamdani—a Muslim, socialist, and vocal supporter of Palestine—has clinched the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor. His surprise win is much more than just a primary upset though, the scale of what Mamdani has just achieved is immense. It’s a seismic political event that challenges decades of entrenched Zionist influence, neoliberal orthodoxy, and anti-socialist dogma in one of the most symbolically powerful and Zionist cities in the Western world.
New York, with its immense Jewish population—the largest outside of Israel—has long been seen as America’s Zionist bastion. Political candidates across the spectrum have traditionally courted this constituency with unwavering support for the state of Israel and certainly it was down that well worn and tried and tested path that Mamdani’s rival Andrew Cuomo went. Yet Mamdani—a figure who has been quite prepared to call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, who has pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he step foot in New York, and who coined the slogan "globalize the intifada"—now desperately being attempted to be weaponised against him, has emerged as the leading contender to become the city’s next mayor.
Born to an Indian Muslim family in Uganda and raised in Queens, Zohran Mamdani is the son of acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair. His political coming-of-age took place at the intersection of immigrant struggles, anti-racist activism, and pro-Palestinian solidarity. As a college student, he founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and he has long been involved in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement—a global campaign challenging Israeli apartheid and occupation.
In 2018 he became a US citizen and in 2020, he was elected to the New York State Assembly as a member of the Democratic Party and as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), representing Astoria. There, he championed tenant rights, universal healthcare, and transit equity. But what has made him an icon to some and a pariah to others is his unflinching stance on Israel and Palestine. In a much-circulated interview with Mehdi Hasan, Mamdani declared that, as mayor, he would arrest Netanyahu if he ever visited New York:
It is a huge statement, under no obligation to do this as Hasan made clear, the US are not part of the ICC, not signed up to the Rome Statute, but that doesn’t mean they should continue to ignore international law, as Mamdani made clear there, his position seen by many as both a moral stand and a political line in the sand and has cemented his image as a potential radical reformer.
Mamdani’s opponent, Andrew Cuomo—former governor and establishment darling—was lavishly backed by pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and Zionist donors and why wouldn’t he, he was literally part of the legal team that tried to get Netanyahu off that ICC arrest warrant. Cuomo ran on a staunchly pro-Israel platform, betting on New York’s historic allegiance to Zionist politics. Yet despite the deluge of money and endorsements, Cuomo lost, in no small part because Israeli propaganda has collapsed.
Why now? What shifted in the last week as polling shifted Mamdani’s way? Whilst not taking anything away from Mamdani’s campaign, grassroots led, lots of small donations adding up, quite reminiscent of the Corbyn campaign’s here in the UK; in large part, it was because of Israel’s war on Iran. The brutal and unprovoked military offensive started by Israel, widely condemned for serving no interest but Netanyahu’s and all the more so after the US bombed those nuclear sites, it reignited global outrage against Israeli aggression once again, already decimated over their actions in Gaza. In the US, it pushed the limits of even staunchly pro-Israel Democrats. Mamdani’s consistent framing of the war as a genocide and his demand for accountability gave disaffected voters—especially young, progressive, and non-white constituents—a reason to turn out.
In this context, Netanyahu may have himself unwittingly ensured his own exile from New York. A Mamdani mayoral victory, with that promise of arrest, bars the Israeli Prime Minister from, for example, ever addressing the UN General Assembly in person again, as the United Nations headquarters is located in New York City. The symbolic implications are massive: Israel’s most powerful leader could be rendered unwelcome in America’s most Israel-friendly city, no longer as friendly as it once was though clearly.
Predictably, Mamdani has faced an avalanche of criticism. Donald Trump has gone ape, more so than usual, labelling Mamdani a Communist lunatic and mainstream media outlets have amplified accusations that his use of the phrase "globalise the intifada" implies violence against Jews and he has constantly faced questions on this, though you’ll note that Andrew Cuomo has faced none for backing Netanyahu, he was literally part of the legal team that tried to get Netanyahu off the hook for that ICC arrest warrant, that Mamdani it seems might actually choose to uphold. Special mention also for one of the UK’s most ridiculous right wing comic books masquerading as a newspaper, the Daily Mail, publishing a smear of Mamdani as a nepo baby given his mother Mira Nair is a film maker with ties to Hollywood. I’m sorry, have they never heard of Donald Trump and looked into his hideously grotesque life of privilege? They’re in for a helluva shock if they ever look up Fred Trump aren’t they? In reality, "intifada" means uprising or rebellion—a term long used in the Palestinian struggle against occupation. Mamdani has clarified repeatedly that the term, in his usage, is about resisting systems of oppression, from Gaza to the Bronx.
These attacks echo the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, whose solidarity with Palestine was weaponised against him under the guise of antisemitism. As with Corbyn, critics conflate opposition to Israeli policies with hatred of Jewish people—an intellectually dishonest and deeply harmful tactic that undermines the very word antisemitism and makes the world more dangerous for all Jewish people, not just the ones who happen to be Zionist. Mamdani’s record speaks for itself: he has consistently denounced antisemitism while criticising Israeli apartheid. That is entirely legitimate.
Even his family have come under fire as targets for attack to get one up on Mamdani and shows the uphill climb he still has as the establishment comes for him now more than ever. His mother, Mira Nair, has come under fire for being one of the signatories to a 2025 letter calling on the Oscars to bar Gal Gadot—the former Israeli soldier and vocal defender of Israeli policies in Gaza who these days gets paid to try and act. That Mamdani’s familial ties are being used to question his fitness to lead is a testament to how far the establishment is willing to go to suppress voices of dissent, of challenging the establishment.
America has long been allergic to socialism, a legacy of McCarthyism and Cold War propaganda. Even Bernie Sanders, the most successful modern socialist, has had to temper his rhetoric to be electorally viable. Yet Mamdani has embraced democratic socialism unapologetically, calling for public housing, universal healthcare, worker cooperatives, and green jobs. His vision of New York City is one where the working class is empowered, the rich are taxed, and politics serves the many, not the few.
His win is not just a leftist victory; it’s a class victory. New Yorkers—especially renters, gig workers, immigrants, and youth—are tired of neoliberalism’s empty promises. Mamdani offers a bold alternative, and that vision is resonating.
If elected in September, Mamdani would become New York’s first Muslim mayor. In a country where Islamophobia has been normalised in political discourse, treated as a nonsense and where antisemitism is put on a pedestal of falsehoods and where Muslim voices are often marginalised or vilified, this is nothing short of revolutionary. It sends a powerful message to America and the world: Muslims are not just part of the fabric of this country—they can lead it.
This symbolism is particularly potent given New York’s post-9/11 surveillance of Muslim communities, including the notorious NYPD Demographics Unit that spied on mosques and student groups. Mamdani’s win represents a reversal of that narrative now—a shift from suspicion to legitimate leadership.
The Democratic establishment is clearly unnerved. Mamdani’s victory has “rattled” traditional power centres, which see his rise as a threat to the status quo. The fear isn’t just about Israel. It’s about a resurgent left that is pro-labour, anti-corporate, and unafraid to confront America’s foundational myths.
Candidates like Eric Adams, running as an Independent and Curtis Sliwa the Republican are scrambling to appeal to centrist and conservative voters. But in a deep-blue city like New York, Mamdani enters the general election as the favourite. Adams’ administration has been marred by scandals and budget cuts, while Sliwa remains a fringe figure. Mamdani’s clarity, consistency, and courage give him a real shot at victory and real change for New York.
Mamdani’s rise represents the most significant breakthrough for pro-Palestine politics in US history. Until now, unconditional support for Israel has been a bipartisan consensus. That consensus is beginning to crack.
From college campuses to union halls, support for Palestinian rights is growing. In Congress, members like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have opened the door. But Mamdani’s potential mayorship—at the heart of the nation’s media and finance capital—would be a seismic jump.
This is not just about Palestine though. It’s about the emergence of a new American left, one that sees global solidarity as integral to domestic justice. Mamdani’s campaign linked the struggle of Palestinians with that of tenants in Harlem, workers in Queens, and students in the Bronx. His message is clear: our liberation is bound up together.
Mamdani has said that “intifada” is not just for Palestine—it’s for anyone who refuses to be crushed by the weight of oppression. His campaign has become a rallying cry for those who are tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils. It is a call to “choose another way.”
His victory in the Democratic primary is a win for truth over fear, for solidarity over tribalism, for justice over profit. It is a declaration that the old playbook—fear-mongering, smear campaigns, and billionaire-funded politics—can be beaten.
In September, New Yorkers will decide whether to continue down the well-worn path of compromise and corruption, or whether to choose change. They’ve got a real opportunity here which comes so rarely in American politics, they need to take it.
Meanwhile, where it comes to that conflict between Israel and Iran, Donald Trump, ever the establishment figure sought to crush the Iranian nuclear project and he’s failed, though he is of course still throwing his toys out of the pram at anyone who says otherwise, but just as Mamdani’s democratic socialism and pro-Palestinianism are on the rise, his actions have had real and possibly terminal consequences. Get all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch.
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