With his decision to boycott Sunday’s Israel Day parade, Mayor Mamdani has crossed a point of no return.
Coming after his relentless criticism of Israel and recent embrace of the historically- inaccurate Palestinian version of the Jewish state’s creation, he is setting a dangerous new low at City Hall.
As the first mayor in six decades to skip the iconic parade, his pattern of behavior reeks of antisemitism.
He singles out Israel for vile attacks while otherwise steering clear of most international matters.
He has said he would not visit Israel and pledges to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in New York, citing a warrant by the International Criminal Court that accuses him of war- crimes in Gaza.
But the US does not recognize the ICC, so Mamdani’s threat appears to be BUBBA bait for his amen corner of antisemites rather than a real promise he can keep.
He has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, without a mention of Hamas’ terrorist attacks.
He supports the boycott of Israeli goods and divestment of stocks and bonds related to the nation and its leading companies.
Badge of dishonor
Yet he refuses to condemn the “Globalize the Intifada” chant, or another one, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Both inherently call for the elimination of Israel, and Mamdani’s refusal to acknowledge that is pathetic.
In a 2025 interview, he said of both phrases, “To me, what I hear from so many, is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”
His relentless double- standard fits a classic definition of Jew-hatred.
Consider that not a word passes from his lips about the slaughter of Christians in Africa by Muslims, nor has he condemned the Iranian government for gunning down tens of thousands of its own citizens for daring to protest a collapsing economy and water shortages.
It’s bad enough that, since its birth, Israel has been savagely attacked by a rotating cast of its neighbors, all of whom at one time or another vowed to wipe it off the map.
But to be called illegitimate by the mayor of the city with the world’s largest Jewish population is a declaration of a different kind of war.
Mamdani’s decision to skip the parade is especially noteworthy because he is New York’s first Muslim mayor.
His refusal to at least make an appearance feels as if he is drawing a line in the sand.
As such, he has dashed any reason to hope the oath he took and the responsibility he bears to represent all New Yorkers would lead him to mitigate his bigotry, or at least try to hide it.
Instead, he brandishes his hate as if it were a badge of honor.
Tragically, to some of his warped followers, it is just that.
As the mayor himself put it last week, “I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear.”
In other words, because he is keeping a campaign promise, his boycott is a virtue and any criticism of his decision is misguided.
At the same time, he stressed that the safety of parade goers was the top priority at City Hall, and his absence would not change that.
“I don’t believe that my presence as the mayor should determine whether or not a New Yorker is safe or secure,” Mamdani said.
That’s the job of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish.
She said, while standing beside Mamdani at a public event, “It’s the mayor’s decision not to march, and it’s my decision to march proudly.”
Bravo for her.
Although the mayor said as a candidate that he would skip some of the city’s major parades, this is the first one.
He participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and it’s hard to imagine him skipping the Puerto Rican Day parade or the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.
Backing a radical
The mayor’s naked effort to elide obvious contradictions and act as if he can always have it both ways is turning out to be a feature of his mayoralty.
He attacks and mocks the wealthy in public and vows to soak them with high taxes, while in private meetings he is said to be well-behaved as he urges them to stay in the city and contribute to its well-being.
The built-in incoherence of his leadership is on display again with his latest endorsement in a congressional race.
Although he had promised to back five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, whose district includes upper Manhattan and parts of The Bronx, the mayor suddenly switched sides last week and threw his support behind a radical primary challenger.
The choice is Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old comrade of Mamdani’s in the Democrat Socialists of America, who is running as a Dem.
Naturally, Mamdani’s backing came with exaggerated attacks on Israel, again accusing it of genocide, and on President Trump’s immigration enforcement.
“She has been with New Yorkers on the hardest days of their lives, been arrested protesting our government’s funding of genocide, and helped reunite families separated by ICE,” the mayor said of his candidate.
He also conjured up the bogeymen of “dark money and special interest groups” supporting Espaillat.
As the Post reports, Avila Chevalier’s digital posting is full of attacks on cops, mainstream Dems and America–, which she called “a f––king disgrace.”
She called Joe Biden a “rapist” and “war criminal” during the 2020 election.
She mocked Hillary Clinton, accused Sen. Bernie Sanders’ of pushing “liberal Zionism,” posted “f—–k Kamala Harris” and even slapped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for once voting “present” on Israeli military funding instead of no.
If she’s elected, Mamdani’s pick promises to push to abolish prisons, legalize prostitution and end all military support for Israel.
‘At-risk community’
That’s the company he keeps and it’s why his decision to skip the parade is correctly and widely seen as much more important than a mere symbolic gesture. t.
“You are the first mayor in the history of New York City — home to the largest Jewish diaspora community in the world — to refuse to participate in this parade because you fundamentally reject Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state,” said Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA Federation, in an open letter to Mamdani.
He correctly noted that the mayor’s refusal to join the parade is not a criticism of any Israeli government or a policy decision, “but is rooted in a refusal to acknowledge the right of the Jewish people to self-determination.”
He also cited what he called a “pattern of demonizing anti-Israel rhetoric and actions that continue to place the Jewish community of New York at risk.”
Tragic, and true.
