An Open Letter to the Jews of New York

The NYC mayoral candidate’s constant condemnations of Israel are not merely dog whistles for Jew-haters but clarion calls to action

By Michael Oren

Though I have not lived in New York for many years, I have close family and friends there, and visit it regularly. And while I never interfere in internal American politics, I care far too much about New York, Israel, and the Jewish people to remain silent. For all three, the stakes are alarmingly high.

To the 42% of New York Jews who, according to the most recent polls, are planning to vote for this candidate, I implore you to think clearly and deeply before you do

Soon, my friends, you will have the opportunity and the duty to vote for the mayor of your extraordinary city. The frontrunner in the race is a thirty-four-year-old Socialist, a former housing counselor, hip-hop musician, and state assemblyman who has never run a business, headed a school, or left a serious legislative legacy. He offers to provide free public transportation, a city-wide rent freeze, and discount groceries without explaining how such handouts will be financed.

Yet it is not his qualifications for office or the policies he promises to pursue that I wish to question here. Rather, it is his quality as a human being. I want to urge you to think clearly and deeply about what this person’s candidacy means for you as a Jew and for the Jewish people everywhere.

The candidate insists that, of the 195 states in the world, only one has no right to exist.

The state which the candidate wishes never existed has never known a second of non-democratic governance. Its leader is democratically elected yet the candidate has repeatedly pledged to arrest that leader should he ever set foot in New York. Presumably, the candidate would not arrest the visiting leaders of Russia, North Korea, China, or Iran. Those of Cuba, Venezuela, and Colombia—anti-American Socialists—he would likely embrace. But the prime minister of the Middle East’s only democracy could conceivably, if the candidate is elected, be remanded to Rikers Island.

Repeatedly, unabashedly, the candidate has refused to rule out the possibility of destroying that state in a new “intifada.” Previous intifadas were carried out by terrorists who murdered many hundreds of that state’s innocent civilians.

The state is, of course, Israel, the world’s only Jewish state. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, singling out Israel and holding it to standards different from those of other democracies is, by definition, antisemitic. Singling out its leader for arrest is, by definition, antisemitic. Calling for our violent destruction by U.S.-designated terrorist organizations is simply criminal.

Yes, the candidate is young, charismatic, and brimming with new ideas. So, too, are many of the Jew-hating influencers followed by millions. There can be no obscuring the fact that the candidate wants to see my state, my family, and the home of the world’s largest Jewish community erased from the map. And clearly the candidate would not care if that erasure were accomplished with violence.

The candidate’s vicious positions on Israel come after the two years in which the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism has virtually disappeared. In that time, New York Jews have been threatened almost daily by the haters of both the Jewish people and the Jewish state. For them, the candidate’s constant condemnations of Israel are not merely dog whistles but clarion calls to action.

To the 42% of New York Jews who, according to the most recent polls, are planning to vote for this candidate, I implore you to think clearly and deeply before you do. Consider what this candidate’s victory would mean for your family, for your children and grandchildren. Think what it would mean if the mayor of America’s largest Jewish community calls for the disappearance of the world’s largest Jewish community. The person who denies our right to defend ourselves and our right to exist may well end up opposing your right to self-defense and your ability to live peacefully and securely in the magnificent city you call home.