There have been a lot of discussions in the last several weeks around the idea of First Amendment rights, especially pertaining to speech. And on that front, New York City’s new Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani has shown a deeply troubling double standard.
Mamdani is always quick to condemn speech he deems offensive, accusing other campaigns of “incitement,” yet refuses to disavow rhetoric targeting Jews who don’t subscribe to his ideology. He continues to refuse to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” while claiming to want to represent all New Yorkers, including Jewish New Yorkers who disagree with his vehement anti-Israel posturing. This is disingenuous at best, especially considering his long history of public condemnation of hate speech against other communities, and rightfully so.
New York’s Jewish community is not monolithic, and as we saw in the results of the June 24 mayoral primary, there are thousands of New Yorkers, Jews included, who strongly support Zohran Mamdani. But even when taking their glowing appraisals of his potential for inspiring leadership and change in the city into account, in his own victory speech he made it very clear that he will not moderate his position on anything. That includes his continued refusal to condemn antisemitic slogans like “globalize the intifada,” which he now claims would mean he would be “policing language” and is not a job for the mayor.
Mamdani’s refusal to condemn or find fault with hateful slogans publicly directed at Jews reveals a selective morality. As much as I support the First Amendment protecting anyone’s right to say something truly hateful, it doesn’t excuse leaders from their responsibility to condemn it. We have spent years acknowledging the connection between hostile rhetoric and incitement against minority groups. While it is protected speech, it’s up to our leaders to condemn such speech. There is no exception to this rule for Jews.
