Mamdani and His Jewish Supporters

Jewish Naïveté in the Age of Mamdani

My apologies to my Jewish brethren. But, to those who voted for socialist Zohran Mamdani this is unfortunately an exercise in deep self-deception.

First of all, Jewish naïveté didn’t begin on New York’s election night. No. Jews have been in the forefront of many campaigns for social and revolutionary change, only later to shockingly face betrayal by the very movements they helped to foster.

As many readers know, I started my Substack column looking at history, particularly American New Left history. I once was an avowed Marxist and was a roommate with Chicago 7 defendant Rennie Davis.

As might be expected, I personally met and collaborated with many so-called “revolutionary” New Left leaders in the 1970’s from Abbie Hoffman to Jerry Rubin. I was an idealistic romantic about the many benefits of socialism. And I’m Jewish.

History is replete with Jews who were naïve about socialism and socialist ideas.

One of the biggest Jewish leaders who embraced the Leninist Soviet dictatorship is a long-forgotten Jew named Grigori Zinoviev. That’s how he was publicly known. But his original name was Hirsh Apfelbaum. He was a Jew.

Zinoviev became one of the biggest global salesmen for communism after Vladimir Lenin appointed him as the President of the Soviet COMINTERN, known as the Communist International. He traveled to Europe and the United States to propagandize about the wonders of socialism. He also served as one of the troika with Joseph Stalin in governing the Soviet Union.

Zinoviev foolishly thought he was advancing the socialist revolution for the Russian working class. But after decades of being a loyal and an enthusiastic communist, Stalin prosecuted Zinoviev. He sent the Jewish leader before one of his despicable “Show Trials.”

Then in 1936 he sent Zinoviev – or Apfelbaum - before a firing squad. Despite claiming his innocence, he was executed in August of that year.

As the moderate Jewish organization Aish noted about Zinoviev in a 2024 article titled, “For Jewish Anti-Semites, A Cautionary History Lesson: “Yet, for all of his devotion to the cause and his role in giving Stalin the leadership position, his idealism would reveal itself to be naive. At the end of the day, as far as the enemies of the Jews were concerned, a Jew is a Jew.”

Aish further observed that, “As far as his fellow Jews, Zinoviev did not use his influence to help them. He spent his life building the regime that would utterly destroy the Soviet Jewish community.”

Zinoviev, like many of today’s progressive Jews, turned his backs on Judaism. He really didn’t care about his religion or about the Jewish people living in the Soviet Union. Today, many of the Jewish-born pro-Mamdani supporters also elevate their progressive socialist ideas over their affinity toward Judaism. Many also reject Israel outright.

According to exit polls, one out of three New York Jews were ecstatic about Mamdani and voted for him. They did so even though Mamdani is openly anti-Israel, has embraced many antisemitic tropes, along with dogmatic Islamic edicts.

As the Jewish Telegraph Agency excitedly reported on election night from the “Jews for Zohran” rally at the Brooklyn Paramount:

“Present at the rally were many of the Jews who make up left-wing organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, whose endorsements and campaigning under the Jews for Zohran mantle became a driving force behind the democratic socialist’s support.

“This is an amazing night for Jews for Zohran and Jewish New Yorkers,” said Carlyn Cowen, co-chair of JFREJ’s board, in an interview. “This is an amazing night for everyone who has been fighting for our democracy, for housing, for childcare, for the entire vision of Zohran’s campaign, which is joy and love. Incredible.”

New York’s pro-Mamdani Jews sincerely believe his campaign is all about democracy, housing affordability, free childcare, and love. They do believe it, but Jewish political naïveté is, well, legendary.

Although columnist Matt Tabbai did not specifically identify Jewish voters in his post-election critique, he insightfully observed that for those who have lived under the brutality and deception of state-organized communism, they have seen this dreadful movie before.

Tabbai writes: “To people who grew up behind the Iron Curtain, Mamdani is an immediately recognizable type, a disciple of the Leninist school of agitation that teaches effortless insincerity as a necessary means to reaching power.”

Buckle Up, America. The Zohran Era is Here

In fact, all the Twentieth-Century’s Marxist “socialist” revolutions initially began as “reformist” movements that solely argued for justice, fairness and sometimes, for love.

But eventually these campaigns adopted the repressive organizing principles from the Marxist-Leninist school. The models include the “socialist” regimes of the Soviet Union, most of its Eastern European satellites, China, Cuba, Cambodia, North Korea, Myanmar and Venezuela.

Decades before the collapse of the South Vietnamese government, the National Liberation Front (known as the Vietcong) claimed they were only in favor of equality and freedom.

But nearly two million Vietnamese fled the country after Saigon’s collapse and became the infamous “boat people.”

About a half million are believed to have drowned to escape communism.

Others who could not escape were sent by the Vietnamese communists to brutal “re-education camps.”

The self-deception of American socialists continues. At the Democratic Socialist of America conference this year in Chicago, the DSA warmly embraced “socialist” Cuba, which is regarded as one of the toughest totalitarian regimes on the planet.

Mike Saridakis, a DSA Boston delegate wrote, “DSA proudly and enthusiastically recommitted to its support and solidarity with the people of Cuba and the revolutionary, socialist path they have chosen. Cuban deputy foreign affairs minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez received a standing ovation during his recorded remarks.”

Of course, this illustrates the DSA’s delusional world view.

For a reality check, let’s go to a Human Rights Watch report that informed the Free World of the despicable mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators in Cuba just four years ago: “The Cuban government has systematically engaged in arbitrary detention, ill-treatment of detainees, and abuse-ridden criminal prosecutions in response to overwhelmingly peaceful anti-government protests in July 2021,” they reported.

They further informed the Free World that, “thousands of Cubans took to the streets across the country in landmark demonstrations protesting longstanding restrictions on rights, scarcity of food and medicines, and the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Cuban authorities responded by arresting hundreds of protesters and bystanders, including well-known critics and ordinary citizens. Officers routinely subjected many of them to brutal abuses, including gender-based violence, in detention, and prosecuted dozens in trials that violated basic due process guarantees. At least one protester died. Hundreds remain in prison or under house arrest, including some children under age 18.”

So much for the freedom-loving Cuban revolution! Or for that matter, for the many of the totalitarian “socialist” societies the DSA embraces.

New York’s pro-Mamdani progressive Jews also have many fellow activists from the past to serve as examples. Jews were in the forefront of the 1970’s New Left movement. In addition to Abbie and Jerry, there were other Jewish leaders such as Tod Gitlin, Gloria Steinim and Mark Rudd .

Among the New Left’s theorists, many were Jews including Saul Alinsky, Paul Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Herbert Marcuse.

In Europe, some of the most recognizable names who advanced communist theory were Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg and Emma Goldman. All were Jewish.

In today’s world, despite the Hamas brutal October 7 massacre, many progressive Jews have rejected Israel and joined organizations that demonize the Jewish state. And some even embrace radical Palestinian organizations that are dedicated to destroying the Jewish state.

However, all isn’t lost. While one out of three Jews voted for Mamdani, two out of three didn’t. So, the New York Jewish community wasn’t totally hoodwinked.

Unfortunately, too many Jews are blinding themselves as they join movements that extol and promote Jewish hatred. They are happy now to organize in the name of socialism.

But see how happy they are in the end.