On Tuesday, Democratic New Yorkers went to the polls and elected a democratic socialist as their candidate for the November general election for mayor. Zohran Mamdani’s wide margin of victory—and the decisive defeat of Andrew Cuomo—shocked the political establishment and upended assumptions about who can win an election. In particular, Mamdani’s refusal to back away from his record as an unabashed pro-Palestine candidate proved that vocal opposition to Israel’s destruction of Gaza is not necessarily a political death knell, and in fact may be a political asset in some contexts.

Jewish Currents staffers Peter Beinart, Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, and Alex Kane gathered in the immediate aftermath of the election to discuss Mamdani’s victory and what it might mean for the issue of Israel in US electoral politics and the New York City Jewish vote. We discussed the Jewish reaction to the win, how Mamdani spoke about Palestine on the campaign trail, what his success means for pro-Israel groups that focus on electoral politics, and the role that City Comptroller Brad Lander and groups like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice played in the election.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles and Videos Mentioned

“The Most Detailed Map of the N.Y.C. Mayoral Primary,” Martín González Gómez, Saurabh Datar, Matthew Bloch, Andrew Fischer and Jon Huang, The New York Times

“What Zohran’s Victory Means,” Peter Beinart, The Beinart Notebook

“Zohran Mamdani’s Moral Stand,” Jewish Currents

“Colbert Talks NYC Mayoral Race With Candidates Zohran Mamdani & Brad Lander,” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interview, Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, PBS

“States Don’t Have a Right to Exist. People Do,” Peter Beinart, The New York Times

“Escape from New York: Business Leaders Say They’ll Flee If Mamdani Wins,” Olivia Reingold, The Free Press

X post from Republican Jewish Coalition

X post from Betar

X post from Blake Flayton

X post from Jacob Kornbluh

“Why Are Progressive Legislators Opposing New York’s First Anti-Settlement Bill?,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

On Friday, June 13th, just days before the sixth scheduled round of US–Iran talks over the country's nuclear energy program, Israel carried out a series of punishing airstrikes in many different parts of Iran. The bombings were unprecedented in targeting Iran’s nuclear energy infrastructure, and have since expanded to target Iranian state television, the energy industry, and high-rise apartment buildings. Israel’s bombing campaign has so far killed over 240 people, and has scuttled US–Iran nuclear diplomacy—at least for now. In response, Iran has launched drones and missiles at Israel, killing over 20 Israelis. Now, the escalating conflict, which has prompted thousands of Iranians to flee their homes and brought Israelis into bomb shelters, threatens to grow even deadlier as news outlets report that the Trump administration is weighing a US strike on Iran.

In this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane assesses Israel’s war with Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, and Ellie Geranmayeh, the Deputy Director for the European Council on Foreign Relation’s Middle East and North Africa program. They discuss the Trump administration’s position on the conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war goals, and where the region might be heading in the wake of this bombing campaign.

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading

“Israel Built Its Case for War With Iran on New Intelligence. The U.S. Didn’t Buy It,” Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman, and Dustin Volz, The Wall Street Journal

“How Trump Shifted on Iran Under Pressure From Israel,” Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Mark Mazzetti, and Ronen Bergman, The New York Times

“America First or Israel First? Will Trump Join Netanyahu's War on Iran?” Daniel Levy, Zeteo

“Europe must act now to prevent a major war between Israel and Iran,” Ellie Geranmayeh, European Council on Foreign Relations

“Unpacking the Rift Between Trump and Netanyahu,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

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This episode of On the Nose comes from a live Zoom conversation between associate editor Mari Cohen and Rabbi Andrue Kahn in February, in which they discussed the anti-nationalist tradition of the American Reform movement and the American Council for Judaism (ACJ), the anti-Zionist organization created by Reform rabbis in 1942. Kahn, the executive director of a newly revived ACJ, answers questions about the Reform movement’s roots in German Jewish emancipation, its attempts to offer a religious paradigm appealing to American Jews, and why early leaders eschewed Zionism. They also discuss early Reform anti-Zionists’ racial politics, how some ACJ leaders developed a concern for Palestinian rights, and what a revived ACJ might offer American Jews today, in a world where official Reform Judaism has long been Zionist.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned

“The Pittsburgh Platform”

“The Columbus Platform”

“Declaration Adopted by the Biltmore Conference”

“Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the American Racial Order,” Matthew Berkman, American Jewish History

Our Palestine Question by Geoffrey Levin

The Threshold of Dissent by Marjorie Feld

“A Conversation with Professor Matt Berkman,” American Council for Judaism

“A Reconstructionist Reckoning,” Shane Burley, Jewish Currents