Two years ago, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani sponsored a bill that would strip away the tax-exempt status of local charities with ties to Israeli settler groups that forcefully occupy the Palestinian West Bank.
When the effort went nowhere, he pushed a revised version of the bill, known as the “Not On Our Dime” Act, the following year. It failed as well.
Now, with Mr. Mamdani considered the front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, he may soon be in a position to use his power to hold Israel accountable for its treatment of Palestinians. He has called its actions in Gaza a genocide.
His views of Israel could influence the people he appoints to boards running city entities; how he oversees the Police Department’s response to anti-Israel protests; and whether he calls for the city to boycott companies that have interests in the country.
His campaign aides say Mr. Mamdani should not be held as a mayor to the positions he espoused as a legislator.
But Mr. Mamdani has already said he would order the New York Police Department to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, if he visits, despite legal experts saying it could be a practical impossibility, and that it might violate federal law.
Mr. Mamdani would have some oversight over how New York City invests the pension funds of city workers, which total about $300 billion. In college, Mr. Mamdani was at the forefront of the broader Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement and continued to back the strategy as a legislator.
One form of this is pushing for disinvestment from companies and pension funds that work in Israel. Mr. Mamdani, who will either sit on or appoint members to the committee managing the funds, said in a recent interview that “we should not have a fund that is invested in violation of international law.”
Instead, he said, he would support continuing the policies of Brad Lander, the outgoing comptroller who chose not to repurchase State of Israel bonds that had matured. (The fund, according to news reports, is still investing about $300 million in Israeli companies and real estate.)
Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president who is heavily favored to win the Nov. 4 election for comptroller, said that if elected, he intends to resume the city’s history of investing in Israel bonds, setting up what would likely be a conflict with Mr. Mamdani.
Scott Stringer, the former city comptroller, said that the way Mr. Mamdani handles the disinvestment issue will be an early indication of whether he intends to transform his high-minded talk into policy.
“He will be tested on these issues, as he should be,” said Mr. Stringer, who lost to Mr. Mamdani in the primary. “I’m hoping, if in fact Mamdani wins, that a lot of the rhetoric he has used in the past will be no more. I hope we become a city that does not ‘B.D.S.’ Israel. You have to govern for everyone.”
Since losing to Mr. Mamdani in June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sought to capitalize on the ambivalence of some Jewish voters toward him, arguing that he poses a threat to the city’s Jewish community. This includes calling Mr. Mamdani a “terrorist sympathizer” and proclaiming that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Mr. Mamdani has strenuously rejected accusations that he is antisemitic, and has spoken frequently about expanding the city’s efforts to protect Jewish New Yorkers and combat antisemitism if he is elected.
He also now says that he would discourage use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which some view as a call for violence against Jews. Earlier this year, Mr. Mamdani had declined to condemn the phrase; he later said it was not his job to police other people’s language.
Other recently revisited remarks by Mr. Mamdani have been criticized by defenders of Israel.
Speaking at the Democratic Socialists of America’s convention in 2023, Mr. Mamdani was asked how to effectively tie local politics to international movements.
“We have to make them hyperlocal,” he said then. “We have to make clear that when the boot of the N.Y.P.D. is on your neck, it’s been laced by the I.D.F.,” he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces’ training exercises with the N.Y.P.D., which cause him concern.
That theory animated Mr. Mamdani’s work in Albany, where, in 2024, he introduced a revised version of the “Not on Our Dime” bill, saying he observed a renewed awareness about the “urgency of Palestinian human rights, and we have to propose and advocate for legislation that reflects public sentiment.”
Some colleagues deemed the bill a “ploy to demonize Jewish charities with connections to Israel.” Others said the limited focus on Israeli settlements ran counter to Mr. Mamdani’s vision of universal human rights.
“I view with suspicion bills that are written to target one specific country when they could easily be written broadly to apply to a problem,” said State Assemblyman Alex Bores, who opposed the legislation but endorsed Mr. Mamdani. Despite their disagreement, they worked closely on several other policy initiatives, including a free bus pilot effort that Mr. Mamdani has cited in his proposal to make city buses free.
Soon after winning his Assembly seat, Mr. Mamdani also called for a boycott of the Roosevelt Island campus of Cornell University and its partner, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, because of the Israeli university’s ties to its military. The school partnership was selected by government officials to build a campus on city-owned land, and given upward of $100 million in incentives.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani said that he would assess Cornell’s partnership with the Israeli educational institution if he became mayor.
If elected mayor, Mr. Mamdani would be empowered to nominate members to the board of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, allowing him to place people aligned with his views opposing Israel if he chooses.
Mr. Mamdani has also told Bloomberg News that he would end the New York City-Israel Economic Council, which Mayor Eric Adams established to “strengthen economic ties and promote innovation between the two governments.”
State Senator Jabari Brisport, Mr. Mamdani’s close friend and co-sponsor of the “Not On Our Dime” Act, said that in Albany, “support for Israel is like oxygen: It’s everywhere.” He said he expected Mr. Mamdani to find ways to support the B.D.S. movement as mayor of New York City.
“He is someone who has always cared about this issue and stuck to his morals.”
Mr. Brisport added that it will be important for Mr. Mamdani to continue highlighting his objections with the Israeli government, no matter how contentious that becomes.
“It’s important for him to do so. I kind of hope people do bring it up,” he said. “Pro-Palestine people are winning on messaging. The conversations will continue to happen. I think it will play in his favor.”
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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