Mamdani-backed anti-Israel Democrats win key New York Congressional primaries

New York’s Congressional delegation looks set to include members whose attitude on Israel is at best deeply confused and at worst downright hostile, after three candidates supported by Mayor Zohran Mamdani won Democratic primaries last night.

Darializa Chevalier, a longtime anti-Israel organiser at Columbia University who attended a rally on October 8 2023 which supported the Hamas attack on Israel the previous day, unseated Adriano Espaillat, the leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in the New York 13th Congressional district primary.

Earlier this month, a liberal New York political club released a statement saying that while it normally supported the younger, more progressive candidate, it could not support Chevalier because she “refuses to condemn Hamas or anything about it, its 7 October and hundreds of other murderous assaults on the Israeli people, its execution of its own political dissidents, its theocratic view of government and what a society is, it’s misogyny, its homophobia, its racism.”

The club went on to say that “these statements about Chevalier’s politics are not mere rumour; at our own endorsement meeting, when asked to condemn Hamas and its October 7th attacks, she point-blank refused, turning the question into yet another attack on Israel.”

In New York’s 7th political district, far left socialist Claire Valdez defeated Antonio Reynoso, the candidate endorsed by the retiring Congresswoman for the district, Nydia Velázquez. The campaign effectively became a referendum on who could hate Israel more, with Valdez condemning Reynoso for not having described Israel war against Hamas in Gaza as a “genocide” as early as she had, and falsely accusing him of having received money from AIPAC. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an American pro-Israel lobbying group, has become the bogeyman of a growing US anti-Israel coalition comprising the far-left and a growing percentage of the far right.

After Valdeze tried to link AIPAC to Reynoso because someone who donated money to him had previously donated money to an “AIPAC-affiliated” organisation, the individual in question, Hedge Fund Manager John Petry, addressed her directly.

“You have a habit of treating “AIPAC” as a magic word that explains away every political setback”, he said.

“Lost support? AIPAC. Criticism? AIPAC. Voters disagree? AIPAC. You just suggested that undisclosed funding behind Real Fight NYC was tied to ‘pro-Israel’ interests because I donated to your opponent. It wasn’t… Not every Jewish organization is AIPAC. Not every donor is part of a coordinated plot. And not every candidate who struggles politically is the victim of some grand scheme.

“Yet Claire, you seem determined to flatten every disagreement into the same simplistic story. The irony is that people who claim to oppose exclusion often seem perfectly comfortable treating Jewish participation in politics as uniquely suspect when it becomes politically convenient. You can disagree with Israel. You can criticize AIPAC. What you cannot do is suggest that Jewish donors, Jewish organizations, or people who hold different views should somehow be excluded from the democratic process.”

In New York’s 10th Congressional District, Dan Goldman, a Progressive politician who has been a key Congressional thorn in the side of Donald Trump, was nonetheless defeated in the primary by Brad Lander, the Mamdani-backed candidate. Goldman was targeted for being too pro-Israel and having received backing from AIPAC. Lander, a far-left candidate and Mamdani ally who has previously described himself as a “liberal Zionist” told the New York Times earlier this month that “I feel queasy talking about it, given the antisemitic tropes at play here about Jews and money and power. But I have to.”

Goldman, whose New York Congressional office was vandalised by anti-Israel activists ten days after 7 October, was recently targeted by a coffee shop where he had purchased a drink. Poetica coffee posted a picture of the Congressman in the store, saying “We see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice?”

The store said it had refunded the $9.82 Goldman had spent there, saying “We don’t serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers. Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away.”

On election day, Lander posted a message saying “Over the last few days, the online rhetoric targeting Dan Goldman & his staff have been over-the-top toxic, from right & left & who knows where. I’m pleading with people to turn it down.”

His post received a large number of responses from Jewish New Yorkers, criticising what they saw as his role in helping to create the atmosphere in which Goldman was targeted.

Elsewhere in New York, pro-Israel Democrats Richie Torres and Grace Meng won their primary battles. Mamdani had not endorsed either of their key opponents. And in the 12th Congressional District, pro-Israel Democrat Micah Lasher won the primary to succeed outgoing Congressman Jerry Nadler.