Hochul sides with Mamdani, Cuomo scolds Israel on war, Adams vows not to quit race

Jewish voters were on the losing end of New York City politics this week on at least three fronts:

•Apparently fearful of being primaried from her party’s left in next year’s gubernatorial election, Gov. Kathy Hochel endorsed its anti-Israel mayoral nominee, Zorhan Mamdani.

•Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, long a full-throated supporter of Israel and its Gaza war, softened his stiff posture and criticized the Jewish state, urging that it end its campaign against Hamas.

•Mayor Eric Adams, the Democratic incumbent running for re-election as an independent, found himself at the bottom of several polls, lagging far behind Mamdani as well as Cuomo and the improbable Republican choice, Curtis Sliwa. Adams, a solid supporter of Israel and the city’s embattled Jewish communities, discounted the polls during an interview with The Jewish Star and said he would stay in the race.

Hochul’s endorsement

Hochul’s endorsement came late Sunday evening in an online-only New York Times op-ed that referenced her and Mamdani not seeing “eye to eye on everything” but dodging specifics.

She did not mention Mamdani’s refusals to endorse the existence of Israel as a Jewish state or to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada”; his frequently repeated support for the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions Movement; and his pledge to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli leader visits New York, saying only that “we discussed the need to combat the rise of antisemitism urgently and unequivocally.”

Hochul added, “I’ve been glad to see him meet with Jewish leaders across the city, listening and addressing their concerns directly. I look forward to working together to make sure New Yorkers of all faiths feel safe and welcome in New York City.”

Regarding Mamdani’s potential impact on the city’s economy as a self-declared socialist, Hochul said that she “emphasized to him my belief in keeping and attracting businesses so that New York remains the center of the global economy and we create even more good-paying jobs for our residents,” but did not say how Mamdani responded.

“I didn’t leave my conversations with Mr. Mamdani aligned with him on every issue,” she said. “New York needs leaders who will put aside differences, stand up and fight back against Mr. Trump.

“Mr. Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda. … Anyone who accepts his tainted influence or benefits from it is compromised from the start.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with Bloomberg News, Mamdani reiterated his support for BDS and said that if elected he would stop using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which was embraced by the Biden administration and recognized in New York City through through an executive order signed last June by Mayor Adams.

Cuomo’s daylight

Former Gov. Cuomo, who has defended Israel’s war in Gaza and also confronted fellow Democrats who did not, allowed some daylight to slip between him and Israel during a New York Times interview on Monday.

He told the Times that “there is no doubt that the people of New York and the nation see the continued carnage that is happening and are deeply, deeply disturbed and want it over, and believe it has gone on way too long.”

Cuomo added:

“It should end today. Return the hostages, end the violence. Today. I think it should have been over months ago. It is horrific.”

Putting Cuomo’s coments in context, the Times said this:

“Many Democrats, especially the front-runner in the mayoral race, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, have offered far harsher criticisms of Israel and its leader two years into the war in Gaza” but Cuomo’s comments are “notable because they marked one of the first times he has been willing to question the war effort at all, in the face of pressure from Mr. Mamdani and from voters who increasingly embrace the assemblyman’s position on the conflict.”

The Times recalled that after “Cuomo appeared to criticize Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza back in August, he rushed to clarify his remarks, saying he had merely been representing the views of some, and that he did not hold Israel solely responsible for the starvation spreading throughout the enclave.”

The Times added that Cuomo, “a moderate, has spent much of the campaign attacking Mr. Mamdani’s views on the war, suggesting that his pro-Palestinian stances and criticism of the Israeli government were feeding antisemitism in New York City, which is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel.”

Responding to questions from a group of reporters after the Times article was published, Cuomo described himself as “a proud supporter of Israel,” but said that “the situation is horrific, the carnage is horrific, I pray for an end to the violence, I pray for the hostages to be returned, and Hamas has to be eliminated,” reported Jacob Kornbluth, The Forward’s senior political reporter.”

Ackman’s with Cuomo

New York hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman said on Sunday at the University of Haifa  that Cuomo has a “more than 50% chance” of winning the election in a head–to-head race against Mamdani.

He predicted that Adams will pull out of the race in the coming week, while Republican Sliwa is likely to follow him out.

The latest polls give Cuomo a theoretical path to victory, but only in a two-way race against Mamdani.

“He’s never run anything,” Ackman said of Mamdani, according to a JNS report. “He was a rapper, but not a successful one.”

He said the assemblyman benefited from a weak field of candidates and being a good speaker.

Ackman has been a staunch supporter of the Jewish state in the nearly two-year-old war against Hamas and a leading voice against antisemitism on US college campuses, including his alma mater, Harvard.

On Friday, President Donald Trump said Mamdani appeared headed to victory.

“I call him my little communist, he’s my little communist mayor,” Trump said on Fox & Friends.