The Vilification of Zohran Mamdani–and Why He's Right About Israel's Genocide

It says a lot about how corrupted U.S. politics have become that so many elected leaders, Republicans and Democrats, are more enraged about the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City's opposition to the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza than they are about Israeli policy itself. And U.S. complicity with it.

That contradiction became especially apparent in recent days when the bloviating about Zohan Mamdani's alleged antisemitism for criticism of Israel has garnered more attention than a shocking report in an Israeli publication, Haaretz, that Israeli soldiers are "ordered to shoot deliberately at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid."

The backdrop is an environment in which leaders of both parties for nearly two years have exploited campus protests against Israeli war crimes by weaponizing antisemitism to blunt widespread criticism of U.S. arms sales and other support for Israel's war.

At the same time, many Jews, especially younger ones, strongly supported Mamdani, for both his progressive program to address an affordability crisis in New York City as well as breaking ranks with Israeli apologists.

Hoping to scoring national electoral talking points against all Democrats, GOP politicians predictably rushed to label Mamdani as a "raging antisemite Communist" in the words of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). Far-right Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) even called for him to be "subject to denaturalization proceedings" and deported.

Some Democrats also jumped on the fear mongering Islamophobia bandwagon, with several notable leaders failing to endorse the nominee of their own party. New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand falsely claimed Mamdani was condoning "global jihad."

What has Mamdani actually said that prompts such panic? He responded to the outbreak of the Gaza war by rightly noting "a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid" and called for equal rights for all religious and ethnic groups in Israel. Mamdani's most vociferous critics fail to note he has repeatedly and emphatically also condemned antisemitism and branded Hamas' October 7 attacks as "horrific war crimes."

At the same time, many Jews, especially younger ones, strongly supported Mamdani, for both his progressive program to address an affordability crisis in New York City as well as breaking ranks with Israeli apologists like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. As Christi Olson noted on Twitter "Mamdani swept the most Jewish neighborhoods on Earth outside of Israel."

Mamdani's apt depiction of Israel's policy in Gaza as a "genocide"—that has infuriated those unwilling to accept that term—which has been increasingly apparent in recent days. While official death counts of Palestinians in Gaza are at an alarming 56,500 and counting, it has been reported that since the start of the war the population of Gaza has plummeted from 2.2 million to 1.8 million, reinforcing the likelihood that the official death count is a massive undercount.

Israeli Troops "Ordered to Shoot"

Following the collapse of a temporary cease-fire in February, Israel imposed a blockade of food that led to a famine—with the cost of civilian lives, including children. Israel was finally forced by international pressure to begin to allow dribs of aid into Gaza.

But that has been followed by repeated incidents of Israeli troops killing starving people walking long distances to get food at a small handful of aid sites. These are the stations operated by private security contractors (the untested, so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF) working for a U.S. contractor with the oversight of Israeli soldiers that Israel and the U.S. accepted after banning far more experienced United Nations aid relief workers.

At least 410 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military, the U.N. human rights office has reported.

If American readers doubted that Israel was deliberately shooting starving, desperate people, Haaretz lifted the veil.

The death toll is more easily understood with the Haaretz bombshell expose June 27. It opens with a chilling revelation. "Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the past month."

That's quite a contrast with most of the U.S. media silence. When The New York Times finally provided front page coverage June 26, they carefully avoided blaming Israel. The headline read: "The Lethal Risk of Seeking Food in Gaza," as if the hundreds were dying of heat stroke or food poisoning, merely noting the "life-risking endeavor for Palestinians." It took eight paragraphs to get to Israeli troops "opened fire on the approaches to the new aid hubs" which they described merely as "warning shots."

Only farther down did the Times add that "France on Tuesday condemned what it said was Israeli gunfire at civilians gathered around an aid distribution point in Gaza, saying it had left dozens of dead and wounded."

If American readers doubted that Israel was deliberately shooting starving, desperate people, Haaretz lifted the veil.

"Conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat," Haaretz reported.

That was just the opening:

"It's a killing field," one soldier said. "Where I was stationed, between 1 and 5 people were killed every day. They're treated like a hostile force—no crowd-control measures, no tear gas—just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars."

"We open fire early in the morning if someone tries to get in line from a few hundred meters away, and sometimes we just charge at them from close range. But there's no danger to the forces." According to him, "I'm not aware of a single instance of return fire. There's no enemy, no weapons." He also said the activity in his area of service is referred to as Operation Salted Fish—the name of the Israeli version of the children's game "Red light, green light."

Haaretz is a left of center publication that is repeatedly threatened by the Netanyahu government. But it has not been daunted and continues to report what most Americans never read in major U.S. media. And the recent Netanyahu and Trump attacks on Iran have only further hidden the daily death toll.

"IDF officers told Haaretz that the army does not allow the public in Israel or abroad to see footage of what takes place around the food distribution sites. According to them, the army is satisfied that the GHF's operations have prevented a total collapse of international legitimacy for continuing the war. They believe the IDF has managed to turn Gaza into a "backyard," especially since the war with Iran began."

"Gaza doesn't interest anyone anymore," a reservist told Haaretz. "It's become a place with its own set of rules. The loss of human life means nothing."

It means something to Zohran Mamdani, and to far too few other U.S. politicians who have the courage to say it out loud. And it should mean something to the rest of us too, especially as this genocide would not be possible without the weapons, diplomatic cover, and collusion of our own government.