SON OF ELIE WIESEL WARNS: A MAMDANI MAYORALTY THREATENS NEW YORK'S JEWS

By propagating lies about ‘occupation,’ ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide,’ Mamdani helps promote antisemitism which threatens Jews everywhere.

The People's Campaign To Save New York City

October 21, 2025

Elisha Wiesel Via The Wall Street Journal

An Irishman and a Jew walk into a Japanese restaurant. It sounds like a joke setup, but there was nothing funny about this near-terminal event for our longstanding friendship—this vignette of being a Jewish New Yorker in 2025.

The stark choice we’d each be making between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, divisiveness or unity, loomed throughout.

We talked and laughed about travel, cycling and our loved ones. Then he asked: “Isn’t it terrible where we’ve ended up in the Middle East?”

I was still elated from the Israeli hostages’ release the previous day, and it took me a minute to realize he didn’t share my relief. “It’s been a terrible war,” I agreed, “but I’m optimistic. Thank God President Trump stood with Israel and took out the Iranian nuclear facilities. The Abraham Accords will grow from here.”

“But who’s going to force Israel to make peace?” he asked. “They’re as bad as Hamas.”

We’ve discussed world affairs for 30 years, and I know he reads Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky. But this was the first time I wondered if I had misheard him.

“Are you really both-sides-ing this conflict?” I asked, incredulous. “Are you suggesting the rape, murder and kidnapping by Hamas on Oct. 7—with Gazan civilian participation—is equivalent to Israel’s defensive war?”

Mr. Mamdani’s messaging has made class war and hatred of Jews great again.

Smiling, polished, articulate, Mr. Mamdani lies.

He lies about Israel as easily as he lies that he can freeze rent and offer free goods through higher taxes, as though the corporations and billionaires he targets can’t relocate.

New Yorkers aren’t dumb, but we’re busy.

Mr. Mamdani is lying to those too busy to learn the truth.

His attack points: “occupation,” “apartheid,” “genocide.”

The casualties: truth, friendships, coexistence for New York’s Jews.

Unlike Andrew Cuomo, he seeks to “other” us and divide the city.

Mr. Mamdani blamed Hamas’s butchery on the “occupation” on Oct. 8, while Israel was reeling. He omitted that Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and that Hamas built rockets and tunnels with billions in aid.

“Why couldn’t Israel just accept the Balfour Declaration so many years ago?” my friend asked. I took a breath. How much history was he missing?

Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) belonged to Jordan after 1948. Jordan, warned to stand down in 1967, attacked anyway and lost the territory. I didn’t add that an al‑Qassam rocket from Ramallah, in the center of the West Bank, could hit Jerusalem in 10 seconds. Israel’s detractors rarely acknowledge its security concerns.

Mr. Mamdani’s apartheid charge also lies by omission. Members of Israel’s 15% Arab minority have sat on its supreme court, run banks and represented the country at Eurovision, and they dominate medicine. The Islamic-majority states around Israel are Judenrein—free of Jews—or nearly so.

“Can’t you just be civilized?” my friend said. “It’s so frustrating watching Israel mistreat the Palestinians.’

“How many Jews live in Gaza?” I asked.

“Zero.”

“Why, do you think?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they don’t want to be there.”

The answer: They’d be killed.

Ugliest and most dangerous of all, this Oct. 7 Mr. Mamdani accused Israel of genocide—normalizing the lie that Israel seeks destruction, not security.

“Elisha, tens of thousands of Gazans died,” my friend said. “Nothing is worth that.”

Genocide requires intent.

The Nazis aimed to annihilate all Jews. Israel’s intent is to destroy Hamas, not Palestinians. Before Oct. 7, 18,000 Gazans worked in Israel. Mr. Mamdani knows this even if my friend doesn’t.

After Oct. 7, Israel faced a terrible choice: destroy Hamas or face endless attacks. Hamas hides behind civilians; Israel drops leaflets and sends texts to cellphones before dropping bombs. Who is genocidal—Israel or Hamas?

“For me this isn’t theoretical,” I said. “My nephew, an infantry soldier, is sent into those booby-trapped tunnels whenever we can’t use an airstrike. Does his life matter less?”

My friend was resolute: “Your nephew signed up for this. Nobody else did.”

Mr. Mamdani’s lies endanger Jews everywhere.

Incendiary, false and deadly, they spread hatred.

More than half of New York’s hate crimes last year were antisemitic.

One attacker, shouting “Free Palestine,” stabbed a Jew. Another tried to run Jews over with a car.

I was assaulted last week by anti-Israel marchers at the kind of rally Mr. Mamdani attended, then encouraged, and then endorsed only tacitly as he came under pressure. The signs read: “Glory to the martyrs.” “Violence is resistance.” “Kill the Jews.”

I’m voting for Andrew Cuomo. We need a uniter, not a divider. His support matters at a time when we feel so isolated.

My friend and I left the restaurant, a seam of our friendship unraveling.

“I’m sorry I can’t be with you on this,” he said.

“That’s OK. Jews have been alone for millennia. We’re used to it.”

“Was it worth it—all this fighting?” he asked, his eyes sad. “Do you think you’re winning?”

“Yes. We’re still here.”

Hamas hoped Israel would crumble.

But Israeli water condensation and waste management technology are saving lives, turning haters in Syria into new allies. My Israeli nephew is back in medical school. He’ll be a doctor, like his father and grandfather, healing Jews and Arabs alike. My niece will give birth in December. We love life so much.

Ruth Wisse told me recently that the Jewish superpower is coexistence.

As individuals and a nation, we look to encourage abundance, whether economic, cultural or spiritual. Mr. Cuomo champions that ethos. With the city under his leadership, the Jewish community will stand unafraid, contributing the best of ourselves—along with every other precious community—to the melting pot that is our beloved New York.

Mr. Wiesel, a former chief information officer of Goldman Sachs, is a founding partner of ClearAlpha Technologies. He serves as chairman of the Elie Wiesel Foundation.