New York Times columnist Bret Stephens devotes his column to attacking New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for his views on Israel and the Palestinians. I don’t want to evaluate Mamdani’s views except to say that mine are somewhat different, but that I share his opposition to what Israel has become and what it has done to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper. What I would like to comment on is a certain type of criticism that Stephens makes in attacking Mamdani’s views – a criticism that is sometimes leveled at my own views.
Stephens writes: “One reason why anti-Zionists tend to present themselves as something darker is that the only human rights violations they seem to notice are those of Israel; the only state among dozens of religious states whose legitimacy they contest is Israel; the only group whose suffering they are willing to turn into a personal crusade is the Palestinians. What gives? » The question is: why did Mamdani focus so much on the plight of the Palestinians? The answer, in my opinion, is quite obvious: Mamdani is Muslim, and the majority of Israel’s victims in Gaza and the West Bank are Muslims.
One might ask: why are members of Jewish Voice for Peace so concerned about Israel and not the Uyghurs or Kurds? This is because they are Jewish and feel morally involved in what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, while they do not feel involved in what the Chinese communists are doing in Xinjiang. Why, indeed, does Stephens devote an entire column about a mayoral candidate to his views on Israel? Why doesn’t he evaluate Mamdani’s views on housing, transportation and childcare? What gives? That’s because Stephens cares more about this candidate’s views on Israel than his views on anything else. It’s his right. But it is also Mamdani’s right to have spent the last decade protesting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
