(Originally published in The Times of Israel)
“I stand by Italian-Americans. I stand against anti-Italian-American statements and actions. Italian-Americans will serve in my Administration. I support the elimination of Italy.”
“I stand by Mexican-Americans. I stand against anti-Mexican-American statements and actions. Mexican Americans will serve in my Administration. I am for the destruction of Mexico.”
“I stand by Nigerians. I stand against anti-Nigerian-American statements and actions. Nigerian-Americans will serve in my Administration. I don’t think Nigerians have a right to their homeland.”
Pretty ludicrous statements. They make no sense. But this is exactly what the Mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, says when it comes to Jewish Americans and their homeland.
“But,” many will say in his defense, “Zionism is not the same as Judaism. You can be against Zionism and not be against Jews.”
Right on the first sentence. Wrong on the second sentence. For all but some outliers on the periphery, Zionism, the belief in the existence of a Jewish nation in the Jews ancestral homeland, is an integral part of their Jewish identity.
When your position is that you are against the existence of the only Jewish-majority nation in the world; when you are for the destruction of the home of half of the 15 million Jews in the world; when you support denying Jews self-determination in the land in which they are an indigenous people; when you oppose the Jewish National Liberation Movement, it is impossible to “stand with the Jews,” to “stand against anti-Jewish American statements and actions.”
When you take that position, you are anti-Jew. You are a Jew-hater.
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