An Open Letter to Zohran Mamdani

Dear Mr. Mamdani,

Congratulations on winning the Democratic primary for the 2025 New York’s mayoral election. Based on what I’ve read, it sounds like you have tons of support from progressive New Yorkers and I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to beat Mr. Cuomo, someone so deeply entrenched in New York politics and so widely known for sexual harassment. Just messin’ around. Mazal tov!

I’m guessing you’ve read my open letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on August 15, 2024. As bald Jewish men who love basketball, he and I have a lot in common. As it turns out, you and I do too.

We both live in big cities brimming with rich histories, vibrant cultures, and economic opportunity, as well as aging infrastructure, abject poverty, and violent crime.

We’re both liberal. Sure, I’m not some raging commie like the media paints you to be but I’m solidly left of center and fully support increasing taxes on corporations, making housing more affordable, and investing in impoverished communities. Your call for government-run grocery stores and free buses reminds me of my illegal visit to a black-market laden Cuba in 2002 but I’m open to change, especially if it involves meeting Cuban women.

We both like rap. No, I’ve never laid down my own beats or recorded my own videos like you,¹ but I can quote Tupac lyrics with the best of ‘em.

We both come from privilege. Your dad is a tenured professor at a prestigious university and my dad was a doctor. Your mom is a wealthy filmmaker and my mom is the shit. You spent most of your childhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and attended a private elementary school (2025 kindergarten tuition is $66,236²), a selective enrollment high school in the Bronx, and a private college in Maine.³ My mommy and daddy similarly paid hundreds of thousands for my education.

We both love politics. You ran for student body Vice President at your high school and lost;⁴ I ran for student body President at my high school and lost. You currently serve in the New York State Assembly and are likely to become New York’s next mayor. I was a White House intern and have a Master’s in Political Science. I even considered going into politics but it turns out that in addition to all the skeletons in my closet, I’m not as likeable as I think.

Of course there are some differences as well. You are handsome and have a full head of hair. I am gaunt and follicly challenged. You’re a millennial who is hip to all the socials. I’m a Gen X’er who has a blog no one reads. You’re Muslim. I’m Jewish. (Though it’s worth noting that you were almost half-Jewish, as your mother was first married to a MOT, Mitch Epstein, before divorcing him and marrying your father.⁵)

We also seem to have some significant differences on the Israel-Palestine conflict. I believe, however, that if we reflect on the ways in which our personal backgrounds have shaped our political views, we can reconcile our ostensibly dissimilar positions. Simply put, when I evaluate the Israel-Palestine conflict, I’m biased. And so are you. So let’s both get over ourselves and see if we can be friends.

___

I understand you spent some of your formative years in South Africa where victims of Apartheid often identify with Palestinians and where perpetrators of Apartheid are often compared to the Israeli government. In 1990, two weeks after being released from prison, Mandela met with Yasser Arafat. In 2023, days after Hamas’ attack on October 7th, Mandela’s grandson, a power player in the African National Congress, said, “We have stood with the Palestinians and we will continue to stand with our Palestinian brothers and sisters.”⁶ What did you learn about the Israel-Palestine conflict when you were young? Is a typical South African student taught that Palestinians are the good guys and Israel is the bad guy?

Some of my formative years were spent in Philadelphia where I went to Hebrew school, where I had plenty of Jewish friends and neighbors, and where my pride in Jewish history and culture was cultivated. I also lived in Israel for a year where I learned that Jewish refugees to Palestine drained the swamps (literally) and built the only democracy in the region.

My point here is most definitely not that South Africa is wrong and that the Shlomo Goldberg Jewish Cultural Center is right. It’s simply to describe the potential biases with which each of us approaches this issue and request that, if you haven’t already, you consider another narrative.

Speaking of narratives, I’m sure you’d agree that the ones provided by our parents are pretty damn impactful. My dad was deeply, proudly Jewish despite the anti-semitism he faced, including quotas for Jews at college and medical school. He loved Israel and, if I’m being honest, did not love Arabs. In fact, he sometimes referred to them as “the Arabs.” He took our family to Israel for a year-long sabbatical. He played in the Maccabi games. He steadfastly defended Israel and even bought me a book called The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz.

Your dad, on the other hand, is a postcolonial studies professor at Columbia who was persecuted as an Indian in Uganda, fought in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and has spent most of his professional career writing about colonialism and postcolonialism, particularly in Africa.⁷ My dad was a typical American Jewish liberal in that he defended Israel, perhaps unfairly. Your dad is a typical liberal Columbia professor in that he criticizes Israel, perhaps unfairly. I’ll bet our fathers could’ve learned a lot from each other. In fact, if my dad were still alive, I’d suggest that “your old man and my old man...get together and go bowling” (Breakfast Club).

But where does all this leave us? Well, maybe you should read more of the books my dad gave me and I should read more of the books your dad gave you. And then we can sit in my basement, throw on Tupac’s “California Love,” and see if we can find some common ground.

I was for sure biased by my dad but my mom is my mom, ya know? She doesn’t even have to talk politics and I’ll still know how she feels. Most of her best friends are Jewish. She goes to synagogue most Saturdays. She keeps in touch with old friends in Israel. She travels to Israel every few years. Your mom, on the other hand, is married to a Muslim and, after declining an invitation to the Haifa International Film Festival, said she “will go to Israel when the walls come down...when [the] occupation is gone...when Apartheid is over.”⁸ My mom would say the walls are there for security, question the use of the word “occupation,” and be downright offended by the use of the word “Apartheid.”

So, again, Mr. Mamdani, where does that leave you and me? My mom taught me that Israel is defending itself from those who want to destroy it. Your mom taught you that Israel is killing innocent civilians. From the moment our fathers’ prejudiced semen infiltrated our mothers’ prejudiced eggs, you and I were predisposed to feel a certain way about Israel and Palestine, to analyze the conflict with a particular lens, to support one group rather than the other, to love one and to disregard another.

Finally, as much as I’d like to forget about my wife, I can’t. She is Israeli. Her parents are Israeli. Her whole family is Israeli. Yada yada yada. Your wife is of Syrian descent and “has created numerous works [of art] about Israeli crimes in Gaza.”⁹ I can’t help but think that those late-night postcoital pillow talks have deeply influenced what you and I believe.

___

Mr. Mamdani, if I drank all of the pro-Israel Kool-Aid I was served, I might believe, among other things, that the intifada is a call for violent terror attacks against civilians, that Israel should receive unconditional military aid due the constant threats it faces, and that the current war with Hamas is just given the atrocities committed on October 7th. I do not believe those things. If you, for example, drank all of the pro-Palestine Kool-Aid you were served, you might believe, among other things, that the phrase “globalize the intifada” is defensible,¹⁰ that consumers and countries should boycott, divest from, and impose sanctions on Israel,¹¹ and that “Israel’s assault on Gaza is a genocide.”¹² Do you really believe those things?

At the end of Pulp Fiction, as Jules (Samuel Jackson) is deep in the throes of an existential crisis, he says, “But I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd.” I’m not trying to be the shepherd, Mr. Mamdani, but I’m trying, trying real hard, to see this disaster as clearly, as objectively, as holistically, and as truthfully as possible. It pains me to read articles from Haaretz about Palestinians being shot at food distribution centers. It pains me to read articles from The Guardian about Gazan children dying outside of medical facilities. It pains me to read articles from Democracy Now! about Netanyahu’s desire to make Gaza a “perpetual, ongoing war.”¹³ The Kool-Aid I’ve been served much of my life doesn’t go well with this other Kool-Aid, but I force it down anyway.

And so I ask you, Mr. Mamdani, is the Kool-Aid you’re drinking today the same Kool-Aid you’ve had your whole life or are you trying some new flavors? Do the stories you read confirm what you already believe or do you seek alternative narratives? Are you in a social media echo chamber or do you look for spaces with truly diverse perspectives? Are you perpetuating your own biases or trying to address them?

In the words of the late, great Tupac Shakur, “I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other.” How about you and I meet for lunch, perhaps something shared by our cultures like pita with hummus, and talk?

1. Zellner, Xander. “Zohran Mamdani Used to Rap — and His Catalog Has Been Surging in Streams.” Billboard, 6 June 2025, https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/zohran-mamdani-rap-catalog-streams-surge-1236008425/. Accessed 9 July 2025.
2. “Tuition and Financial Aid.” Bank Street School for Children, https://school.bankstreet.edu/admissions-2/tuition-financial-aid/. Accessed 3 July 2025.
3. “Zohran Mamdani.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohran_Mamdani. Accessed 2 July 2025.
4. Sauer, Megan. “​​Zohran Mamdani ran for VP of his high school and lost—now he’s winning the Democratic primary for NYC mayor.” CNBC, 27 June 2025, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/27/zohran-mamdanis-political-career-started-in-high-school.html, Accessed 9 July 2025.
5. “Mira Nair.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_Nair. Accessed 2 July 2025.
6. Imray, Gerald. “Nelson Mandela’s support for Palestinians endures with South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.” Associated Press, 11 Jan. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-palestine-israel-genocide-mandela-arafat-39d222b9dd65994c4c13730efabe8815. Accessed 8 July 2025.
7. “Mahmood Mamdani.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmood_Mamdani. Accessed 2 July 2025.
8. “Mira Nair.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_Nair. Accessed 2 July 2025.
9. “Rama Duwaji.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama_Duwaji. Accessed 10 July 2025.
10. Arkin, Daniel. “NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani criticized for 'intifada' remarks.” NBC News, 19 June 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nyc-mayoral-candidate-zohran-mamdani-draws-criticism-intifada-remarks-rcna213967. Accessed 7 July 2025.
11. Beeferman, Jason. “Critics say Zohran Mamdani is antisemitic. He says he’s holding Israel accountable.” POLITICO, 24 June 2025, https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/22/critics-say-zohran-mamdani-is-antisemitic-he-says-hes-simply-holding-israel-accountable-00416388. Accessed 7 July 2025.
12. Harb, Ali. “Mamdani’s New York victory boosts pro-Palestine politics in US.” ALJAZEERA, 26 June 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/26/mamdanis-new-york-victory-boosts-pro-palestine-politics-in-us. Accessed 8 July 2025.
13. “‘Netanyahu Is the Problem’: Sanders’s Former Adviser Matt Duss on Why Gaza Ceasefire Remains Elusive.” Democracy Now!, 9 July 2025, https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/9/netanyahu_trump. Accessed 9 July 2025.