Zohran Mamdani is certainly an intelligent guy. In his acceptance speech a couple of months ago, it was impressive to see him throw out catch phrases to various immigrant groups, basking in their applause. For centuries, New York City’s diversity has perhaps been the main contributing factor to its greatness.
My ancestors, among millions of others, both contributed to and benefited from it.
And still, as I processed the speech, including Mamdani’s calculated call to end the “scourge of antisemitism” (which was, of course, immediately followed by a truly impassioned call to end Islamophobia), I wondered something:
Among all of these wonderful nationalities and cultures celebrated in this victory speech, why is ours the only one that he doesn’t think has a right to exist?
It’s a shame, because if he weren’t so ideologically driven by hatred against our people, he could probably learn something – and not just “something” but practical tools for implementing the three main points of his campaign.
Let’s start with housing.
While his ideological heroes were busy encouraging and forcing the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Jews from across the Arab world (something that would certainly fit many definitions of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide”), many of our ideological heroes (yes, Zionists!) were building massive public housing projects for those people to live in. It certainly wasn’t perfect but I’m sure that at least some of the lessons learned from that period and the succeeding decades could be helpful for Mamdani’s New York City in 2026.
Free quality child care in Israel from age three
Let’s move on to child care. Around the time my first kid was born, free, quality, public child care from age three was introduced here in Israel. Perfect it’s not, but children and parents benefit greatly from it. Mamdani should ask us about how we’ve made it work!
Free, efficient buses? Many like to complain of course, but public transportation here is pretty damn good and has also improved over the years (partially thanks to Israeli-developed tech advances). Transportation is also free for senior citizens and others, including small children, the visually impaired, and internal refugees displaced as a result of the October 7 attacks.
Less than it was in the early years, Israel is nonetheless quite socialist, and has still managed to become and remain a tech powerhouse supported and courted by pretty much every tech giant from Nvidia – which is about to build another massive campus in Israel’s North – to Google, Microsoft and so many others who have invested billions in global R&D centers in the Jewish state.
Moreover, thousands of Israeli tech leaders live in New York City, creating thousands upon thousands of jobs and bringing millions to the local economy.
These are companies that have thrived while ensuring that their workers are well-compensated, enjoying exceptional social benefits. As Israelis and business people, many of these tech leaders are concerned about Mamdani’s rise to power. Perhaps he could ask for their advice on balancing high levels of social benefits and workers’ rights with economic success.
While many of the campaign promises Mamdani highlighted in his acceptance speech may have alarmed many New Yorkers and Americans, if Israelis were to hear them in a vacuum, they largely seem like no-brainers to us – many of them are things we’ve already made work for many years.
Why? Because we are a country that at its core cares about its citizens in all of their diversity, rights and well-being. In an intellectually honest (and perhaps parallel) reality, I’m actually pretty convinced that Mamdani would like it here, and maybe even be inspired… if he could only get over his hatred of us.
At the very least, as he enters the city hall, perhaps he can help improve his home by taking a look at ours.
The author is a Jerusalem-based writer, publicist, and strategist. He previously served as the National Library of Israel’s international spokesman, and is currently senior strategist at Concrete Media.