Article by Sébastien Lévi

Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City, making him the first openly anti-Zionist mayor of the metropolis, goes far beyond the boundaries of municipal politics. This success, driven by progressive youth and a significant portion of American Jews, reveals the depth of generational and ideological divisions within American Judaism. Between growing disaffection with Israel, rising antisemitism, and the reshaping of the Democratic Party, Mamdani’s victory acts as a brutal revelation of an American Jewish world in the midst of an identity crisis.

How are American Jews experiencing the current political situation, in which their attachment to Israel, the democratic norms of their own country, and the security they believed they enjoyed in the face of antisemitism are all being called into question? For Sébastien Lévi, they are caught between Trump’s hammer and the anti-Zionist anvil – a divide foreshadowing the political reconfigurations and struggles to come.