On June 23rd, the primary elections will take place in New York. One of the most looked after will take place in District 10, one of the most liberal in the country, that includes parts of Brooklyn and Southern Manhattan, with a major significance for American Jews.
Dan Goldman has been the District’s congressman for 4 years, and is challenged by Brad Lander, the former City commissioner. Goldman and Lander are Jewish, and their battle epitomizes the growing debate among Jews in Mamdani’s New York, and among American Jews at large.
Goldman is a traditional liberal Zionist, supporting the State of Israel but increasingly critical of Israel’s government. He opposes all forms of boycott and supports conditioning the military aid to Israel, without scrapping it all together. He also opposed Palestine’s recognition by countries like France, Australia or the UK.
Possibly after being denied a role he was eying in Mayor Mamdani’s administration at City Hall after throwing his support for him in the mayoral election, Lander decided to challenge Goldman from the left, including on Israel that has become a focal point in his campaign. After defending divesting from Israel, Brad Lander called Israels actions in Gaza ‘Genocide”, and he supports a much tougher line against Israel.
While Goldman attended Israel’s parade, Brad Lander skipped it. If both are firmly committed against antisemitism and are both endorsed by J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby, they represent 2 wings of the Democratic Party when it comes to Israel, reflecting a real divide among liberal American Jews.
Mamdani’s recent ad supporting Lander illustrates the major divide between the two candidates, and why this election is so significant for American Jews at large and the direction of the Democratic Party when it comes to Israel and the US-Israel relationship. In this endorsement ad around the theme of basketball, Mamdani passes the ball to Lander, alongside two DSA members, Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, both sharply critical of Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish and democratic state, in line with the Mayor’s view. Avila Chevalier was an active member of SJP at Columbia University, she supports BDS and she attended the infamous pro-Palestinian rally on October 8th that pushed Lander to resign from DSA. As Chevalier deleted posts calling to abolish ICE or the police but stands by all her controversial stance on Israel, can Brad Lander really play ball politically with her?
Lander believes that partnerships are possible with anti-Zionist organizations. As respectable as this belief is, it does not seem to take into account the wave of antisemitism that is currently partly fueled by radical antizionism. Lander understands well the “litmus test” imposed on progressive Jews that are welcome as long as they distance themselves from Israel and Zionism. This is why he chose to talk relentlessly about Goldman’s record on Israel, to deny him the “progressive” label despite his credentials, endorsements by progressive organizations such as planned parenthood or his push for Medicare for All, abolishing ICE or a major tax reform.
As the current Israeli government pushes irresponsibly the country toward annexation of the West Bank, many young American Jews seem more inclined to embrace a binational state, giving up the idea of a Jewish and democratic state. From a pure electoral point of view, Brad Lander may therefore be right to embrace such an alliance with antizionists, but this approach may accelerate the US Jews’ estrangement from Israel and Israelis, even the liberal ones. Mamdani’s victory in New York has help further shift the conversation about Israel in the Democratic Party, and a Lander victory, combined to ones for the other Mamdani’s endorsees, would further strengthen his national influence in the party, and help transform the DNC into a harsh critic of Israel as a country, not only for its policies.
In many ways, this primary election questions the very idea of liberal Zionism, that could be eclipsed by the opposition between Far-right Zionism and a leftist Anti-Zionism. Dan Goldman represents liberal Zionism that fights both these movements, sharply criticizing the Israeli government when necessary. Brad Lander seems to push for another outcome and for an alliance with movements that deny the very legitimacy of the State of Israel. Liberal Zionists that care for a Jewish and democratic State of Israel and a strong but renewed US-Israel relationship have therefore only one ballot to choose in the primary election: Congressman Dan Goldman.
Sebastien Levi
