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JULY 6 • 2023 | 7

longtime associate of such odi-
ous anti-Israel activists as Linda 
Sarsour, Lander is viewed with 
distaste by his home borough’s 
Orthodox communities and is 
notorious for ignoring events 
like a huge march of radically 
antisemitic Black Israelites not 
far from his own residence in 
Park Slope. He took the bizarre 
step of renouncing his son’s 
right to access Israel’s Law of 
Return at the poor boy’s own 
bris.
To reiterate, this is a man 
with a more than reasonable 
chance of becoming the next 
mayor of NYC, who did not 
condemn Fatima Muhammed’s 
speech or speak out about 
a large gang of explicitly 
antisemitic marchers in his own 
neighborhood. Supporters of 
Israel are personae non gratae 
in the Progressive movement, 
and Lander doesn’t chase votes 
he can’t win.
The Progressive movement, 
in New York as elsewhere, is 
virtually united in its opposition 
to Israel’s existence as a Jewish 
state. While they will frequently 
seek cover for their BDS-style 
activism, their real cover comes 
from Progressive, anti-Zionist 
but ostensibly Jewish pressure 
groups like JFREJ, Jewish Vote, 
If Not Now, etc. These groups 
advocate in lockstep for other 
progressive causes, such as a 
ban on evictions, police abo-
lition and mass decarceration, 
but their real value is in kosher-
ing anti-Israel positions for pro-
gressive elected officials, Jewish 
and not.

CUNY LAW SCHOOL
While the Democratic Party 
recently dealt with anti-Zionist 
offensives in the city and state 
legislatures, the New York City 
public university system opened 
another front. On May 12, City 
University of New York Law 

School student Fatima Mousa 
Muhammed delivered a grad-
uation speech in which she 
condemned Israel, the United 
States and the rule of law itself 
as a “manifestation of white 
supremacy.
”
Muhammed accused Israel 
of “raining bullets and bombs 
on worshippers, murdering the 
young and old” and “impris-
oning children.
” She described 
the United States as “an empire 
with a ravenous appetite for 
destruction and violence,
” the 
New York Police Department 
as “fascist,
” and prophesied 
the downfall of them all, the 
obligatory language of all rev-
olutionaries. Muhammed is a 
member of Students for Justice 
in Palestine, primary organizers 
of the Boycott, Divest Sanction 
(BDS) pressure group.
CUNY Law School has 
become a publicly-funded hot-
bed of anti-Israel activism: both 
faculty and student councils 
have voted to express support 
for BDS and its stance on Israel. 
Fatima Mousa Muhammed’s 
speech was enthusiastically 
received, with several applause 
breaks from the future lawyers 
and judges trained and creden-
tialed at CUNY Law.

A RISING TIDE?
While the ideological bent 
of government officials 

in America has generally 
shifted in response to public 
consensus as reflected in 
the results of elections, a 
progressive administrative 
class has emerged in New 
York’s Democratic Party, as 
in other places, that does not 
reflect a consensus of public 
opinion. These progressives 
are prevalent in academia, in 
the legal profession, the vast, 
publicly funded nonprofit 
sector, and among elected 
officials and their staffs. These 
administrators and operatives 
are increasingly and more 
stridently left-wing than the 
voters themselves. In particular, 
the personnel involved 
in New York Democratic 
Party elections and staffing 
Democratic elected officials, 
especially at the local level, 
reflect an emerging hostility 
toward Israel and even Jewish-
American interests that should 
be noted.
New York City’s Democratic 
Primary elections invariably 
decide the eventual winner of 
the general elections for city 
and state office. This means 
that the DSA-aligned, anti-
Zionist progressive wing of the 
Democrat Party will continue 
to make gains by punching 
above their weight.
The majority of operatives 
and activists working these 

campaigns, even those working 
for moderate candidates, are 
themselves progressives and 
very often neutral at best on 
Israel. They will continue 
winning races against moderate, 
pro-Israel candidates who get 
shouted down as supporters 
of “settler colonialism” and 
“apartheid” if they dare take a 
position short of opposition to 
Israel’s “government,
” even if 
these moderates insist on meek-
sounding statements supporting 
Israel’s right to “exist.
”
If New York Democrats are 
forced to weigh the benefits 
of strengthening their hold on 
the younger, more hardline 
left wing of the party, with its 
emphasis on anti-colonialism 
and identity politics that place 
Israel and Zionism on the 
“wrong side of history,
” versus 
a traditional but aging and 
dwindling base of moderates 
friendly to Israel, the result will 
be a dilemma for American 
Jews and supporters of Israel. 
They can continue to vote 
for representatives who will be 
ambivalent at best on Israel, 
out of party loyalty. They can 
try to win the argument and 
pull the left wing back into the 
fold so that future Democrats 
build on America’s still-strong 
relationship with Israel, or 
they can appeal to the party’s 
moderate majority to reject 
anti-Zionism and antisemitism 
outright. Lastly, they can decide 
if they still want to be part of a 
club that doesn’t want someone 
like them as a member. 

E J Hare is a political consultant with 
over 15 years’ experience in New 
York City politics. He has managed 
electoral campaigns for City Council 
and State Assembly and provided 
consulting services on local and fed-
eral elections in several states. His 
work has appeared in City Journal, 
the New York Post, the American 
Mind and other publications.

The Squad: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Rep. llhan Omar, D-Minn., 
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, 
D-Mass. during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, July 
15, 2019.

AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/TIMES OF ISRAEL

