Mayor Mamdani’s late Friday afternoon pronouncement honoring naqba day and terming that “catastrophe”—Israel’s existence—“ongoing”– comes as no surprise (https://www.timesofisrael.com/mamdani-posts-nakba-day-video-saying-the-catastrophe-continues-until-today/). He has made no secret of that position; he championed it as a candidate.

What is concerning are two things that have been very troubling and unacceptable from the start:

First is the claim, by him, or anyone else, rightly to decide for Jews what acceptable Jewish identity is. Religious? good. National? Political, sovereign? Unacceptable. Recall his behavior around a synagogue hosting a Nefesh b’ Nefesh event: the mayor of New York, weighing in on programming of a synagogue.

The claim to define acceptable Jewish identity is also nothing new. It is the foundational position of Muslim rulers since the 7th century Pact of Omar/ Umar, as soon as Islam had become a........

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