I received this text message a little over a week ago. And, it turns out, so did many Jews across New York City. 

Purportedly from Rashida Tlaib on behalf of the Zohran Mamdani mayoral campaign, the Shabbat-issued message darkly warns of a shadowy cabal of unnamed wealthy donors buying the mayoralty for Andrew Cuomo, impliedly as a result of his alleged ties to Israel.  

This is not about whether one supports or does not support Israel or its prime minister. There is nothing inherently antisemitic about criticizing Israel or Benjamin Netanyahu from the left, just as there is nothing inherently antisemitic about criticizing the Rothschild banking family or George Soros from Hungary. 

Netanyahu is terrible, the worst leader that Israel has ever had, and a man who belongs in prison, not leading the only Jewish state! There, you see? Not antisemitic. And also true. 

There is furthermore nothing antisemitic about publicly advocating for Palestinian rights, and for a Palestinian state, which I have done for years.

Mamdani’s message does not use slurs or overt antisemitic language; but the coded associations, selective outrage and weaponized tropes allow it to operate as a dog whistle to audiences already primed to view Jews as sinister forces, mobilizing antisemitic suspicion while maintaining plausible deniability. 

Plausible deniability, after all, is what dog whistles are all about.

It’s so ham-handedly antisemitic that it didn’t even occur to me that it could possibly be real, especially since it was sent out to Jewish New Yorkers. No politician in his right mind hoping for broad appeal would send out a fundraising message from Rashida Tlaib at all, and sending out a fundraising message from Rashida Tlaib to Jewish New Yorkers is political malpractice. 

I assumed it was a “dirty trick,” maybe actually sent from the Cuomo campaign itself. So I sent the Mamdani campaign a message right away, letting them know what was done in their name. 

I heard nothing at all back. And subsequently, the New York Post reported that the text was genuine. 

The campaign has not responded to multiple requests for clarification. 

In the last few days, Mamdani has declined to condemn the murders at the Jewish Museum, and he has still not even criticized Hamas for the October 7 massacre. 

Now this. 

Does he want to be mayor? What is his strategy? 

Some progressive Jews continue to support him. Indeed, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice endorsed both Mamdani and Brad Lander for mayor. But they should think again. Mamdani is a racist, and not a politically clever one. His behavior puts him in the same category as New York politicians like Maud Maron, Carl Palladino … and Donald Trump. 

But without the canniness. 

He would be both divisive and incompetent, not just morally disqualified, but administratively unfit to run a city as complex and demanding as New York. His election would set back progressive politics and Democratic electability in the city for years, the way David Dinkins’ failed administration opened the door to twenty years of Republican mayoralties. 

Mamdani’s mother is a really good film director, though. 

^^^

Steven S. Drachman, who wrote this column, is a novelist and journalist.