Sharia Socialism

“The Democrats think we’re stupid,” a young black friend recently told me. “That we’ll embrace whatever insanity they’re pushing.” I had asked him what he thought of Zohran Mamdani, 33, who leads the NYC race for mayor by 10 points. 

“Dude, how hard is it to condemn a phrase — globalize the Intifada — that the entire world knows means ‘kill the Jews’?” 

For the first couple of weeks after the June primary, there was disbelief that the city with the largest number of Jews outside of Israel could elect an inexperienced young man who has questioned Israel’s right to exist, praised Al-Qaeda, promised to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu, and believes that mocking Hanukkah is normal for a U.S. politician. 

As the polls continue to show Zohran in the lead, that disbelief quickly turned to anger. We well know his biggest voting block: millennials. Millennials, 29-44, are not well liked here. They scream lies at our kids in schools, lack basic manners and appear to believe that work — a job — is beneath them.

“Finally, a millennial who wants to work,” a friend recently quipped. “What’s not to like?” said another. “He’s going to give away — for free! — a  country that never existed.” 

A couple of summers ago, I had an intense discussion with a Democratic operative here about the future of the party. “It’s never returning to classical liberalism,” she said definitively. “It will keep radicalizing till it’s forced to shut down.” But of course she wasn’t fully taking into consideration the (uneducated) millennial vote, as well as older Gen-Zers.

This is not to say that every Democrat has bought into Sharia socialism. But what’s abundantly clear is that nearly every Democrat won’t cross that red-green line and condemn Zohran — even if this means the end of the Democratic Party.

Many of us called ourselves socialists for a week or so in high school. Then we learned that socialism has never worked in any city, state or country where it’s been tried. Moreover, anyone who lives here knows that NYC runs best on an energetic capitalism. When NYC is at its best, people from all backgrounds are inspired to excellence, in all fields. China destroyed much of that with COVID; four years later, stores are still closed on Madison Avenue and the city lacks incentive, let alone inspiration.

Perhaps the scariest part of the Zohran mystique is that he isn’t dumb. He knows the policies he’s espousing — from government-run grocery stores to defunding the police — don’t work: he knows it will destroy NYC. 

So why is he espousing all of this? Power, of course. Power to BDS Israel, to stop ICE from deporting terrorists, and to globalize the Intifada. Just as his brethren are doing in London, Paris, Sydney and Madrid.

After 9/11, we weren’t allowed to use the I-word. The fact that a large, well-funded group of Muslim terrorists flew planes into buildings here and in D.C. was just a coincidence. The Islamophobia charge follows every criticism of Zohran; we would be disappointed if it didn’t. 

Meanwhile, many of us have already made plans to leave (Shalom, Governor DeSantis). But we’re also really concerned about the Orthodox and Hasidic communities in Brooklyn who may not leave, no matter what. 

The keffiyehs here have already spit on us, called us “dirty Jews,” threw rocks and glass bottles at us, and thanked Allah for the ability to slaughter us. 

What will happen when there’s no NYPD to protect us?

Sure, this type of persecution has marked our history. But we also know that our grandparents would be horrified to learn that the Democratic Party, the party they helped to build, would turn on us so easily. At this point, the term Jewish Democrat is an oxymoron.

The truth is, the West is at an inflection point. Will it continue to submit, as Douglas Murray has put it, to a form of fascism that pretends to be a religion? Or will Zohran become the bridge too far — the Islamic zealot who forces the U.S. to finally say: Enough. 

Jews came to the U.S. with nothing and helped build this country into the great liberal democracy that it’s been. You can’t walk a block in NYC without seeing Jewish names on buildings. Zohran is running on destruction and racism, looking to London’s no-go zones and Pakistani rape gangs as the city’s future. Did I mention that he also wants to abolish prisons?

But sure, Islamophobia is the real problem here.

Karen Lehrman Bloch is editor in chief of White Rose Magazine.