New York City mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, is engaged in an intifada, the Arabic term for “shaking off” of his own making. In response to repeated attacks by his political opponents, Mamdani has attempted to “shake off” his association with the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which he has declined to condemn. Despite the new mayor’s charades and feckless words, he cannot “shake off” his association with the most radical elements of the left. To do so would betray the ethos of progressivism and undermine his credentials in the progressive movement.
Calls to “globalize the intifada” are just the latest salvo in a dangerous and relentless progressive assault on U.S. foreign policy. The calls to internationalize the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli presence in its “territories” represent more than just American support for Palestinian “liberation,” which would necessarily entail the destruction of Israel. “Globalize the intifada” is a critical element in a progressive movement working to fundamentally alter the purpose and form of U.S. foreign policy. Like the effects of a Mamdani victory in NYC, a progressive-directed shift in U.S. foreign policy would be to its detriment.
Zohran Mamdani and his progressive political allies (e.g., Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Pramila Jayapal and Representative Ilhan Omar) view U.S. foreign policy as an instrument for revolutionary change. They want U.S. foreign policy to transform and normalize a model of internationalism centered on international institutions working towards radical conceptualizations of peace, equality, and rights. This transformation would usher in the universalization of their secular woke agenda.
Rooted in the assault is the sine qua non of utopian progressive internationalism. Dialogue and diplomacy, not war, are the methods for conflict resolution. Recognizing, liberating and empowering victimized populations are the mechanisms for justice. Co-existence, compromise, moderation and tolerance are the enablers of stable societies and international relations. While in some ways this may sound like an attractive vision, Mamdani and the progressive establishment he represents see the U.S. and Israel as the primary impediments to the actualization to a better world and thus always criticize the West first and authoritarian entities like Iran and Hamas last, if ever. Bearing this inconsistency in mind,
Israel is the canary in the coal mine of the progressive assault on U.S. foreign policy.
Progressives despise the resilience of the Jewish state. Its behaviors and characteristics inhibit the arrival of their international utopia. Despite residing in the hostile authoritarian Middle East and being outnumbered by a ratio of 50 to 1, Israel is the main purveyor of violence and oppression. Being targeted by Palestinians and other Muslim nations for annihilation cannot excuse Israel’s denial of rights and the exacerbation of regional disparities.
For progressives, the United States is guilty of aiding and abetting Israeli perseverance amid the constant threat of annihilation. American support and defense of Israel in relatively hostile international forums and institutions like the United Nations and International Criminal Court (ICC) has scuttled attempts at obtuse resolutions, impeded the recognition of a Palestinian state which would inevitably be governed by Hamas, and prevented the prosecution of Israeli leadership and soldiers for defending their country. Repeated infusions of American military assistance enable Israel to confront the Iranian axis of resistance—Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps—and its absolutist objective on multiple fronts. To the horror of progressives, these acts of American solidarity defile the image of the U.S. as an agent of righteousness, a leader of order, and a good-faith mediator figure.
Utilizing and popularizing the slogan, “globalize the intifada,” by progressives is a tactic to pressure Israel and delegitimize the U.S.-Israeli relationship. A weakened or dissolute American-Israeli relationship debilitates and isolates Israel, making it more vulnerable to their radical conceptualizations of peace, equality and rights.
During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani has provided glimpses of exacting these radical conceptualizations.
The mayor-elect’s ridiculous statement about ordering the NYPD to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as mayor evinces the desire to alter how U.S. foreign policy functions. By calling for the Prime Minister’s arrest if he steps foot in NYC, Mamdani not-so-subtly advocates for U.S. acknowledgement of the ICC. Mamdani envisions arresting and then turning Netanyahu over to the ICC so he can be prosecuted and found guilty of war crimes.
Who follows Bibi in Mamdani’s quest to exact international justice? Former President George W. Bush for the Iraq War? What about Iranian leadership when they are in NYC for UN meetings? Does not their oppression of women in Iran for refusing to don the hijab, including the death of of Mahsa Amini, warrant prosecution? Or will Mamdani refuse to get involved in a domestic women’s rights matter, as he declined to do so when living in Egypt?
Progressives champion the ICC as a great equalizer and arbiter of justice. It has the capacity to humble and constrain the powerful and protected while raising up and empowering the weak and victimized. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), a supporter of Mamdani, stated that the ICC’s indictment of Netanyahu is “a very important step” to achieve accountability. In fact, Jayapal introduced a resolution in 2022 propounding a U.S. foreign policy centered on international justice. Her progressive congressional colleague and fellow Mamdani ally, Ilhan Omar (MN-05), introduced a series of bills in 2020 entitled: “Pathway to Peace.” One bill called on the U.S. to abide by the decisions of the ICC.
As with many progressive proposals, the U.S. federal government recognizing the superior authority of the ICC is myopic and reckless. Such a move opens American officials and military members operating overseas to the threat of arrest and prosecution by vengeful countries. It also complicates the ability to diplomatically resolve matters.
Mamdani’s feeble post on X for the two-year anniversary of the October 7th attacks on Israel is apt for how progressives want U.S. foreign policy to be formulated and fulfilled.
In the post, he identifies Israel as the driver of the conflict—its “apartheid” and “occupation” provoked the October 7th attacks and its “genocidal war” perpetuates and worsens the conflict. Absent is any mention of the maximalist beliefs driving sizable portions of the Palestinian population and leadership to violence and a refusal to negotiate. Did Mamdani fail to notice that Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas also entered Israel on October 7th to kill, kidnap and subsequently refuse to release hostages? Do Palestinians have moral agency in the same way Israelis do? Or are they just slaves to their emotions?
Mamdani’s real purpose is to discredit the Israeli response to the 10/7 attacks in order to impede its responses to future attacks by building a consensus that the U.S. should cease supplying weapons to Israel. Note how he characterizes the Israeli response as a “genocidal war” that included “bombing homes, hospitals, and schools” and America’s complicity. In Mamdani’s utopia, the correct Israeli approach to dealing with the horror of 10/7 was diplomacy and recourse to international institutions like the UN. However, the real world does not operate according to Mamdani’s progressive utopianism. Any legitimate government would vigorously respond to an October 7th-style attack. If it did not, the survival of such a nation would be imperiled.
By discrediting and constraining Israel, Mamdani and the company he keeps are attempting to compel Israel to the negotiating table in the weakest possible position. The mayor-elect, of course, never mentions what concessions (if any) are required of Palestinians. To the losers go the spoils?
Mamdani’s mentor and supporter, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, advances this preposterous foreign policy outlook in Congress. Hardly a month passes without the Senator either condemning Israeli actions or promoting legislation to constrain Israel. Has the Senator thought about the message his actions and rhetoric sends to other U.S. allies and their enemies?
NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” is the tip of the spear in a progressive assault on U.S. foreign policy. Mamdani, his progressive supporters in Congress and elsewhere seek to reorient how America’s foreign policy is formulated and what it seeks to accomplish.
