ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt Says Zohran Mamdani ‘Doesn’t Get to Pick and Choose Which Jewish People He Talks’ To: ‘He Needs to Come To Us’
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt declared on MSNBC, Monday that New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “doesn’t get to pick and choose which Jewish people he talks to” and that “he needs to come to us.”
“It was notable that Candidate Mamdani went to Harlem this weekend,” said Greenblatt on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
He went to meet black people in Harlem on their own terms. I think what Jewish people would want to see is where the candidate goes to meet mainstream Jewish people in a mainstream synagogue or in a mainstream setting and simply says with the same clarity that he brought this weekend – where he met, again, black people where they are – and simply said to Jewish people, “I hear you and here is my plan to protect Jewish New Yorkers.” Not to fund, you know, more hate crimes enforcement for everyone. That should be a given. But, “Here’s why I understand what you are telling me, as a community, I need, and here is why I, as your mayor, will do certain things.”
After guest host Katty Kay asked, “Jonathan, if he did what you say, what you suggest, would that take away your concerns about his candidacy? Would that be enough?” Greenblatt replied:
I want to hear the plans from all the candidates, not just Mamdani, but considering his past– He was a student organizer for a group called Students for Justice in Palestine. They’re the ones who led the systematic marginalization, targeting Jews on college campuses over the last year and a half. And so when Mr. Mamdani shows up and says– Again, I think this is a very important point, Katty. He doesn’t get to pick and choose which Jewish people he talks to. He needs to come to us. He needs to meet us where we are. If he could do that, he would allay a lot of concern.
But look, this guy, he wants free busses, he wants government-controlled grocery stores, he’s got a lot of big plans … Considering his big plans, he’s gonna need a lot of political capital, he’s gonna need a lot of allies. I don’t know why, again and again and again, he simply won’t take this head on.
He argued, “Sometimes the things we don’t say are actually the loudest. That’s what people hear. So that’s what the Jewish community right now is struggling with – reform people and observant people, liberal people and conservative people.”
The ADL CEO concluded, “At a time when anti-Semitism has surged to record levels, the idea of a candidate who won’t clearly and unambiguously say, ‘Here is my plan, I am with you,’ leaves a lot of us deeply, deeply troubled.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
