(New York) Each electoral campaign in New York is accompanied by a lesson in Yiddish, vernacular and traditional language of Ashkenazi Jews. But the current race at the town hall of the American metropolis is distinguished by another aspect linked to the importance of its Jewish community: the major place that Israel occupies.
Talked by more than 100,000 of some 960,000 New Yorkers in Jewish confession, Yiddish was heard in particular in the first television advertisement of Scott Strnger, one of the eight candidates in the running of the Democratic primary of June 24 which will probably determine the next mayor of New York.
“We deserve a mayor who will put us back on the rails and who will prevent this” Schmuck “from mingling from our business,” says Mr. Stringer, ex-financial director of the city, in this pub where images of Donald Trump appear at the mention of the term Yiddish which means con, idiot, fool.
If “Schmuck” is also known in New York as the Yiddish words “Bagel” or “Kosher”, it is not the same for the sentence that Brad Lander, another Democratic candidate for the town hall of New York, addressed to Andrew Cuomo, ex-governor of the Empire State and leader of the race: ” A Beyzer Gzar Zol Er AF Dir Kumen. »»
Photo Charly Triballeau, Agence France-Presse Archives
Brad Lander, one of the Democratic candidates at the town hall of New York, during a press conference on Thursday
“For people who do not speak Yiddish, that means roughly:” Fous Le camp d’hi “,” said the current financial director of the City of New York at a press conference.
“Andrew Cuomo does not have to tell me how to be Jewish,” added this leftist politician who has already thought of becoming a rabbi.
Brad Lander reacted angry to a speech delivered by Andrew Cuomo in a New York synagogue where he had attacked three of his main democratic opponents in their position vis-à-vis Israel.
A Catholic against a Muslim
Andrew Cuomo had then claimed that the fight against anti -Semitism was the “most immediate and essential priority” for the city of New York. In the process, he had accused Brad Lander of having disinvested, for political reasons, the city’s pension funds of the State obligations of Israel.
He had also criticized Adrienne Adams, another democratic adversary, of being the first person who did not have visited Israel as “speaker” of the New York municipal council.
And he had attacked his closest rival, Zohran Mamdani, about a bill in the New York Assembly which, according to him, targets any New York NGO helping Israel (it was an exaggeration).
The confrontation between Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani around Israel is particularly striking. He opposes a Catholic politician who presents himself as the greatest defender of the Jewish State to a Muslim politician who formulates the most severe criticism against this country.
Aged 33, Zohran Mamdani accuses Israel not only of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, but also of perpetrating a “genocide”. During a television interview, he recognized that this term was “very busy”, but, he added, “it is the most precise description of what is happening”.
He also said that after his election at New York town hall, he would order the police to arrest Benyamin Netanyahu if the latter set foot in New York.
Photo Yuki Iwamura, Reuters archives
Democratic candidates for New York Andrew Cuomo town hall, Zohran Mamdani and Whitney Tilson, at the end of the Democratic primary debate on Wednesday
Andrew Cuomo remains the favorite to win the Democrat primary on June 24. But, against all odds, Zohran Mamdani reduced his advance in the polls. One of them even placed it second with Democratic Jews. And he received a supported support last week by several of his left opponents, that of the Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
A community in shock
In a sense, the place that Israel occupies in the New York town hall race is not surprising. The Jewish community of the city was not only shaken by the massacre perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. It was also shaken by anti -Semitism which has since manifested itself, especially during certain Propalestinian demonstrations and recent attacks of Washington and Colorado, where Jews were targeted by suspects shouting “Palestine free! »»
Photo Yuki Iwamura, Associated Press Archives
Democratic candidates Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Cuomo, Whitney Tilson, Zohran Mamdani, Michael Blake and Scott Strunger during the Democratic primary debate on Wednesday
All the candidates, including Zohran Mamdani, promised to fight against this rise in anti -Semitism, while accusing Donald Trump of instrumentalizing this real problem to tackle higher education establishments, including Columbia University in New York.
But only Andrew Cuomo accuses his opponents of lacking in solidarity towards Israel and even fuel anti -Semitism.
“I think that rhetoric about Israel has in fact strengthened anti-Semitism,” said the ex-government last Wednesday during a debate between Democratic candidates.
Scott Stringer, the one who treated Donald Trump from “Schmuck” and who is himself Jewish, has defeated Andrew Cuomo, saying he was “dismayed” by “his cynical and frankly pitiful attempts to divide the city and this community”.
Photo Dave Sanders, Archives The New York Times
The candidate for the town hall of New York Scott Strnger addresses faithful in a synagogue in Manhattan, last April.
In 2021, around 25 % of voters who took part in the Democratic primary for the election to the town hall of New York were of Jewish confession. The current mayor, Eric Adams, owes in large part his election to support the ultraorthodox Jews of Brooklyn and Queens, who tend to vote in block.
This year, Eric Adams will request a second term as independent. He received the support of two new parties, one of which has the name of themitism.
Faced with this electoral escalation, some Jewish voters from New York may launch this word Yiddish which expresses a multitude of feelings, including exasperation: “Oy! »»
