Day 761 - Avowedly anti-Zionist, NYC's new Mayor Mamdani has Jews on edge
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
NY correspondent Luke Tress joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
Democrat Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. The far-left anti-Israel activist, a state assemblymember, is, at 34, the city’s youngest mayor in over a century.
We talk about concerns among some of New York’s large Jewish community and early reactions from communal organizations.
Mamdani has previously stated his intention not to invest city funds in Israel bonds, in keeping with the current comptroller’s decision not to reinvest when $39 million in bonds matured in 2023. In May 2023, Mamdani, then a member of the New York State Assembly, introduced a bill called “Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act.” Tress weighs in on what powers Mamdani has to enact his ideological anti-Israel stance.
And finally, we discuss a cartoon from the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese. Last week, Albanese posted a cartoon denouncing Israel, depicting what appears to be a global spiderweb, in an image that experts said echoed age-old antisemitic tropes. We hear what Tress heard from experts.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Body of IDF soldier Itay Chen, killed fighting Hamas on Oct. 7, returned to Israel
Far-left, anti-Israel candidate Zohran Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race
‘Pit in my stomach’: As Cuomo concedes, Jewish supporters ‘torn apart’ by Mamdani win
UN’s Albanese posts cartoon echoing age-old anti-Jewish spiderweb trope
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IMAGE: Zohran Mamdani speaks during a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, November 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. |
| 0:06.7 | Today is Wednesday, November 5th, day 761 of the war. |
| 0:12.1 | Amanda Borssel, Dan, here with our New York correspondent Luke Truss. |
| 0:16.2 | Hi, Luke. |
| 0:16.7 | Thank you so much for joining me after such a busy election day. |
| 0:21.6 | Yep, thanks for having me. |
| 0:23.5 | Democrat Zoran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, |
| 0:28.1 | defeating former Governor Andrew Como and Republican Curtis Silwa. |
| 0:32.9 | Mamdani is a far-left anti-Israel activist and a 34-year-old state assembly member, |
| 0:39.2 | who is now the city's youngest mayor in over a century. |
| 0:43.6 | So we're going to talk about the concerns among some of New York's Jewish community |
| 0:47.8 | in the lead-up to the election and some of their responses so far. |
| 0:52.3 | All of this and more when we're back. |
| 0:59.4 | So much of what we read about Israel right now is politics and military news. Seasfires, |
| 1:05.7 | hostages, deals, negotiations. But what's harder to capture is the emotional reality in Israel. |
| 1:13.6 | What does it feel like to live through this moment? On unpacking Israeli history, host |
| 1:19.6 | Noam Weissman sits down with Times of Israel new media editor and writer Sarah Tuttle Singer, |
| 1:25.6 | whose unfiltered, deeply human voice shows Israel in all its |
| 1:29.9 | compassion, frustration, and hope. In a conversation that takes a step away from the history |
| 1:35.9 | and the headlines, Sarah reflects on what it feels like to be Israeli right now. Listen to |
| 1:43.7 | unpacking Israeli history, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:51.5 | And we're back. I'm Amanda Borssel Dan here with our New York correspondent Luke Tress. |
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