It Only Took 18 Hours And Perhaps As Many Drafts To Allow That “Some People Did Something”

Kathy Hochul and Letitia James didn’t take long to denounce protesters who chanted “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here” in front of a Queens synagogue. Even AOC wrote that “marching into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and leading with a chant saying ‘we support Hamas’ is a disgusting and antisemitic thing to do. Pretty basic!”

And then there was the mayor:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani was facing an early test on a delicate matter. Protesters had gathered outside a synagogue in a heavily Jewish neighborhood of New York City and chanted in support of Hamas.

Video of the chants rocketed around social media, and by the time the protest ended at roughly 10 p.m., attention quickly turned to how he would respond. Yet for hours, Mr. Mamdani said nothing.

His first response came after an unrelated news conference shortly after noon the next day, when he was asked about the chants as he headed to his car. He briefly condemned the language; an official statement on the matter was distributed at 3:40 p.m. in response to The New York Times. At 6:23 p.m., he posted a more thorough statement on X.

The halting responses drew some criticism of Mr. Mamdani, whose political career has been driven in part by his passionate support of Palestine, for seeming reluctant to call out extremism and denounce Hamas.

But behind the scenes, a more revealing drama was unfolding. Mr. Mamdani’s team repeatedly debated the wording and fairness of the language, drafting and redrafting his response and sending it to leading Jewish figures for review.

[. . .]

It all began last Thursday on the evening of Jan. 8, when Mr. Mamdani’s liaison to Jewish New Yorkers, Josh Binderman, went to Queens to observe the protest, which had been organized to condemn an event by a real estate firm that promotes American investment in Israel and the occupied West Bank. Insults and slurs were hurled from protesters on each side.

Mr. Binderman quickly began crafting a statement on the mayor’s behalf. It was written and rewritten until he found language that he thought might pass muster with Jewish leaders and the mayor, according to detailed accounts from seven people involved in the matter.

He contacted at least one Jewish official the night of the protest and relayed the statement. The official expressed concern that it didn’t forcefully condemn Hamas. Mr. Binderman seemed to acquiesce, and that version of the statement was never released, according to one person familiar with the interaction.

Mr. Binderman wrote another statement that criticized the pro-Hamas chants, but also mentioned the Jewish Defense League, a Zionist group designated by the F.B.I. as a terrorist organization that is affiliated with the followers of Meir Kahane, a Brooklyn-born anti-Arab militant whose Kach party was outlawed in Israel for inciting racism. Online video of the protest showed some supporters carrying the group’s yellow flag.

Several Jewish leaders warned Mr. Binderman against drawing what they felt was an unfair equivalence, according to several people familiar with those exchanges. They believed the pro-Hamas chants were more widespread and pertinent than the presence of a Kahanist symbol.

A revised statement that forcefully condemned Hamas seemed to appease the Jewish leaders, several of the people said. But that version was also not released, and it was unclear why.

It was only after sundown on Friday, when observant Jews go offline for Shabbat, that Mr. Mamdani posted on social media a more direct public statement that referred to a terrorist organization, risking criticism from some far-left pro-Palestinian activists who valorize the group as legitimate armed resistance.

“As I said earlier today, chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city,” Mr. Mamdani posted on X. “We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest.”

[. . .]

By the time Mr. Binderman negotiated the final draft of the statement and asked his Orthodox Jewish contacts to post it on social media, the sun had set on Friday evening.

The leaders Mr. Mamdani had sought to soothe had gone offline for Shabbat. They would be unreachable for a full day and would most likely not see the mayor’s statement until Saturday night.