It’s been a busy week for Zohran Mamdani in regard to his favorite legal jurisdiction.
Unfortunately, that jurisdiction doesn’t happen to be New York City, but instead the state of Israel. After again saber-rattling and threatening to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he promised on the campaign trail, he suddenly discovered he lacked the jurisdiction.
Not that this stopped him from calling Netanyahu a “war criminal,” despite the fact he hasn’t been (and almost certainly never will be) tried in an international court:
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. pic.twitter.com/YRezmW6YVx
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 22, 2026
The saber-rattling, however, brought forth plenty of Mamdani’s old clips, including one where he said that Israel is “not a place” and “not a country” for some:
“Israel is not a place. It is not a country.”
Zohran Mamdani said this in 2023 alongside Hamas supporters Simone Zimmerman, Najla Said and Noura Erakat. pic.twitter.com/7YP3q1Pd1q
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) July 19, 2026
Apparently, Mr. Mamdani has built up an incredible immunity to cognitive dissonance, since he decided to take to social media to wish Jewish New Yorkers a “peaceful Tisha B’Av” — ignoring that the significance of the holiday means that Israel definitely is a place which also should be a country if there is to be a Jewish state.
“From sundown tonight until tomorrow, mourners will pause and reflect on the history and resiliency of the Jewish people,” Mamdani posted on X.
“May all observing have a safe and meaningful fast.”
Wishing a peaceful Tisha B’Av to Jewish New Yorkers across the five boroughs.
From sundown tonight until tomorrow, mourners will pause and reflect on the history and resiliency of the Jewish people.
May all observing have a safe and meaningful fast.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 22, 2026
After the week he’s had, you can imagine the comments section. Along with plenty of people who told him, in unrepeatable terms, to commit a physically impossible act upon himself, there were also a few who wanted to give the mayor of a city with a not insignificant number of Jewish residents a history lesson:
We’re mourning the destruction of the first and second temples, each of which resulted in loss of sovereignty over the land of Israel, which we have now reclaimed but you oppose.
In short, we are fasting because of enemies like you.— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) July 23, 2026
We are mourning the 1,956th anniversary of the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – ISRAEL – the Mount which is currently illegally occupied by the Muslims pic.twitter.com/5RYYHZfE9S
— Lion of Zion (@Tmount613) July 23, 2026
Tisha B’Av is about the destruction of the Temple, which is in Jerusalem, which is in Israel.
Arrest Mamdani.— Moe Mosher 🇺🇸✡️🍌🔫🏴🏍️ (@jg4lt2a) July 22, 2026
It turns out if you don’t believe that Israel is a place or you think that it’s a colonizer construct, you probably shouldn’t be wishing anyone a “peaceful Tisha B’Av,” where the Jewish people mourn the fact that colonizers effectively displaced them.
From Yahudat.org:
On the ninth of the month of Av, we commemorate the destruction of the First Temple and roughly five hundred years later, on Tisha Be-Av, the Second Temple was also destroyed. About sixty-five years later, again on the ninth of Av, the Romans conquered the city of Beitar during the Bar Kokhba revolt and Jerusalem was razed to the ground.
More than a millennium earlier, when the Jews were wandering in the wilderness, the sin of the spies took place on the ninth of Av. This was a betrayal of the Land of Israel, as a result of which the entire generation was doomed to die in the wilderness. Only their children had the privilege of entering the Promised Land. As a result of the sin, the Talmud tells us that God said to the people: “You cried for nothing on this day, so I will make this a day of crying for all future generations. If you do not rectify the sin of the spies, the Temple will be destroyed on this day.” Since we did not correct this sin by settling the Land in accordance with the Torah’s guidance, both Temples were destroyed on Tisha Be-Av.
Yes, not one but two of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on the ninth day of the month of Av, which is the whole reason for the holiday. It’s also worth noting, as Chabad does, that in 1313 B.C., the Israelites refused to enter the Promised Land after being told by their spies that it was dangerous and were forced by God to wander for 40 years, also traditionally on the ninth day of Av.
This is to say that Mayor Mamdani is noting that for 3,339 years, the homeland of the Jewish people has been Israel. Meanwhile, here’s a guy who’s preternaturally interested in the Holy Land, despite the fact that he doesn’t live there, doesn’t sound like he wants to live there, and certainly has no jurisdiction over it. Gosh, I wonder why.
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