The Islamist Capture of New York
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster, and author, writes a weekly column for JNS and is also a columnist for The Times of London. Her book The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West and Why Only They Can Save It was published by Wicked Son and is available on Amazon. More of her work can be found on her website at melaniephillips.substack.com.
A Political Shockwave
The victory of New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral election, while predicted by polls, has sent a political tremor through the United States. Phillips warns that Mamdani’s policies, described as naïve and economically reckless, may damage the city’s stability. His background and open hostility toward Israel, she suggests, pose deeper social and cultural risks for New York’s large Jewish community.
A Strategic Win for Islamist Activism
According to Phillips, Mamdani’s rise represents more than a local political event. It symbolizes a broader ideological victory for Islamist movements seeking influence in the West. She reports that Muslim activists have celebrated this win as a triumph for Islam in the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel.
“Muslim activists are ecstatic that Mamdani has conquered New York—the city with the largest number of Jews outside Israel—for Islam.”
Phillips connects this to recent efforts by pro-Islamist groups to exploit Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza, portraying it as part of a larger campaign against Jewish interests worldwide. Citing MEMRI, she notes that Qatari journalists have openly linked Mamdani’s victory to the aftermath of terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7, seeing it as a consequential turning point.
“Qatari journalists, reports MEMRI, have exulted that Mamdani’s victory was the outcome of the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.”
Authored Summary
Phillips interprets Zohran Mamdani’s New York mayoral victory as a cultural and ideological triumph for Islamist movements, reflecting deeper tensions between Western and Islamic worldviews.