Anti-Zionism Is an Old Soviet Plot

You have to think that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had a grudging admiration for the mob of braying lunatics who heckled him during his appearance at an event memorializing the October 7 massacre.

The masked and keffiyeh-clad activists who hurled epithets and slogans at Mamdani — “coward,” “shame on you,” “Zohran, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” — evinced the uncompromising ideological conviction toward which the mayor himself strove not long ago. Like Mamdani and his wife, they are true believers in the anti-Zionist cause. Why would Mamdani resent their activism? By attacking him, the crowd was doing precisely what their philosophy prescribes: targeting the symbols of Western authority in whatever form they take.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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You have to think that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had a grudging admiration for the mob of braying lunatics who heckled him during his appearance at an event memorializing the October 7 massacre.

The masked and keffiyeh-clad activists who hurled epithets and slogans at Mamdani — “coward,” “shame on you,” “Zohran, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” — evinced the uncompromising ideological conviction toward which the mayor himself strove not long ago. Like Mamdani and his wife, they are true believers in the anti-Zionist cause. Why would Mamdani resent their activism? By attacking him, the crowd was doing precisely what their philosophy prescribes: targeting the symbols of Western authority in whatever form they take.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.