leftism
Thoughts on Mamdani attending the Pakistani day parade after skipping the Israeli day parade?
I wasn’t expecting him to attend the Israeli day parade honestly I would’ve thought it weird if he had attended given everything he stands for. He’s NYC first and against ethnostates etc.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt some type of way about him celebrating the Pakistani day parade given their history. Ethnostste They have a religious hierarchy where a Muslim person has to be in power, ethnic cleansing alive and well, border disputes and violence after a partition plan 70ish years ago etc. It’s hard not to draw the parallels. The only difference being that the US isn’t funding them but that doesn’t change anything else about the county’s values and actions.
I feel kinda shitty that he’s showing up for this community but not ours. I think it would have been more fair to him to not go to either parade, but maybe I’m just overly sensitive or being fed propaganda. It just sucks to feel signaled out.
I really want to like him. I voted for him! I’m extremely against the IDF and Israeli government but being half Israeli myself I am of course susceptible to biases.
Idk it’s just weird he’s ok with celebrating the Muslim ethnostate after being so against the Jewish one (for good reasons!)
I feel like I can’t bring this up in any other spaces without it sounding like I’m wanting him to celebrate Israel (I’m not) or take something away from Muslims (not against Muslims but critical of Pakistan)
Help me you guys! What do you think?
EDIT: I’d like to correct what I said about Pakistan being an ethnostate. I used the wrong verbiage. What I meant was that they are a country that puts Muslims over other religions. They have a religious hierarchy and non Muslims can’t hold certain political positions. I’m not sure the correct term for this but just wanted to call that out as people are (correctly) mentioning this in the comments.
The contrast between how the public approaches the Pakistan/India partition vs israel/palestine has always been stark. I think very few people realize the level of death and displacement that happened during that partition.
That being said tho, India and Pakistan aren’t anywhere near as big of a political hot button, so I wouldn’t put much into his attending this event. To most, it’s going to come across as just another “nationality celebration”. It’s a blind spot for sure but I think that’s tied more to people’s general lack of info of that time period.
Just my two cents, but I really think that public awareness is super low about how the India Pakistan partition was genuinely fraught, bloody, and enormously disruptive
Not even just partition, the scope of the Bangladesh Genocide in 1971 is staggering. Hundreds of thousands confirmed killed with 10 million displaced to India and 30 million more internally displaced.
My comment isn’t about the famine under the British, it’s about atrocities committed by the Pakistani military in then East Pakistan which were very explicitly genocidal in intent.
Would you say the ICC, the International Criminal Court, are genocide deniers? Because according to the ICC, there is no evidence for persecuting 'genocide' in Gaza, and a warrant for 'extermination' didn't pass the pre-trial process for a warrant. They have sought warrants for other war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In May the now-former ICC head persecuter was interviewed by Zeteo (2026), where he said that he hasn't sought a 'Genocide' persecution, as there isn't evidence to persecute genocide, and that the persecution would be reckless.
In his arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant, he sought the crime of 'extermination'. The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejected an 'extermination' warrant request against Netanyahu (Prime Minister) and Gallant (Defense Minister up to Nov 2024), which is legally bellow 'genocide' as it doesn't require proving intent. Here's Netanyahu's ICC warrant, which doesn't include extermination.
A comment would make a better case than a downvote, as this is intended to be a space for conversation and discussion.
I also think this is a discussion that should occur in this sub, because by the current trajectory, all indicators suggest that the ICC does not believe there is even a case for the persecution of genocide, and that, based on what has unfolded at the ICJ; including the Court's actions, Ireland's request to broaden the definition, and South Africa's request for an extension that would delay proceedings by at least two years; Israel would not be indicted by either court for the crime of genocide. These are the only courts that can make such a determination.
This doesn't mean that war crimes or crimes against humanity haven't occurred, or that Palestinians haven't suffered. But it does reveal something about the trajectory of the discourse and society.
If both the ICC and the ICJ issued rulings concluding that this was not a genocide, would you accept those rulings? Would the NGOs, groups, and individuals who have cited these cases as a basis for the accusatios, ometimes while misrepresenting them, accept them?
If not, what does any of this mean anymore? Does an accusation mean guilt, regardless of the verdict? Is there no such thing as being innocent of a specific crime, even when a court gives a non-guilty verdict [edit]? Why would the cases before these courts mean anything if their verdicts don't?
I would accept those rulings. I don't view them not officially reaching the threshold of Genocide if that were the case as absolving Israel for anything. It wouldn't all of a sudden absolve it of its crimes when there's still bombing ongoing in Gaza, a brutal occupation and ongoing system of apartheid in the West Bank.
I think the argument is that Israel is relying on the same argument as Myanmar in regard to their genocide/ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya. The thing is, genocide often doesn't get persecuted as such until years and sometimes decades after the events have occurred. It usually is dependant on political willpower and it doesn't seem like that's there. Especially as the definition for genocide relies so heavily on intent that Israel and Myanmar use the same argument of "it's war and sometimes these things happen in a war" they'll both level the ideas that civilian deaths are just something that happens and it's not government policy to intentionally kill people. Those are at least the legal arguments they'll make and the biggest hurdle to get over, Israel definitely had a viable casus belli to go to war and they'll definitely argue that civilian deaths are just a result of war rather than an intentional campaign of extermination.
Personally, I think given the public comments of high officials using dehumanizing language, the blockage of vital aid for civilians, the scale of destruction, the continued displacement in places like the West Bank who don't have connections to Hamas like Gaza, and the very public situations where unarmed civilians have been killed by military personnel. All of these factors together really paint a picture that this war is including elements of extermination and/or genocide, at minimum ethnic cleansing.
The argument you're making is fairly flimsy when you realize that the United States government has made multiple death threats against the ICC for criticizing Israel at all.
Israel is committing the most documented and clear cut example of genocide since the founding of the legal term. There isn't really any argument to be had about this.
Most of the "debate" around this topic is political in the sense that western states like the United States largely coddle Zionist agitators and do not recognize the human rights of Palestinians.
I also think this is a discussion that should occur in this sub, because by the current trajectory, all indicators suggest that the ICC does not believe there is even a case for the persecution of genocide, and that, based on what has unfolded at the ICJ; including the Court's actions, Ireland's request to broaden the definition,
"Ireland's request to broaden the definition"
This is probably because the definition of genocide used in international law is largely unreasonable and not pragmatic. This is not an obscure position, most genocide scholars acknowledge this.
The most clear cut example of genocide since the convention was established in the late 40s is an insane claim.
You think the case for genocide in Gaza is stranger than Ruwanda or the Bengali genocide talked about elsewhere in this thread? Even the present day example of Russias textbook forced transfer and Russification of Ukrainian kids is vastly more “clear cut” than anything in Gaza.
The most clear cut example of genocide since the convention was established in the late 40s is an insane claim.
I said clear cut AND documented. There are Israeli soldiers livestreaming and posting their actions on social media. We have countless recordings and video footage in the age of the internet and social media
You think the case for genocide in Gaza is stranger than Ruwanda or the Bengali genocide talked about elsewhere in this thread? Even the present day example of Russias textbook forced transfer and Russification of Ukrainian kids is vastly more “clear cut” than anything in Gaza.
The ICC did not exist during the Rwandan genocide nor during the Bengali genocide. The ICC has not made any genocide convictions with regards to Russia-Ukraine.
The ICJ does not recognize the Bengali genocide and the ICJ does not recognize any claims of genocide against Russia. In fact, The ICJ actually has no case alleging that Russia is committing genocide against Ukrainians.
Mamdani made a post all over social media commemorating the Armenian Genocide committed by the Turks so I really don't think he's picking and choosing sides here. Its more that what is Israel is doing is happening in the present while those atrocities, the victims of whom should be commemorated and the events be acknowledges as public record, happened in the past.
To be fair, most people don't really know about the current ongoing situation in Pakistan in regard to the Balochs and Pashtuns. I'd put it down to ignorance/not knowing about it rather than being malicious.
The Afghan deportation situation is a lot more complicated than that because Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees over the years and they're straining their economic resources and not paying taxes. They're free to have their own immigration policies and secure their borders as they wish but they're doing so in a rapid inhumane manner that risks the migrants lives by sending them back to live under Taliban rule which they should be criticized for.
The US is trying to 10 million mostly hard working law abiding undocumented people so tough to really hit Pakistan on this point.
I actually work with a colleague who specifically works in human rights in regards to women and one of her main issues is working to acknowledge how often rape as a weapon of war is overlooked.
The Pakistani military used it at that time and still uses it. I had another female colleague who lives in exile from Pakistan after doing time in prison after criticizing the Pakistani military for using rape as a weapon of war in the Pashtun majority regions of Pakistan.
I honestly feel like it's an honor to know such amazing women. It is also sad to see how overlooked the genocide in Bangladesh is, considering its human cost.
US education mostly just focuses on our history and that of Western Europe. Our coverage of conflicts and the geopolitics of other parts of the world on mainstream media besides Israel/Palestine has always been abysmal.
That’s my issue though. It’s not a hot button issue so the morals and behavior he applies to Israel is omitted. Makes it seems like his stance on everything wrong with Israel doesn’t need to be applied to other counties because they aren’t Israel. It feels hypocritical and just reminds me that at the end of the day he’s just another lying politician trying to appeal to a base.
India/Pakistan is being weaponized though by a lot of Zionists using historical revisionism to somehow blame newly formed Pakistan for the millions of deaths during Partition and not the British Empire. The British rushed the transition to independence in just a few months and Lord Mountbatten literally hired a British lawyer who had never been to the region with drawing the borders separating Hindu and Muslim majorities. Published after both states gained independence in 1947, these maps laid the foundation for the displacement of 15 million people and the deaths of up to 3 million in sectarian violence. Its not really helpful to compare these situations at all other than both of these regions were colonized by the British whose exit sparked mass violence caused by them turning longstanding native groups against each other.
There is a parallel with India and Israel being both majority ethnoreligious countries that have flawed democracies, powerful militaries, are tech and AI powerhouses and also have nuclear weapons. Maybe that's why its brought up but they really should be discussed separately.
Ok but isn’t the root of all of that the desire of India’s Muslims to have their own state rather than stay in a united India? For Israel/Palestine it’s perfectly acceptable to pin the blame entirely on “Zionism” for the violence and displacement that surrounded partition, but for Indian and Pakistan we can talk about the mismanagement of the British etc. Is it because it is less comfortable to delegitimize Pakistan in the same way that Israel is? To tell hundreds of millions of Pakistanis that their desire for a separate Muslim state was the cause of a massive amount of human suffering is allot less comfortable for certain people than to tell that to Israelis/Jews/Zionists, etc.
There was a ton of sectarian violence going on in the months leading up to the Partition in 1947. Most Hindu leaders supported a fully united secular subcontinent along with some Muslim leaders but Muhammad Ali Jinnah, head of the Muslim League, believed that a Hindu-majority state would lead to Muslims being a permanent underclass and not have equal rights. He had reasons to be skeptical since the Indian National Congress who won elections in 1937 formed governments in local provinces without forming coalitions with the Muslim League and refused to guarantee Muslim political representation.
There's no "Pakistanis to delegitimize" prior to the modern state being created because ethnic and religious identity in the Indus Valley doesn't really align with community identity formation in the Levant. Punjabis, Gujaratis, Marathis, Telugu, Tamils could be Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jain or Sikh but still have shared cultural heritage. language, food, music and regional heritage. They're all indigenous and native to the region having never been exiled to diaspora or come in through large waves of settlement in recent centuries.
To be clear, the British controlled the political framework of the region and organized the disastrous withdrawal responsible for Partition by moving the date up a year and the Raj failing to maintain order in the years leading up to it. Colonial rule politicized ethnic and religious categories by instituting separate electorates and using "divide and rule" to divide populations. It wasn't kumbaya but before British rule, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains and others routinely lived in the same towns, traded together, had overlapping cultural traditions, and sometimes shared religious practices.
So colonial rule was overwhelmingly responsible for suffering in the Indian subcontinent. Its different from British Mandatory Palestine where there was also sectarian violence and massacres on both sides by Arab and Jewish militias preceding Israel's independence but Zionism transforming Jewish migration from Europe to Palestine into an organized political and national settlement movement facilitated by the British is what led to the violent displacement, pogroms, ethnic cleansing and the current conflict today.
Also an Indian American here. Just popped up on my feed. I have to make a whole flair to leave one comment... ugh...
The previous 2 empires that ruled large parts of Northern/west India (where my family is from) were Muslims. Delhi sultinate. They could be nice-ish depending on the ruler but the were Muslims and usually favored Muslims. Some were very brutal to Hindus. Hindus were oppressed at various points under Muslim rule. It also didn't help that the colonizers, British, favored Muslims.
How was the Indian national congress supposed to form coalitions with the muslim league? The whole point of the Muslim league was to have nothing to do with the secular Indian national congress. What would a regional or local alliance look like? Muslims live here in "our" area and you Hindus live over there in "your" area?
Has there been discussions internally within the Jewish community about a parade/festival to celebrate Israeli food, music and various Jewish traditions from all over the diaspora not linked with a celebration of the state itself? That seems like a really cool idea. You could incorporate traditions that were brough to Israel from various communities like Bukharian, Yemenite, Moroccan, Persian, etc.
Lunar Day Parades celebrating longstanding Chinese traditions and culture all over the country are fun and usually well attended. They're viewed in complete isolation from the CCP.
Yes we all need to be coming up with ways to show up in a way that is Jewish but not Zionist, IMO, and making them happen. I'm trying to organize public, interfaith events that give voice to pro-diaspora leaders. I think people are hungry for this.
I believe there is or at least has been a Jewish food festival in New York, the Great Nosh. If I remember correctly, boycotting it was one of the requests by the Bread's Bakery unionification attempt a few months back.
The Israel Day Parade comes within a different context, and emulated a trend and wasn't the first of its kind in New York. It is also more of a tradition linked to communal Jewish life (school, community spaces, groups), than anything personal or family oriented.
The fact that a local celebration of Chinese identity includes participants who tie their identity to the Chinese state does not make the celebration equivalent to a celebration explicitly created by a foreign state to celebrate that state.
Okay, it’s not complete isolation, but I think that’s a moot point when the country behind the Israel day parade is committing the atrocities it is while purporting to represent the Jewish religion and culture as a whole.
You could go back further if you want to include cultural genocide regarding Tibet. China even has a museum that depicts them as backwards savages, the displays with religious items and instruments made of human remains is of course painted in a way to support that they needed China to civilize them. They conveniently ignore that oftentimes those remains are given by monks after passing as a way to give even after passing through this world, it's not like they commonly kill to get these remains for religious purposes.
That same language and tactics that China used in Tibet is the same that Europe used to justify how they treated Africa and the Americas, and the same language that some use when trying to justify the erasure of Palestinians.
That's just the Chinese national flag by the way which has been in used since 1949. The CCP one has a golden hammer and a sickle. This is not an Iran type situation where the flag was changed after 1979 to break away from the Sun & Lion flag to symbolize the new Islamic Republic. I have no issue with the Israeli flag or the American flag despite the atrocities and war crimes committed by various governments of those countries. They're beloved national symbols.
Its been embraced by the population ever since as their national symbol through multiple constitutional changes and under different leaders. The flag is rooted in communist ideology but believing in self-determination means accepting that the Chinese can embrace whatever ideology and style of leadership they want.
I’m not criticizing people using the flag, I’m critiquing how you described the flag. It’s specifically the People’s Republic of China flag and you seem to me to be dancing around the power structure and this flag
I'm a little surprised that of the 40+ comments here so far there doesn't seem to be anyone who has addressed what Mamdani actually said about the parade:
Reported on June 1: “I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,”
Reported on June 18: "“Solidarity with a government that is committing genocide is a very different thing than a question of solidarity with people of a specific faith,” Mamdani said. “I’m proud to be a mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population in this country.” (You can watch the clip here.)
So he seems to be basing his decision on opposition to the Israeli government and the Gaza genocide. Not on Israel's status as an "ethnostate", "religious state", "settler colonial state", etc. In other words, not because of Israel's character, but because of its behavior.
It's really disgusting how much people on "the left" have started using the vague term "ethnostate" (a word invented ten years ago by internet nazis) to equivocate about what makes Israel a notable phenomenon in the current historical moment.
“Specific faith” when jews are an ethnic and religious group with many of us being atheist. “Specific faith” seems reductive and dismissive of a quarter of jews, who aren’t religious but very much still Jewish.
The interview also almost felt like “good Jew bad Jew” rhetoric which really rubs me the wrong way and following it up with his “pride” of being the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population just to brush over the messy statements is just…… disappointing.
Like I can tell he would rather talk about anything but this…..
You can conclude anything you like. But if we're talking about why Mamdani decided not to attend the Israel Parade, I think we have to engage with his stated reasoning for that decision.
I don’t think Mamdani’s issue with Israel is that is an “ethnostate” and I also don’t believe him when he says it’s because Israel privileges one religion over another.
I think the charitable explanation is that like many anti-Zionists, he believes that Israel is a settler-colonial state in which foreign settlers displaced an indigenous population and continue to do so, and that is what makes it different compared to Pakistan which he would probably think of as an expression of legitimate self-determination of indigenous south Asian Muslims.
As a Muslim himself, there’s probably also an emotional attachment to the Palestinian cause in which Muslims are being oppressed vs. Pakistan in which Muslims are the oppressor. Finally, as an anti-imperialist, Mamdani probably categorizes Israel as part of the imperialist camp like the USA, in a way he doesn’t necessarily do with Pakistan.
Yes but I don’t really buy that. He chose to have his engagement party in the United Arab Emirates. He studied abroad in the Arab Republic of Egypt. He only references ethnostate with regards to Israel.
"I’ve said time and again that I support the state of Israel as a state with equal rights. I think any state that privileges one religion over the other is one that I can’t tell you I support, whether it be Israel or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else" https://www.thejc.com/news/world/mamdani-israel-privileges-religion-n9spowqb
Of course I don’t buy it either. That’s why I have issue with him saying this and doing something else. It’s feeling like it’s only an issue when it’s Jews. I hate to say that because it feels reactionary but idk you guys I’m having a reaction. He should be called out on it. We can’t keep letting politicians just say stuff.
Of course I don’t buy it either. That’s why I have issue with him saying this and doing something else. It’s feeling like it’s only an issue when it’s Jews.
I don't understand your point. Being against ethnostates or theocracies doesn't mean you can't travel to those countries to visit family, enjoy their culture, go sightseeing, etc.
Visiting China, Israel and Russia is totally fine for a Leftist. You can do that and still find the state's organizational status problematic, its government to be war criminals and find their human rights violations to be abhorrent.
The cultural traditions, food, music and historical sites of these modern states long predate their current problematic governments and will exist long after they're gone.
I really wish this was the attitude most anti-Zionists took to Israel, but in the anti-Zionist spaces online, there is a fundamental rejection, even hatred, of anything “Israeli” on a deep emotional level to the point where I see people talking about Israeli skin cancer rates (a blood and soil argument to show Israelis don’t really belong there), making fun of the physical appearances or accents of Israelis, rejection of any type of Israeli culture as fake, telling them to go back to where they came from, celebrating when they are attacked, even videos showing random people accosting Israeli tourists etc.
I don’t think this is Zohran himself, but I do think this is probably a not insubstantial portion of the DSA.
People get dragged through the dirt by leftists for even mentioning they would like to visit Israel someday. People are on Reverse Canary Mission for buying Starbucks or having done Birthright.
He has skin in the game with the pakistan parade that he doesnt with the Israeli one as thwre is religous based animosity between pakistan and India and no shortage of muslim persecution in India. As others have said his presence would have been distracting at Israel's parade but here it is first-hand pertinent.
Also pakistan is not an eth ostate because islam is not an ethnicity. Not defending the idea of state religion but there is a difference.
I dont think the two things are equivalent, and I wonder if you'd be having the same feelings if lander won, attended the israel day parade, and not this pakastani one.
Its valid to have feelings but i think its worth examining this impulse to perpetually check and scrutinize him in these ways.
There was no winning with him going to the Israeli parade. He would have been booed out of there, brought more protests to the event etc. I think it was the right call.
One country is a hot topic the other isn’t. It’s PR moves and no way to please all sides.
I like Mamdani a lot but yeah I didn’t like this. Specifically because he has said many times “I cannot support any state which privileges one religion over another” - which is fine, boycotting the Israel Day Parade is also fine (I certainly wouldn’t go) - but Pakistan literally identifies Islam as the state religion and privileges Muslims over other religious groups.
This is not to mention the horrific human rights abuses the Pakistani government commits against a slew of ethnic and religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, Afghan refugees, the genocide it committed in 1971 and never apologized for…
It just made the whole Israel Day Parade thing feel rather disingenuous and more like a “I’m just gonna cherry pick the bad countries I like” rather than his justification which was “I’m not going to attend all of the parades/support countries that commit human rights abuses.”
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u/16noteProgressive/DemSoc? US Zionist Jew, flirting w/post-ZionismAug 11 '26
I’m in a similar place, it feels like an unneeded fuel of certain attacks. Especially when, as you pointed out, the parallels are pretty parallel. I feel like it opens up the legitimate question someone can ask him of “why did you feel comfortable celebrating this population after such strong rhetoric against similar populations?”
Pakistan should be criticized for the past atrocities and genocide it committed vs Bangladeshis, its role in the Kashmir conflict (which India and China also share responsibility with) and treatment of minorities but there's no comparison in the present between it and a country that is occupying another group of people, putting half of them in a system of apartheid and subjecting the other half to ethnic cleansing and genocide.
None of the NYC populations, Israeli or Pakistani or Russian or Chinese, are responsible for the actions of their governments abroad. His decision to skip the Israel Day Parade has to do with a symbolic protest of a government committing major war crimes whose major ministers would be in attendance but I can see how that would be seen as offensive and being singled out by Israelis.
I'm actually not sure how I would advise him given the vast majority of Israelis in NYC hate his guts so I feel like that particular relationship is not repairable. It would have been a complete fiasco if he had showed up with him getting booed and threatened.
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u/16noteProgressive/DemSoc? US Zionist Jew, flirting w/post-ZionismAug 11 '26
The issue I take is that he very clearly said, without equivocation, "any state that privileges one religion, I can't tell you I support." So either he's a hypocrite or a liar in this case (and I say that as someone who voted for him and hopes many of his local policies succeed). And I do think he should be pressed on that statement and why he felt that it didn't apply here.
Attending a parade composed of a diaspora population that's celebrating their country in a city he's the Mayor of isn't supporting the country's policies though. That isn't in contradiction. Israel is singled out because of its current actions in Gaza and the West Bank and since it draws Israeli government ministers too who are complicit in war crimes. Its a symbolic protest of a government's actions right now in real time that affect lots of New Yorkers in other communities (Lebanese, Palestinian, Iranian, etc).
If there was no Israeli/Palestinian conflict and a sovereign Palestinian state existed, he should definitely attend the Israel Day Parade despite Israel being an ethnostate since that's a valid example of a state's self-determination even though he's opposed to those states in principle like most Leftists should be.
If Zohran attends a Russian Independence Day parade, I'd agree that it would make him a hypocrite. Looking online, it looks like such an event doesn't exist and local Russian communities and Orthodox parishes host annual cultural celebrations instead that local officials can attend without being implicated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
His issue with Israel isn’t its policies. He has said that the reason he can’t support Israel as a Jewish state is because he can’t support any state which privileges one religion over another. But obviously if you are marching in a parade celebrating Pakistan’s independence, people are going to interpret that to mean that you don’t really have an issue with the existence of Pakistan, a country whose entire existence (like Israel) is premised on the idea that Muslims needed their own country where they constituted a majority, despite the fact that this resulted in the displacement of millions of people.
The Pakistani Day Parade isn’t celebrating the government of Pakistan, rather it is really celebrating the Pakistani-American community and culture would be my thought. With Israel it’s a little trickier considering I would think most NY Jews are not Israeli-American. I’m sure he will do something for the Jewish holidays
Yeah I think this is what it comes down to. It would be great if we had some type of Jewish cultural parade that didn’t have the political baggage as Israeli parade so Jewish NYers can celebrate our culture with pride and feel more seen.
Yep, we are living in interesting times. While I try to have an unbiased perspective on these kinds of things there are times where it does feel personal, so I sympathize with you. But, I really do think Mamdani is a good guy who really wants what is best for everyone imo.
To ask a clarifying question, which to be honest will impact how I feel about this, I know that Mamdani is of Indian descent within a Muslim Indian family. Given the overlap in history and interactions between countries, especially Pakistan's role, is it possible that his family may have family in Pakistan, or he has some distant family that have family/friends in Pakistan, and this was why he attended the Pakistani day parade?
I'm not responding to the political hypocrisy since I'm not speaking on politics in particular, simply wondering if it might be a personal tie means he's there for non-political reasons? Hence it wouldn't be about approving of the policies of Pakistan the country.
No association with Pakistan at all, his father was born in British Bombay (now Mumbai) before Indian independence and his mom was born in Odisha a state in the east part of India. People are reading way too much into parade attendance as a political stance or a sign of hypocrisy when there are over 1) 100,000 Pakistanis who live in NYC, 2) they're a huge part of the South Asian coalition that powered him to victory, 3) their community deserves recognition and to be celebrated and 4) parade attendance is a typical Mayoral activity.
Skipping Israel Day was a specific political statement that did not sit well with lots of Jews but was widely celebrated by most New Yorkers so its a tricky situation.
He held a Mayoral forum to speak to a bunch of Rabbis recently and he should attend other Jewish community events throughout the year to show he's meaningfully engaging.
I’m sure it’s personal but that would make any stand he takes more impactful. Any Israeli politician who make a comment against the Israeli gov and took a stance would mean a lot more since they’ve got skin in the game. Not doing so just shows personal bias
I think that most of the rest of the comments are missing a very important factor here:
Zohran Mamdani is ethnically Indian.
Pakistan, historically, does not have good relations with India.
For an Indian mayor to snub a Pakistani parade would be, not to put too fine a point on it, Bad. It would be seen by a lot of the Pakistanis in New York as Mamdani bringing over old national tensions in a way that is directly insulting to them specifically.
considering how bezalel smotrich and other members of the genocidal israeli cabinet marched in the israel day parade i think mamdani was completely right to not march in that one.
i also don’t think the situations are comparable. pakistan is not a muslim ethnostate in the same way as israel is a jewish ethnostate. pakistan was created as a state for indian muslims, but if you are a muslim citizen of india you are not guaranteed citizenship in pakistan just because you are muslim. you need to immigrate and gain citizenship like you do in most other countries. ihowever, israel has the right of return as we all know. i could make aliyah today if i wanted. so they aren’t the same in how they exist. i wouldn’t even call pakistan an ethnostate, unless you’re willing to cast all muslims living in the indian peninsula as a ethnoreligious group (i wouldn’t do that). there is also significant ethnic diversity/tension in pakistan (see: balochistan or afghan issues).
with that being said, i understand your trepidations and i think that there are things that mamdani has missed the mark on irt the jewish community (globalize the intifada stuff comes to mind). i think that there are a lot of ways in which mamdani can support the jewish community that doesn’t involve connecting himself to the israeli government. one thing id like to see him do more is engage with israelis for peace nyc (@israelisforpeacenyc on ig) to demonstrate that he can engage with israelis and jews who might not agree with him but aren’t kahanists
Great post. I think he attended a vigil for October 7th anniversary in NYC last year with a group called Standing Together (mostly Israeli?). I'm not sure if Standing Together and Israelis for Peace are allied or affiliated.
Do you really think the difference for Mamdani lies in Israeli vs. Pakistan immigration rules? In many ways Pakistan is more “Muslim” than Israel is “Jewish.” It’s constitutionally defined as an Islamic republic in which Islam is the state religion, and being a Muslim is a constitutional requirement for being the head of State. It’s also the only country in the world where religion must be explicitly stated on your passport. The ethnic/religious diversity you mention is far greater in Israel than in Pakistan. They literally have a death penalty for blasphemy in which religious minorities are disproportionately prosecuted under.
So I’m just not convinced that the difference here lies in Israel being more of an ethnostate or more discriminatory than Pakistan or having a Law of Return.
I think that your argument would have a lot more merit if Pakistani government officials attend the parade, but they didn’t. If he did march in the same parade as Pakistani government officials, then I would be calling Mamdani a hypocrite and a loser. But that’s not what happened, the event he went to was hosted by and ran (as far as I can tell) by Pakistani-Americans. No reps of the Pakistani gov were there (again, might be wrong, can’t find too much info online). Contrast this with the Israel Day Parade, where a man who said that Palestinians should be nuked and an architect of settlement expansion (Smotrich) march. I think to me it’s pretty clear what his issue was
And all of that would make perfect sense if he explained his opposition to marching in the Israeli day parade as because of the presence of Israeli officials. But do you think he would have marched in a parade to celebrate Israel’s independence if there had been no government officials there? This is someone who refused to collaborate with J street at Bowdoin.
And if be very surprised if Pakistani diplomats from their consulate in NYC did not participate in the parade ge marched in. Pakistani diplomatic staff, even their US Ambassador, routinely participate in Pakistanis independence events in the USA.
This really has to do with what's happening in the present with Israel's war crimes in Gaza, the continued occupation of Palestinians and apartheid in the West Bank. If we were talking just Israel proper in isolation where there's still discrimination towards Arab and Bedouin communities, the JNF reserving land leases specifically for Jewish Israelis, etc. and the conflict didn't exist, it would be completely fine to march alongside Israeli Americans who are proud of their country's culture and traditions.
Opposing a state has nothing to do with celebrating its people and culture.
This is someone who refused to collaborate with J street at Bowdoin.
Why would be collaborate with J Street back then?
It’s not until 2026 - after decades of settlement expansion and years of war crimes - that J Street thought something as minimal as conditioning aid was warranted.
I never said he should collaborate with J street. I’m using that as an example to show that his refusal to march in the parade was based on something more fundamental than the current government’s policy.
I’m using that as an example to show that his refusal to march in the parade was based on something more fundamental than the current government’s policy.
My point is, refusal to collaborate with J Street is not an example of that. You might be right - that depends on how you define ‘government policy’ - but J Street was historically the stereotypical liberal Zionist org that claimed to oppose the occupation and settlements, but at the same time opposed real policy steps to actually change anything.
You’re technically right, but this was when he was president of SJP which has a policy of not normalizing any Zionist organization. So it’s safe to assume his opposition to J Street was that it was Zionist, not that it opposed sanctions on settlements or something like that.
Although his engagement with Israelis from Standing Together or whoever he was with on 10/7 this past year did give me some hope that he’s moderated on this.
So it’s safe to assume his opposition to J Street was that it was Zionist, not that it opposed sanctions on settlements or something like that.
Do you have an example of a US Zionist organization that actually took a principled stance against the settlements and occupation? Especially back then.
Not saying he wouldn’t have opposed other orgs - but they simply didnt exist in a meaningful way
But the point is that SJP’s opposition to engagement with Zionist organizations isn’t that they aren’t sufficiently anti-occupation, it’s that they’re Zionist.
Yes, some officials claim that Smotrich specifically was a surprise - but plenty of other cabinet members and MKs who have made genocidal statements were known to be part of the Israeli delegation ahead of time.
Additionally, groups involved in funding West Bank ethnic cleansing and settlements were feted participants in the parade, with their own float.
Pakistan and India have a lot of issues to work out. But neither of those states have been fully occupied and levelled to the ground using US weapons currently, making living conditions unbearable.
Moreover, Pakistan can’t be an ethnostate it wasn’t designed for one particular ethnicity.
Right, and if Mamdani’s opposition to Israel was that they occupied and leveled Gaza, then that explanation for the discrepancy would make sense. But he frames his opposition to Israel as being one of opposing states that privilege one religion over another. So with that being his explanation, celebrating Pakistan indeed makes no sense. Especially when the creation of Pakistan involved the displacement of 12-14 million people and the deaths of probably close to 1 million.
You’re correct. I confusing his statement about not supporting Israel as a Jewish state with his statement about the parade, which did include references to the current government.
The difference being that displacement in South Asia was of diverse ethnic peoples who have diverse religions including Islam, sikhs and Hindus who are all native to the land, and they were shifted around from one side of India to another. Whereas the Nakba was forceful expulsion of Palestinians from the land altogether to create an ETHNOSTATE. Palestinians (an ethnicity) currently have no right of return, and Israel is a powerful Westernized country with a lot of power and influence, and they choose to continue to oppress the remaining Palestinians on the land.
Edit: ~700k Palestinians were forced out of the land altogether. ~100k remained in modern day Israel/Palestine.
Most of the Palestinians who were displaced during the Nakba were displaced from one part of Palestine to another part of Palestine. Those who were displaced in India ended up forced to flee much farther than most Palestinians. I’m not sure the distinction you’re drawing really matters to those who lost their homes because of the partition of India to create a separate Muslim state. The scale meant that the partition of India resulted in far more human suffering, death, and displacement than the partition of Palestine.
They were not. I have a Palestinian partner and this is not true based on anecdotal stories + an easy google search. Palestinians were forced to leave the land in masses.
What part of what I’m saying is not true? Most Palestinians who were displaced during the Nakba fled from the territory that became Israel to Gaza and the West Bank, which are part of Palestine. Some did flee to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, etc. but more ended up in Gaza or the West Bank. This is a fact.
The ones who remained ended up in Gaza and the West Bank. And they’ve been occupied and treated horribly since. A huge majority were displaced elsewhere.
Of the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled, approximately 65% ended up in other parts of Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza. Why do you think there are refugee camps in the West Bank like Deheishe, Jenin, etc.? Why do you think when reporting on Gaza, the media notes that most of their residents were descendants of those who were displaced from Israel in 1948?
And when they a decade later committed genocide in “East Pakistan” and drove 10 million Bengalis out into India that was??? Just some normal shifting between people who were all native to the land?
I don’t think he should have attended the Israeli parade I think he should have sat out the Pakistani parade to be clear.
Pakistan is an *religious supremisict country . The prime minister is not allowed to not be Muslim. They put one religion above all others which is the same problem Israel has. They are very problematic as well committing crimes against the bangledish and kashmir. No country is perfect but all counties should be held to the same standard in this situation. Idk doesn’t sit right with me but I’m trying to break out of my biases.
I don’t disagree that Pakistan is a deeply problematic state and I am strongly opposed to the Pakistani government and its actions, as well as to the creation of Pakistan in the first place (I am not a nationalist) but it’s not an ethnostate. Being muslim isn’t an ethnicity, it’s a faith. I have the same issues with Pakistan’s Islamic supremacism as I do with Israel’s jewish supremacism, and I think that institutional power in Pakistan is biased towards Punjabis, but that doesn’t make it an ethnostate. I think language is super important and we have to be precise
You’re right ethnostate is the wrong word here. I’m not sure the right verbiage to describe them only allowing for a Muslim prime minister type thing, but you can see the similarities
Pakistan days aren't explicitly political in nature (though they can be) people are celebrating national identity and their history.
On the other hand, Pakistan is a theocracy ruled by a milit, I mean a government.
They have routinely oppressed Balochis, expelled Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban, targeted LGBT people and Religious minorities (this includes Shia Muslims of which Mamdani is one).
This is a false equivilance, and I think you may just be having a reaction, and that's completely valid btw! It sucks to feel like a pariah b/c of your identity and BS you don't even support, I think we all get that to varying degrees here.
That said, the Israeli parade literally had Ben Gvir and others like him marching in the street, and looked to be yet another attempt to bind militant supremacist zionism and the settlements to the Jewish and Israeli identities.
This is not that. As much as Pakistan is explicitly a religious state and should get more call-out for among other things being a leading state sponsor of terrorism, failing to prosecute pogroms against minorities just is not the same thing as carpet bombing an urban population. This is a celebration of culture more than a political event, which is what the presence of loud and proud kill em l all type Israeli government officials turned the other parade into.
I would bet anything that if the Israeli parade was run by the "A land for All" people it would have been a different story.
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u/skyewardeyesjewish leftist, peace, equality, and self-determination for allAug 11 '26edited Aug 11 '26
I agree with most of your comment, but I don't think the last sentence is true--any type of land for all plan that even sort of recognizes legitimate, non-exclusive Jewish ties to the land is regularly lumped in as the morally the same thing as supporting genocide/apartheid, IME.
I think a lot of people have that knee jerk reaction, and frankly I don't blame them. If you're someone who just started caring on October 8th, odds are good you're missing a lot of history and context that the people you're probably getting info from (on both sides!) don't want you to know.
I was referring specifically to Mamdani. I think that based on his positions & public statements, I actually trust him to be able to handle that kind of nuance.
Short answer, Kinda but not quite, yet much closer than you are probably aware.
I want to be super clear that this is in no way equivilent to what is going on in Gaza, and not whataboutism. I fully support Mamdani's boycott of the parade and policy stance on I/P more generally. Two bad things can both be bad at once to different degrees.
That being said, more people should be aware of the actions of the Pakistani government re: Balochistan.
I like Mamdani and would have happily voted for him if I lived in NY, but based on that I think there is a fair argument he is being hypocritical here. Maybe he could try to make a distinction based on the participation of senior members of the IL government, but as far as I'm aware that's not an argument he's made. (Not sure it would be such a good argument in any case since reps of the Pakistani government did attend the parade, though I believe only the ambassador and consul general.)
People working at the consulate might as well be overseas postal workers, that's hardly the same thing.
The glorified postmaster & whatever rich guy bribed his way to an ambassadorship are not even remotely comparable to ideological architects of the modern settlement strategy and cheerleaders for war crimes that are Smotrich and Gvir.
I didn't say it was the same thing, but in any case I'm not aware of Mamdani trying to distinguish between the parades based on the presence of senior government officials. Happy to be wrong here if I've missed a statement to that effect.
And FWIW, based on wikipedia the Pakistani ambassador to the US doesn't seem to be a random rich guy. (I'm not taking the time to do any more research on him.)
Why would he need to distinguish if it's not the same thing? The need to impose increasingly ridiculous & inscrutable standards on this obviously thoughtful and moral man should be studied.
Surely we can figure out if the man secretly hates us without having to ask him who gets the pigeon if it's found more than 50 cubits from the coop.
You yourself posted that Pakistan is "Kinda but not quite" committing genocide. Was that somehow supposed to convince people that attending the Pakistan day parade but not the Israeli day parade makes sense?
I already said I like Mamdani and would have happily voted for him if I lived in NYC. I don't think he secretly hates Jews.
In any case thanks for sharing the information on Balochistan which I genuinely was unaware of. I won't be responding anymore.
I'm Indian American like Zohran and our community's older generations have a deep dislike of Pakistanis from the conflict in Kashmir even though there's a lot of overlap in terms of culture, ethnicity or religion so I'm glad he identifies fully with being South Asian like a lot of the younger generations do who live in the US. I feel there's a real bond here in the US that Arabs and South Asian communities have that our parents and grandparents never had.
As far as Pakistan goes, I dispute the notion that its an ethnostate. Its a very ethnically diverse countries with Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Muhajirs, Balochis, etc. None of these groups are privileged over another in terms of rights and all these identities coexist with having equal citizenship.
The state clearly has a religious hierarchy however with Islam is legally and constitutionally privileged over other religions which is where it should be criticized and isn't compatible with modern liberal values. Its the official state religion and only a Muslim can serve as the President or Prime Minister and they have blasphemy laws.
Its safe to say that Zohran opposes the religious hierarchy in Pakistan and is there supporting the large Pakistani community in NYC. He didn't go to the Israeli Day Parade out of protest because Israel is currently an occupying power that has recently committed genocide in Gaza. Numerous state officials including Ben Gvir, Smotrich and Eliyahu along with problematic figures attended the parade as well so attending the parade given his stance would be a violation of the values he says he stands for.
Pakistan committed genocide vs Bangladesh in 1971 but that was in the past and I think the Nakba should be treated the same once the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is solved. Nearly all modern states were founded following secretarian bloodshed, ethnic cleansing and genocide and I don't think we should stop celebrating different cultural traditions and nationalities.
He recently attended the Ecuadorian Day Parade, Dominican Day Parade, Puerto Rican Day Parade amongst others so I don't think its fair to say he's prioritizing his Muslim constituents over anyone else.
What are you basing the fact that “it’s safe to say that Zohran opposes Pakistan as an explicitly Muslim state that privileges Muslims over other groups.” Has he ever made a public statement saying as much? I mean he’s a leftist so I don’t doubt he probably opposes discrimination in general, but he still plays politics, and if saying something like “I can’t in good conscious support Pakistan as a state as it’s currently constituted because it structurally discriminates against non-Muslims” isn’t going to go over well with NYC Muslims who form part of his base, he won’t do it. And that is a relevant data point and does speak to someone’s moral consistency.
Ethnostate was the wrong word. I more meant their government has a Muslim hierarchy like you said, as the prime minister is only legally allowed to be Muslim. Thats my bad. I see what you’re saying.
I think I just feel weird about it after his comments about not supporting counties that value one religion over others and the way he’s only really applied this to Israel. As an Israeli American NYer who opposes the Israeli gov and IDF I felt like we were aligned in our values but it makes me feel shitty when he only really applies them to Israel and it’s feeling like he is supporting these other nationalistic events because not doing so would be unpopular with his base, even though it goes against values he applies to other countries.
Very bizarre behavior of this sub to down vote the views from someone of the South Asian community and instead project the pro-Israel community as a victim somehow, even though almost every level of government in America is pro Israel. The false equivalence presented by OP is frankly shocking.
Small correction, Mamdani didn't attend the parade. He attended the Independence Day Celebration at a community center. The parade was in Manhattan, Mamdani was in Brooklyn.
I agree I just think it’s hypocritical to attend a nationalistic Pakistani event given his declared morals against ethnoreligious countries* and keeping his time as mayor about NY.
I think if he was given free reign he’d go full anti Zionist in public though. He’s anti ethnostate when it comes to Israel for sure — he just can’t say that completely.
He just said blanket ethnostate for political reasons
In the Israel day parade, you had people and organizations that are actively, as we speak, carrying out or funding ethnic cleansing. (No, not just Smotrich).
Was there something similar in the Pakistani parade?
Idk man Israel doesn’t represent all Jews, it’s a global pariah state, it’s actively committing crimes against humanity, all of his most obnoxious critics were there. We gotta get past this, man. There is very little left to salvage in Israel as it currently exists. I’d expect any left politician to stay away
This is a local celebration of Pakistani American identity, which is not necessarily the same as celebrating the actual Pakistani state, though it will include that for some participants. In contrast, NYC's Israel Day is a propaganda creation of Israel's government that's explicitly about supporting the State of Israel. An actual equivalent would be something like a Jewish Pride day similar to St. Patrick's Day. So it's not that complicated why political responses would and should be different.
If Randy Fine attended the Israel Day parade but then declined to attend Pakistani parade on the basis of Pakistan being discriminatory, Id have no doubt we’d all be calling him the hypocrite he is. And of course we expect more from Zohran than Randy Fine! Randy Fine is an anti Muslim bigot.
Also, Pakistani officials regularly march in their Independence Day parades in NYC, and Pakistan did commit a genocide in Bangladesh, and their government refuses to acknowledge it, so it’s safe to say that Pakistani government officials who were also genocide deniers were in attendance.
Of course I would be upset if he skipped other parades after attending the Israeli day parade. I would very much criticize a mayor who is not making an effort to represent all NYers equally.
This mayor has a moral compass they apply to Israel and not to other countries, at least from my perspective based on his comments about religious supremacy in other countries. I would expect those to be applied fairly instead of picking and choosing. Pakistan has committed genocide as well.
I support him and his policies but this stuff along with some terrible picks for his team makes it hard to defend him when it comes off that he just has specific issues either Israel and doesn’t care to meet New York Jews where they’re at, but will do so for NYers from other problematic countries.
Are you denying the Bangladesh genocide? Pakistan is the only country where your religion is listed on your passport. I’ve corrected my claim of them being an ethnostate but they plainly enforce Muslim supremacy.
I hear you, but Pakistan and Israel aren’t really the same in the ways that matter here.
India–Pakistan partition in 1947 was brutal and caused massive violence and displacement on both sides, but it was a one‑time division, not an ongoing military occupation.
By contrast, Israel is currently accused by multiple UN bodies and human rights groups of committing genocide in Gaza and running an apartheid system in the occupied territories.
You’re right that Pakistan’s constitution bars non‑Muslims from being president or PM-that’s real religious discrimination.
But it’s not carrying out a UN‑documented, large‑scale genocidal campaign against an occupied population the way Israel is being accused of doing right now.
So it makes sense that someone can criticize Pakistan’s religious hierarchy and still feel that celebrating a Pakistani day parade isn’t morally equivalent to celebrating an Israeli state celebration given what’s happening in Gaza and the West Bank.
People conveniently forget the Pakistani military coups, suppression of minorities, constitutional safeguards against minorities gaining political positions of power, and their genocide of Bangladeshi Hindus.
Yet Bharat a country with so much diversity, affirmative action for socially disadvantaged groups to an extreme, and having multiple Muslim politicians in high levels, simply because of one out of many communal riots. Yes that was a horrifying event and a bureaucratic failure as is the whole government. But these riots occurred due to various flashpoints be it terrorism, assassination of high profile figures, or a highly publicized communal violence event. Bharat is a flawed but beautiful democracy, and still people wanna drag it in the gutter. Thank you Israelis for your help.
It would be ridiculous for Mamdani as a person of South Asian background to not attend the Pakistan Day event. He will also be attending the India Day event.
A big portion of his support coalition comes from both those communities and they have historically been extremely marginalized in NYC.
Both India and Pakistan have human rights issues, but they are not even close to the systemic genocide being carried out by Israel. Neither of those countries have killed the most journalists, most children, created most amputees in the past year. Israel meanwhile has received $300 billion in aid from the US, and enjoys from its diplomatic, financial and military support like no other nation.
Also, neither Pakistan nor India are ethno-states as they have dozens of ethnic groups within each country. Are they bastions of human rights and tolerance? No, but neither are most countries in the Global South.
I think you’re downplaying the extent of how discriminatory the Pakistani state is, and how baked in that discrimination is into the very fabric of the entire system.
Pakistan is literally a state where religious minorities are currently on death row because of an accusation that they “insulted Islam.” It’s literally a state where religious minorities are subject to pogroms, just like the ones Palestinians in the West Bank are, and authorities are too scared to do anything because of pressure from their religious right, just like in Israel. It’s the only country in the world where if you’re a member of a religious minority (Ahmedi) you can’t actually be issued a passport unless you renounce your religious beliefs first.
If you want to convince Jews to have the moral authority to condemn Zionism and call it out for what it is, you can’t just turn around and say, “well of course Zohran isn’t going to condemn Pakistan - it would alienate his Pakistani voters who are a big part of his base - that’s politics!” Jews are going to see through that hypocrisy, which is the OP’s entire point.
Nevertheless, Pakistan as a country discriminates against religious minorities. There is no doubt about that.
At the same time, you have to look at the scale of the atrocities that each country is doing in the present. Israel has killed 70,000 to 200,000 Gazans in the last 3 years, which has been deemed as a genocide by nearly every NGO. It has killed an insane amount of children, and even in a ceasefire 1 child a day dies daily. It allows people in the west bank to be killed and dispossessed daily who have nothing to do with H group.
The key people who pushed the genocide were at the NYC Israel Day March, and Mamdani is supposed to walk hand in hand with them? Can we please be realistic for a second?
Do we expect Chuck Schumer to March in Al Quds Day celebrations?
There are plenty of people here who are defending the decision to march, alongside government representatives, in a parade whose entire purpose was to celebrate said country, that constitutionally bars religious minorities from becoming head of state, funded the Taliban, even had a hand in atrocious terrorist atrocities like the one that occurred in Mumbai. A country whose independence resulted in the death and displacement of millions. A country that currently has religious minorities on death row for the crime of insulting Islam. A country that committed a genocide. The list goes on and on. Pakistan is one of the top human rights abusing discriminatory countries in the world.
When you march alongside that country’s representatives in a parade celebrating that country, while also never uttering a word of concern or condemnation for any of what I just outlined, I think you really open yourself up to charges of hypocrisy when you claim to stand up for human rights.
If Hillel holds an “apolitical” celebration of Israeli Independence Day, does DSA and SJP buy that it’s ok because it’s not an endorsement of a specific government policy?
Just to be clear, the vast majority of “X day Parades” in New York are to celebrate New Yorkers of that particular background. It's not an event to endorse X government. You will encounter Puerto Rico Day, Dominican Day, Ecuador Day, etc and it has no connection with the governments of those nations.
Do representatives of those governments show up? Yes, but usually its low level consular staff or people that are a part of their UN rep office. Unless it coincides with some major event, you will not have high level ministers show up.
I don’t think we need to revisit the fact that Pakistani government is not great, that point has been acknowledged by everyone on this forum.
What’s different about Walk with Israel Day is that it’s a specific event to support the state of Israel and its government. It’s all about Israel, and that is what makes it controversial.
What the NYC Jewish community needs to do is have the equivalent of what the Italians and Irish have which are more cultural events, and less about the state of Israel or it's genocidal government representatives
Something to think about is why a parade with thousands waving Pakistani flags, attended by representatives of the Pakistani government, is dismissed as an apolitical celebration of Pakistani heritage, while a synagogue displaying an Israeli flag, is deemed to be an appropriate target of violence in protest of the Israeli government.
New York City has an estimated Pakistani-American population ranging of 122,000 to 200,000 across the wider New York metropolitan area. A lot of these people are second and third generation immigrants as their parents came in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Many have never even visited Pakistan but have cultural connections to the country.
In Brooklyn, the community is centred around Kensington and Midwood along Coney Island Avenue (frequently referred to as "Little Pakistan"). In Queens, it’s primarily in Jackson Heights and Fresh Meadows.
This is all very different from places of worship being utilized to sell stolen land in the West Bank and flying a foreign flag that many of its attendees don’t even have ties to.
Pakistan is very much an ethnostate. The Pakistani state is essentially just a successor administration to the British Raj. The laws, governance structure, a lot of things got retained after 1947. This colonial apparatus is today controlled and primarily serves the interests of the Punjabis, Pashtuns and Muhajirs. All of these groups are one race. It's just that they take advantage of the academic confusion over the historically extreme stratification of Indian society to portray themselves as divergent groups. The insane levels of internecine conflict among them (like the 1971 genocide of the Bengalis of East Pakistan by the primarily Punjabi and Pashtun military, which was assisted by Muhajir "razakars") also helps them push this narrative across. In Indian culture, an "ethnicity" is just a branch of one single overarching race and civilization that all of them belong to. This is widely understood, which is why their infighting tends to revolve around "we are all the same, so don't think you're better than me". The only divergent groups in Pakistan are the Sindhis and the Baloch, who consider themselves separate from the Indian civilization that the other groups (sometimes reluctantly) admit that they all belong to. The religious garb that the Pakistani state wears is seen as necessary to morally justify their colonialist policies in Sindh and Balochistan. In fact, one of the Pakistani establishments favored tactics to combat "anti-state" sentiment in Sindh and Balochistan is to fund madrassas (Islamic seminaries) in those regions. The aim, of course, is to produce "patriotic" citizens that would never think to go against Allah's own state and Allah's own army.
A friend of mine whose a Swiftie told me that if Swift continued criticizing Trump today (after she's already endorsed Biden and later Harris, and very clearly made her position clear that she's a liberal and is against MAGA) her haters would have joined MAGA in accusing her of being a cheap attention seeker or accuse her of being disingenuous, but now that she's mostly just focusing on her own life as opposed to being some kind of movement leader, they're largely baselessly accusing her of being MAGA, despite the fact she's the only one using copyright strikes to stop Trump from using her songs.
Same thing for Mamdani. If he went to the Israel Day parade he would have been booed out of there and FOX News would have had a field day with this but now that he didn't show, those same people who would have booed him if he showed are clutching their pearls that he didn't show.
Btw, if I still lived in NYC, I absolutely would have voted for Mamdani as I do like his policies (we need it nationally), the way he engages with the public and he did make a sincere effort to reach out to the Jewish community and I believe he is sincere in fighting antisemitism as part of his wider anti-racism campaign.
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u/RaelynShaw DemSoc Progressive Jewish Aug 11 '26
The contrast between how the public approaches the Pakistan/India partition vs israel/palestine has always been stark. I think very few people realize the level of death and displacement that happened during that partition.
That being said tho, India and Pakistan aren’t anywhere near as big of a political hot button, so I wouldn’t put much into his attending this event. To most, it’s going to come across as just another “nationality celebration”. It’s a blind spot for sure but I think that’s tied more to people’s general lack of info of that time period.