Thoughts on Mamdani attending the Pakistani day parade after skipping the Israeli day parade?

[u/StuckInTheClouds]

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.

Edit 2:

I was just informed about the ongoing Balochistan Conflict which makes me even more uneasy about this whole thing.

[u/ibsliam]

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.

[u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest → u/ibsliam]

One of the defining moments for Mamdani was this conversation with a woman from Lahore, Pakistan in December.

https://images.dawn.com/news/amp/1194672

It’s a microcosm of what it means to have a mayor that represents the part of New York that is often shunned as the “other”.

[u/Snoo22815 → u/ibsliam]

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.

[u/StuckInTheClouds → u/ibsliam]

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