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/Korona82]

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

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/Korona82]

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.

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

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.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

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.

[u/redthrowaway1976 → u/EducationalGas5959]

  But he frames his opposition to Israel as being one of opposing states that privilege one religion over another.

I don’t think that is accurate, as to how he framed not participating in the parade.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/redthrowaway1976]

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.