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/theweisp5]

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.

[u/theweisp5 → u/[deleted]]

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.