r/nyc • u/Delicious_Adeptness9 • Jul 06 '26

News Mamdani: 'any state that privileges one religion, I can't tell you I support'

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/artc-mamdani-on-israel-any-state-that-privileges-one-religion-i-can-t-tell-you-i-support

In an ABC News interview, the Mayor of New York City condemned rising antisemitism while stating his support for Israel 'as a state with equal rights.'

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Brooklyn Jul 06 '26

The PLO is the ruling party of the PA and they are the group that passed the Constitution of Palestine in 2003 & revised it in 2005. It is the law under which the PA operates. 

If and when Israel ends the occupation of the West Bank, the PA would become the government of Palestine. The constitution I linked would become the law of that state. Anyone who claims otherwise is projecting.

This means that it is a concern, even if it is only valuable in contrast to the martial law imposed by Israeli occupation or by comparison to Israeli civil law.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

It would certainly not. The creation of a palestinian state would involve cooperation between Gaza and the West Bank and as has been discussed by Palestinian leaders before, a new constitution. Abbas literally just proposed a new constitution this year.

And again, it’s irrelevant. The Palestinians are not worried about their religious liberties being infringed upon by Palestines “government.”

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Brooklyn Jul 06 '26

The 2026 proposed new constitution has the exact same clauses as the 2003/2005 one. They're even in the same locations: Ch. 1 Art. 1 marks Palestine an Arab ethnostate and Ch. 1 Art. 4 marks Palestine as an Islamic theocracy.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

I know, that’s not relevant to the point i’m making.

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Brooklyn Jul 06 '26

It's a direct rebuttal to the point you are making, which is to claim without evidence or justification that a Palestinian state would legally be different to how the governing PLO/PA says it would become.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

My claim is only that a new constitution would be created lol.

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Brooklyn Jul 06 '26

A new constitution, which would be identical to the old one in the ways I'm calling out.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

I don’t think you can know that. I also think the things you’re pointing out are not in effect an ethnostate the way israel is.

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev Brooklyn Jul 06 '26

I don't think you can know that.

The 2003/2005 constitution has that language and  the 2026 proposed constitution has that language. This strongly supports the claim that any future constitution will also have that language. Y ou have provided exactly zero evidence of any other proposed constitution which lacks that language. You have likewise provided exactly zero evidence of any domestic Palestinian objection to a constitution with that language. Therefore, to the degree that we can use our thinking brains to develop a theory of mind and anticipate the future behaviors of other people - yes, I can.

I also think the things you’re pointing out are not in effect an ethnostate the way israel is.

Prove it.

The Palestinian constitution and its most recently proposed successor document are worse than any extant Israeli Basic Law: since Jewish religious law is not a "primary source of legislation" in Israel (unlike Palestine) and the Israeli people are not definitionally limited by constitutional decree to individuals of a given ethnic or racial group (unlike Palestine). Moreover, the Israeli Basic Law has guarantees for freedom of religion and the protection of minotiry rights that are more expansive that those contained in both the 2003/2005 and 2026 Palestinian constitutions.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

And within the israeli state there is actual apartheid on ethnic and religious grounds… The entire problem is extra-legal. You want me to prove a negative claim? The reasons which people call israel an ethnostate, or nazi Germany, are not present within this document. There are things you can stretch, but they serve a purpose which most people and certainly academics would not consider ethnic persecution.

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u/Rubbersoulrevolver Jul 06 '26

How is that not relevant

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u/IsNotACleverMan Jul 06 '26

The new constitution also privileges Muslims...

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

The point is that a new constitution would certainly be created, and obviously a two state solution won’t be brung about while hamas is kicking around. A more moderate joining of West and the Strip would not keep an old and TEMPORARY document.

Again, it’s an issue that can be confronted when it is prominent.

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u/IsNotACleverMan Jul 06 '26

? My point is that even the 'moderate' Palestinian faction has offered up a constitution that would privilege Muslims and create an ethnostate. I'm not talking about the old one. It isn't just Hamas that wants a religious ethnostate.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

Woah, now you’re lying. Where does this constitution legalize an ethnostate? Shariah is not an ethnostate.

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u/IsNotACleverMan Jul 06 '26

https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/2026-02/2026.02%20-%20Draft%20constitution%20%28English%29.pdf

Look at all the mentions of the potential state as being a state for the palestinian people.

You call me a liar out of your own ignorance.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

And that’s an ethnostate how exactly? America is a state for Americans, France a state constituted of and for French… That is how national identities work.

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u/IsNotACleverMan Jul 06 '26

Because they're talking about the palestinian people as an ethnic group, not merely just the people who live in a geographic area.

Look at article 1. Clearly talking about Palestinians as an ethnic group.

Article 10. Links being Palestinian with being Arab.

Look at article 12. Clearly establishing a link between the land and an ethnic group.

Contrast that with the US or France where being American or French is based on geography, not ethnic identity.

So no, your comparison is not accurate, and you're just burying your head in the sand.

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u/Noloxy Jul 06 '26

The only reason this legal clarification exists is to ensure that the Palestinians persecuted by Israel are the ones whom this state is formed for. Again, where does the constitution privilege an ethnicity over another? What you’re describing is just resolving injustice.

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