Horseshoe Hell

Children Of Israel Are Never Alone

Hey, beloved tribe.

I have a friend who’s made much of her career as a Democratic political strategist. After the primary elections in NYC this week, I turned to her substack, Freshly Baked Hell, to read her commentary on what I consider the Mamdani Debacle. But I saw that she hadn’t written since the 6th — and then I remembered she was in our homeland.

“I hope you’re still in Israel,” I messaged her, “instead of in sackcloth and ashes in NYC.”

I envied her distance. It feels inexpressibly good to leave the country right now. Even though I was steeped in a different chapter of antisemitism in Italy — where there was plenty of anti-Israel graffiti, because it seems the whole entire world has decided that one group of people, and one alone, is the only one anywhere on this globe that matters — and I was experiencing ghettos and Shoah memorials and plaques from previous centuries still in place on walls with their injunctions against Jews — at least I was away from the horseshoe hell of America, where the left is in apparent competition against the right to see which can be more destructive, bigoted and hateful.

But I’m back, where I feel forced to take on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly — but I’m going to reverse the order so that we can end on the most hopeful note I can muster.

Fam, in this newsletter, in this order, I will cover the Ugly, the Bad and the Good as they relate to the NYC primaries.

So: the ugly. Of all the victories on Tuesday, none is more disturbing to me than that of Darializa Avila Chevalier.

Or to put it another way, none is more disturbing than the defeat of Adriano Espaillat.

Representative Espaillat was a power broker in his former position, and in my opinion, his political profile was as good as it gets.

He was a five-time incumbent.

The Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The first Dominican-American to serve in Congress.

For that matter, the first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress.

He had a long track record as a public servant, spending nearly two decades acquiring invaluable political experience, first as a member of the New York State Assembly and then the New York State Senate.

Moreover, he’s a longtime champion of a range of issues Mamdani professes to care about. He’s worked for years to fund affordable housing. He’s also proven mightily effective at economic development, working to convert the defunct Kingsbridge Armory into a vibrant community center, an undertaking expected to drive billions in revenue for NYC and generate thousands of jobs. He also secured funding to extend the Second Avenue Subway.

He’s taken measures to curb gun violence.

He’s a passionate advocate for immigrant rights.

He’s a champion of labor, spearheading legislation to allow daycare providers to organize.

Mamdani recognized all this, which is why he initially planned to endorse Espaillat.

So why didn’t he? Lo and behold, he found a candidate he considered even stronger.

One wonders why, during a fascist takeover of the country, Mamdani would devote his energy and effort to ousting a devoted, progressive and very effective public servant like Espaillat. One would think his preferred candidate was a superstar. Her qualifications remarkable. Her positions unassailable. Her mission offering an undreamed-of vision of benefit to the city.

So who is Darializa Avila Chevalier? What has she accomplished? What formidable track record does she bring to the table?

It turns out Chevalier is a grad student. With no political experience other than organizing anti-Israel protests at Columbia. And a whole lot of incendiary rhetoric.

She has posted calls to abolish police altogether.

To abolish prisons altogether.

To abolish borders altogether.

To abolish deportation altogether, even for the most violent criminals.

To seize private property from landlords.

She has labeled Joe Biden a rapist.

She has characterized interracial relationships with white woman as “fetishizing ugly colonizer women.”

She has stated that “Israel doesn’t exist.”

She joined the DSA rally celebrating Hamas’ massacre on October 8th in Times Square.

She campaigned with Hasan Piker and Mahmoud Kahlil.

And apparently that’s all Mamdani needed to take down a tireless, progressive, effective public servant like Adriano Espaillat. The latter made the fatal mistake of being pro-Israel. And it would seem that nothing else mattered.

So much for focusing solely on what’s good for NYC, as Mamdani constantly claims to do.

Only slightly less disturbing is the defeat of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso by Claire Valdez.

Here, too, we had Mamdani working to defeat a longstanding incumbent, a popular figure with very progressive politics and deep roots in his district. Reynoso wants to abolish ICE. He wants to tax the rich. To make the police more accountable to the public. He, too, has worked to make housing more affordable, as well as to curb overdevelopment in Bushwick and protect the manufacturing sector.

Valdez, at least, has some minimal political experience, having served since 2025 — that is, of course, last year — in the New York State Assembly. But more importantly, she deploys the “G-word” with abandon. She wants to block all aid to Israel, even for purely defensive measures like the Iron Dome.

And again, that was enough for Mamdani to favor her over Reynoso.

And finally, the Mamdani-backed Brad Lander defeated incumbent Representative Dan Goldman, making Mamdani’s record of taking down dedicated progressives already in office three out of three.

Dan Goldman is a champion of reproductive rights for women. He wants to increase the national miminum wage. He wants universal child care. He wants paid family leave. He wants corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He’s a champion of organized labor.

Why did such a figure inspire Mamdani to spend time and effort driving him out of office? I’m sure you’ve figured it out. He’s pro-Israel, while Brad Lander — though describing himself as a “liberal Zionist” — regularly applies the genocide and apartheid libels to Israel, and he also favors ending all support to the Jewish nation — again, even for the Iron Dome, which does nothing but protect citizens from attack.

I ask you: with “Zionists” like this, who needs antizionists?

When Mamdani won his own election, Jews were assured that despite his abject hatred of Israel, his focus would be on helping New York. We were told that he wasn’t a national figure; he was merely the mayor of a single city, and he didn’t have the power to reshape American politics.

While I readily recognized that he was no friend of ours, I also resisted the knee-jerk demonization of him that many of my siblings indulged in.

But at this point, I don’t think we can deny that his anti-Israel crusade is, in fact, front and center in his ambitions and apparently a litmus test that other local candidates need to pass to get his powerful support.

Okay, fam: as I stated at the outset, I planned to conclude this newsletter with the redemptive and good, but I see that this column is already quite long.

So I promise to devote tomorrow’s entire newsletter to the good — and there is some, I promise. And it will serve the dual purpose of bringing us into Shabbat on a uplifting note.

Till tomorrow, then — and, as always, much love and strength in the meantime.

Am Yisrael Chai.