Brad Lander’s Zionism-Without-Zionism

Dan Goldman is the only sincere Zionist in the race for NY-10. He's trailing Brad Lander by more than thirty points.

Brad Lander, right, with Zohran Mamdani before the two appeared together on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, June 23, 2025. (Brad Lander/X)

Brad Lander is poised to beat Congressman Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for New York’s tenth district, covering Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. In fact, “beat” may be underselling things: polls show the upstart former city comptroller trouncing incumbent Goldman by over 30 points.

The curious thing about the race is that both candidates describe themselves as Zionists, a rarity in the post-October 7 Democratic Party, and Israel has become a dividing line in the contest to represent this deep-blue district.

On one side, Goldman is an impassioned believer in the existence of a Jewish homeland.

“I have a very strong support for the state of Israel, for its right to exist as a Jewish state, the only Jewish state in the world,” the congressman told reporters in January. When Hamas struck Israel two years ago, Goldman was actually in the country to celebrate a family Bar Mitzvah.

Now, Representative Goldman is no Netanyahu ally, despite what Lander would have voters believe. He co-sponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act, which would sanction settler terrorists, and he’s appealed directly to President Trump to go after Israeli vigilantes in the territories. Dan Goldman has spoken out on Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes and called for a ceasefire in Gaza as early as February of 2024. More recently, he opposed the US-Israel-led war in Iran.

On paper, Goldman would be right at home with J Street (which endorsed Goldman, while labeling his opponent as “primary approved,” a cop out that feels very… Brad Lander).

Still, Lander is even harsher, accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid.

Naturally, I disagree with Brad Lander, but this isn’t even why I dispute his Zionism. One could, in theory, believe that Israel has committed genocide, that it is practicing apartheid, and that a Jewish state nevertheless has the right to exist in certain borders—the bare minimum to call oneself a Zionist.

The problem is that Lander doesn’t actually seem to believe in a Jewish state. Lander finds his place in the Jewish community among avowedly anti-Zionist groups. This includes groups like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, which outlines its position as follows: “Rather than orienting around Zionism, JFREJ is rooted in Diasporism.”

Or, take IfNotNow, which claims Lander as a “card-carrying member.” The leftist protest group lists among its principles a commitment to “grappling together with apartheid, Zionism, and the state of Israel”—Zionism and Israel listed alongside apartheid as pejoratives.

Then, of course, there is Lander’s alliance with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, perhaps America’s most prominent anti-Zionist politician. Without relitigating last year’s mayoral campaign, it bears reminding that Mamdani is not someone whose anti-Zionism is just one belief among many; opposition to a Jewish state formed the core of his activist career, even before October 7 and the Gaza War.

Lander has spoken of “disagreements” with Mamdani, though he often seems to skirt the meat of those disputes. These days, he seems most at ease campaigning alongside the mayor. Lander calls it “Jewish-Muslim partnership;” generously, I might describe Lander’s role in Mamdani’s court as being a controlled opposition. At this point, the only use in his continued identification with Zionism is so that Mamdani can point to a “Zionist” friend in the handful of venues where it’s politically convenient.

Lander’s diluted non-Zionist Zionism goes deeper than organizational affiliations and campaign endorsements. At the brit milah (ritual circumcision) of his son, Lander and his wife pronounced the newborn “a Jew without the Right of Return.”

It’s not that Lander’s son has to or even should live in Israel (believe me, this country and its current government test my limits every day). But proactively forfeiting even the theoretical right of return means Lander sees himself and his family apart from the half of the Jewish people that live in Israel, evoking the wicked son of Pesach who speaks to his fellow Jews in terms of you and not us.

Lander’s brit milah dedication continues: “Your name contains our deep hope that you will explore and celebrate your Jewish identity without confusing it with nationalism”—that is, Jewishness without Zionism.

I am not here to gatekeep Zionism among American Jews, especially at a time when the term is increasingly unpopular, but there is also a point at which a word has been stretched beyond any recognizable meaning.

This Zionism-without-Zionism doesn’t just paint a contrast with Goldman’s bona fide belief in a Jewish state. Lander also has a strange foil in his own ally, Zohran Mamdani.

The mayor’s anti-Zionism is far more principled and consistent than Lander’s Zionism-lite. Mamdani would never lock arms with groups or individuals whose purpose is to support a Jewish state. This is why City Hall takes its counsel from fringe far-left anti-Zionist Jewish groups and why Mamdani skipped the Israel Day Parade. Say what you will about New York’s mayor: At least you know where he stands.

In the race for New York 10, Brad Lander is working hard to position himself as a man of strong values. Yet it’s Dan Goldman, not Lander, whose beliefs, including his Zionism, are backed up by substance and unwavering resolve, even as he fights an uphill, likely unwinnable, electoral battle.