Hochul’s Tepid Plea to Mamdani to Stop Obsessing Over Israel Doesn’t Cut It

Governor Kathy Hochul’s public call for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to drop his preoccupation with all things Israel falls far short of meeting her responsibilities as Governor. In a recent New York Times interview, Governor Hochul urged Mayor Mamdani to abandon his obsessive focus on Israel. Using football terms, she said the mayor should return to the traditional “blocking and tackling of city government” practiced by his predecessors.

There are some who welcomed this mild admonition as an epic act by the governor, doubtless because of her past indifference to Mamdani’s signature anti-Israel rhetoric and in the wake of his mindless, infantile threat to have the NYPD arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

But passive advice in a newspaper interview is no substitute for action or definitive calls for it. If Governor Hochul really disagreed with the Mamdani frolics and wanted to protect the city from an ideologically possessed mayor, she had to do, and must do, more than express exasperation. She must exercise the considerable powers available to her as Governor and rein in this rogue mayor.

The relationship between the Governor of New York and the Mayor of New York City is not a partnership of equals. The city is a creation of the state, and the state holds the ultimate leverage. But Mayor Mamdani seems to be operating under the delusion that he has a mandate to run an independent city-state, prioritizing a post-colonial foreign policy over real city issues. However, Governor Hochul cannot act as some casual bystander. Rather she needs to constantly remind the mayor exactly where his funding and authority originate unless, of course, she has no problem with what he is doing.

New York City relies heavily on Albany for a huge portion of the municipal budget, including critical funding for schools, housing subsidies, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). If Mamdani refuses to focus on the “blocking and tackling” of these vital domestic issues, Governor Hochul must tie state cooperation and discretionary funding directly to acceptable municipal competency. She must make it painfully clear that Albany will not underwrite city administration that prioritizes international protests over picking up the garbage and keeping the subways safe.

Governor Hochul has stated that she will “throw her body against any antisemitism.” Yet, Mayor Mamdani continues to cultivate a deeply hostile climate that disproportionately targets Jewish New Yorkers, utilizing the bully pulpit of his office to demonize the Jewish state, encourage radical street demonstrations and foster antisemitism.

Words of disagreement are not enough to protect a vulnerable community or a fracturing city. Governor Hochul has the political capital, the budgetary levers and ultimately the constitutional authority to force a change in behavior at City Hall.

It is time for her to stop offering friendly advice to a rogue mayor and start doing her job to get him to do his job.