By: Arthur Popowitz – Jewish Voice News

In an incendiary turn just days before New York City’s mayoral election, Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani has ignited fury across New York’s political and civic landscape by pledging to shut down the Technion’s presence in the city if elected. His vow, described in a report on Saturday evening at Matzav.com as “a direct affront to Israel’s scientific partnership with New York and a dangerous flirtation with antisemitic activism,” has triggered sharp backlash from Jewish leaders, business executives, and longtime advocates of the city’s innovation economy.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mamdani — the frontrunner in the November 4 race — declared that his administration would “move to terminate the Technion’s activity in the city due to its ties with Israel’s defense establishment.” He singled out Cornell Tech, the acclaimed technology and entrepreneurship hub on Roosevelt Island, which was founded through a groundbreaking partnership between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

“An Israeli institution involved in developing weapons for the IDF should not receive city benefits or funding,” Mamdani said, echoing rhetoric long associated with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for academic and economic isolation of Israel. His campaign later confirmed to Matzav.com that, if elected, Mamdani intends to review the partnership’s compliance with what he termed the city’s “human rights and values framework.”

Cornell Tech — launched in 2017 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration — was envisioned as a catalyst for transforming New York into a global technology powerhouse. The university’s winning bid, developed jointly with the Technion, earned it prime city land, tax incentives, and financial backing intended to draw top-tier researchers and startups from around the world.

As the Matzav.com report noted, the project was widely hailed as a model of cross-border academic collaboration, symbolizing the fusion of New York’s entrepreneurial dynamism with Israel’s world-renowned innovation ecosystem. The Technion, often referred to as “Israel’s MIT,” has been integral to Israel’s reputation as the “Startup Nation,” producing groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and biomedical engineering.

To target such an institution, Jewish community leaders argue, reveals not a principled stand on human rights but a deeply ideological hostility toward Israel and its supporters.

“This statement isn’t about policy — it’s about prejudice,” one Jewish business leader told Matzav.com. “The Technion has brought immense value to New York’s economy and to global research. To threaten its place here is to threaten progress itself.”

Mamdani’s denunciation of the Technion is not a surprise to those familiar with his political record. Since entering public life, the 34-year-old assemblyman from Queens — and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) — has repeatedly endorsed positions aligned with the BDS movement, whose founding charter calls for the cultural, economic, and academic isolation of Israel.

According to the information provided in the Matzav.com report, Mamdani has long opposed the Cornell-Technion partnership, arguing that it violates BDS principles because the Technion “develops technology used by the Israeli army.” He has insisted that New York City must ensure its institutions are not “complicit in human rights violations.”

“If we examine this partnership through the lens of BDS, it’s clear Cornell-Technion should be part of that conversation,” Mamdani said earlier this year.

His remarks, however, have been met with overwhelming condemnation. Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City and one of the original backers of the Cornell Tech project, called Mamdani’s statement “alarming and destructive.”

“It’s hard to believe a mayoral candidate would challenge public support for an institution that has contributed so much to our city’s tech sector simply because it collaborates with an Israeli university,” Wylde said, emphasizing that such rhetoric “undermines years of economic development and global cooperation.”

Mamdani’s vow has reverberated across both political parties and New York’s business elite. A former aide to Mayor Bloomberg told Matzav.com that Mamdani’s stance represents “blatant antisemitism masquerading as progressive politics.”

“To attack the Technion — one of the world’s premier research institutions — is to attack the very idea of academic collaboration,” the aide said. “It sends a chilling message to international partners that New York is open only to ideologically approved science.”

Business leaders warn that Mamdani’s anti-Technion pledge could damage New York’s global reputation as an inclusive, forward-looking metropolis. “This kind of divisive politics threatens to undo decades of progress,” said one real estate executive who has invested in the Roosevelt Island tech corridor. “If the city turns on institutions based on nationality or religion, investors will think twice before bringing their projects here.”

As the Matzav.com report detailed, the Cornell-Technion collaboration has produced major advancements in fields such as renewable energy, robotics, data science, and urban planning. The campus has attracted millions in private investment, generated thousands of jobs, and helped secure New York’s position as a competitive alternative to Silicon Valley.

Mayor Bloomberg himself described the initiative as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to fuse academic excellence with urban renewal.”

Mamdani’s proposal to dismantle that partnership, critics argue, betrays a deep misunderstanding of how academic institutions function — and a dangerous willingness to politicize education and research.

“New York became a global city by embracing the best minds from everywhere — not by excluding them,” said a long-time supporter of the Technion. “To punish an Israeli university for its government’s military ties is both illogical and morally suspect.”

The reaction from Jewish leaders has been swift and severe. Organizations across the city have accused Mamdani of weaponizing antisemitic tropes under the guise of social justice.

“His statements are a thinly veiled attempt to delegitimize Israel and its people,” one community leader told Matzav.com. “You cannot claim to support equality while singling out the world’s only Jewish state for academic and economic exclusion.”

Many note that Mamdani’s personal connections to prominent anti-Israel activists — including his father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, who has defended pro-Hamas rhetoric — amplify concerns about how his administration might treat Jewish and Israeli institutions.

In April, Mamdani’s father made headlines for participating in protests that blocked Jewish students from Columbia’s campus gates — an episode that Jewish organizations described as a “shameful display of institutionalized antisemitism.”

“Mamdani’s politics are not isolated from his family’s ideology,” the Matzav.com report observed. “They reflect a worldview that consistently frames Israel as the aggressor and Jews as oppressors — an inversion of truth that has fueled antisemitic violence worldwide.”

Facing mounting criticism, Mamdani tried to soften his remarks, telling reporters that his opposition to the Technion “is not directed at Jews or Jewish institutions.”

“I look forward to joining and hosting many community events celebrating Jewish life in New York,” he said. “Although I will not personally attend the Israel Parade, that should not be mistaken for refusing to provide security or necessary permits.”

In comments to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mamdani insisted that his stance reflects “a principle of equal rights for all people, everywhere.”

But as the Matzav.com report noted, such assurances ring hollow to Jewish leaders who have heard similar rhetoric from anti-Israel politicians before. “We’ve seen this pattern repeatedly,” the site wrote. “Politicians deny antisemitism while endorsing policies that isolate and vilify the Jewish state. Words of inclusion cannot erase acts of exclusion.”

Despite the backlash, Matzav.com reported that Mamdani continues to lead in the polls heading into Tuesday’s election, buoyed by strong turnout among progressive voters and activists affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America. Early voting surpassed 400,000 ballots — a fivefold increase from 2021 — signaling intense public engagement in a race widely viewed as a referendum on New York’s ideological direction.

Mamdani’s campaign, however, may have broader consequences for state and national politics. According to the information contained in the Matzav.com report, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a close ally of President Trump, is preparing to run for governor in 2026, setting the stage for a potential political confrontation between a pro-Israel Republican governor in Albany and an anti-Israel Democratic mayor in City Hall.

Stefanik has repeatedly condemned Mamdani as “pro-jihadist” and vowed to oppose his agenda “at every level of government.” Should both win, New York could find itself split between two diametrically opposed administrations — one seeking to defend the state’s Jewish and Israeli partnerships, the other determined to dismantle them.

As the Matzav.com report observed, the controversy surrounding Mamdani’s anti-Technion pledge reaches far beyond one university. It encapsulates a larger struggle over New York’s civic identity — whether the city will remain a hub of innovation, pluralism, and global cooperation, or succumb to ideological purity tests that divide its communities.

“This election will decide whether New York is a city of bridges or boycotts,” Matzav.com wrote. “It is not just about a campus on Roosevelt Island — it is about whether our city will continue to welcome partnership, or close its doors to those who refuse to conform to the politics of hate.”

For the Jewish community and for New Yorkers who value international collaboration, the warning is stark. As David Greenfield, CEO of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, told Matzav.com, “If Mamdani wins and makes good on his threat, it will send a chilling message to every Jewish and Israeli institution in this city. It would be a moral and economic disaster.”