In the turbulent months following Hamas’ barbaric assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, New York City became an epicenter of agitation. Pro-Hamas rallies, anti-Israel encampments, and marches that often veered into intimidation were a routine feature of campus lawns and public squares. Jewish students lived in fear, commuters were accosted, and the city was regularly brought to a standstill by chants of “From the river to the sea.”

And yet, for several months now, the noise has stopped. The encampments have vanished, the rallies have ceased, and the once relentless tide of anti-Israel protest has all but disappeared from New York’s streets. At first glance, many might welcome the quiet. But to see it as peace is dangerously naïve.

The timing of this silence coincides too neatly with the rise of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens who now leads the mayoral race by double digits. It is impossible to ignore the implication: the organizations that orchestrated these disruptive protests have paused their activities not out of conscience, but out of calculation. They have chosen silence now so that Mamdani can consolidate power without frightening voters—only to roar back with greater ferocity should he claim City Hall.

Mamdani’s record leaves little room for doubt. He has refused to condemn the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” a chilling rallying cry steeped in blood and violence. He has embraced the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, a movement widely denounced for its antisemitic undertones. Most shockingly, he has vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he step foot in New York City, citing the authority of the International Criminal Court—a body the United States does not even recognize.

This is not the rhetoric of a mainstream reformer. It is the rhetoric of a candidate openly aligned with radical activists. That the same activists have suddenly ceased their demonstrations at the very moment Mamdani surges in the polls suggests a bargain has been struck: keep the streets quiet now, deliver Mamdani to power, and then resume the campaign of chaos under the protection of a sympathetic mayor.

For over a year, New Yorkers endured a steady rhythm of agitation. Demonstrations were not spontaneous but carefully choreographed, backed by networks of radical student groups and progressive nonprofits. These groups did not disband. Their silence today is strategic—a calculated effort to soften Mamdani’s image for moderates while maintaining their ability to mobilize once he is in office.

The New York Post has noted repeatedly that Mamdani’s support rests heavily on younger and more radical voters. These are precisely the constituencies that fueled last year’s wave of pro-Hamas demonstrations. Their fervor has not abated; it has been banked, like embers awaiting oxygen.

Mamdani has pledged to defund the NYPD, replacing trained officers with social workers to manage unrest. It is difficult to overstate how reckless this would be in practice. When the next round of pro-Hamas demonstrations paralyzes Times Square or overwhelms Columbia’s campus, there will be no robust police presence to ensure order. Instead, New Yorkers will be told to trust in “community dialogue” overseen by a cadre of leftist social workers as antisemitic chants fill the air.

For Jewish New Yorkers—the largest Jewish community outside Israel—the implications are stark. Already facing record levels of antisemitic incidents, they would find themselves living in a city led by a mayor who sympathizes with their tormentors, weakens their protectors, and provides tacit license for hostility to flourish.

The absence of protests today is not a sign of peace but a sign of politics. It suggests that the city has been deliberately lulled into complacency to protect Mamdani’s candidacy. New Yorkers have been spared the frightening spectacle of mobs chanting “Intifada” in their streets—not because those voices have gone silent, but because they have been temporarily silenced to aid a candidate’s campaign.

If Mamdani takes office, that silence will end. The demonstrations will return with greater ferocity, this time unrestrained by a mayor willing to stand against them.

The idea that activists may be holding demonstrations in abeyance until their preferred candidate secures power is more than cynical; it is a betrayal of civic responsibility. New Yorkers deserve transparency and security, not political gamesmanship that sacrifices both. What we are witnessing is the quiet phase of a deal struck at the expense of Jewish communities and public safety alike.

The New York Post has rightly emphasized Mamdani’s troubling rhetoric and associations. His refusal to denounce violent slogans, his commitment to BDS, and his astonishing pledge to arrest the leader of Israel should have disqualified him in a city that prides itself on tolerance. Instead, he has been allowed to frame himself as a reformer, aided by the deliberate retreat of his activist allies.

If the polls hold, Mamdani will soon control City Hall. And if that happens, the silence of recent months will be revealed for what it is: not a reprieve, but a trap. The activists’ bargain will have paid off, and New York will find itself governed by a man openly hostile to its Jewish citizens, willing to gut its police force and replace them with agenda driven social workers and thus allow radical Jew hating demonstrators to dictate the city’s rhythm.

New Yorkers must ask themselves whether they are prepared for that future. The choice is not between noise and quiet, but between order and chaos. The silence in our streets today is the silence before the storm. And unless voters awaken to what is unfolding, Election Day may bring not relief but upheaval, not stability but surrender.

The city has been deceived by calm. The truth is far more dangerous: the storm is waiting.