Says one New Yorker: “This is a nightmare, a catastrophe. How did we let this happen?”
This was after the debate, for mayor, against Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, and though nobody asked, the probable winner, Zorhan Mamdani, forcefully, and emphatically, and angrily, announced himself a proud Muslim who intends to serve New York City as a proud Muslim. Other proud Muslims stood there with him, unsmiling.
For far too long, said Mamdani, Muslims have been living in the shadows. This will change when he becomes mayor.
He then addressed his support for his brothers in “Palestine,” though as somebody remarked, there is no "Palestine".
‘’Why does he keep bringing up 'Palestine',” said a man during my people-on-the street interviews.
The talk ran like this, among various New Yorkers…
“What business does he have with 'Palestine'?”
“Better you don’t know.”
“Notice that smile of his. Always with that smile.”
“Like a snake.’’
“Will you vote for him?”
“No, and I don’t know anybody who will.”
“So why is he so far ahead in the polls? He’s a Jew-hater.”
‘’Maybe that’s why. The colleges have turned out a whole new generation, and Mamdani is the result.”
“You can say that again.”
‘’The colleges have turned out a whole new generation, and Mamdani is the result. Communists and Jew-haters.”
“He’s going to turn New York City into London, Muslim.’’
‘’This is so disturbing. I know people who are leaving. I’m thinking about it myself.”
‘’My parents were Holocaust survivors. They came here to get away from all this.”
“It seems to follow us wherever we go.’’
“We’re sunk.”
“You can say that again.”
Now available, a collection of Jack Engelhard’s op-eds, “Writings.”
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the gambling thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com
From the esteemed John w. Cassell: “Jack Engelhard is a writer without peer, and the. conscience of us all.”