New York City has 8.4m people in it; 15% (1.3m) of them are Jewish, making them a key cultural and political group. New York City also has an outsized (if dropping) cultural and political influence on the US.

There are 7.3m Jewish people in Israel, and NYC is the largest population of Jewish people outside Israel, meaning that NYC actions and opinions may have more of an influence within Israel than opinions from elsewhere.

NYC is also seen as a huge, vibrant, peaceful, multicultural city; the longtime headquartering of the United Nations there, the largest financial capital in the world, etc - all give it an emotional and cultural impact.

Here's the thing: when Americans look at Mamdani's election, we see a rejection of the current US political parties, a pushback against the oligarchs, late-stage capitalism, and the corruption and fascism of the right. For most of the people (at least on the US center and left) Mamdani's religion doesn't factor into much (if anything).

For a certain segment of Jewish Israelis who heavily lean into that identity, the election of a Muslim mayor is a threat, especially one as driven and charismatic as Mamdani. And there's a political class in Israel who is willing to promote and exploit that fear, in order to gain their own goals, whether that's increased political power, more money, or simply avoiding going to prison.

NYC has the largest jewish commiunity outside israel, many of which anti-zionists, and it shows how people of different faiths can co-live peacefully, so you can see why isreal wants to influence our politics

Israel is an important and well-intergrated piece of the US empire so they get a say in how the empire is run. Working class new yorkers don't matter in the same way.

To translate into the lies of empire: israel's importance to foreign policy goals and deep cultural ties make it an interested commentator on domestic politics.

New York is just outside of greater Israel.

/s

Why does the mayor of NYC need to have an opinion of Israel? He's not the Secretary of State