New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani departs after speaking during a “March on Wall Street” to call for economic justice on August 28, 2025, in New York City. (photo credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)
New York and Israel trade, which stood at over $5 billion in 2024, is in doubt amid the possibility of Mamdani’s election as New York City’s Mayor.
Israel is the seventh-largest source of imports for New York State, sending goods worth around $5.1 billion in 2024, according to a report released by Stacker.com, using data from the Census Bureau. The leading Israeli imports are precious stones and metals (about $4.1 billion), electrical machinery and equipment ($175 million), and optical and medical instruments ($148 m.).
Much of that trade flows through New York City, which is the state’s commercial and financial center. Israeli exports sustain jobs across sectors from jewelry and manufacturing to technology and healthcare. The connection between Tel Aviv and New York runs through trading floors, start-ups, and research partnerships, a network built on decades of commercial and cultural cooperation.
The upcoming mayoral election for New York City, scheduled for Tuesday, is not just about foreign affairs. A mayoral candidate’s stance toward Israel can affect local economics, investor confidence, and the city’s reputation as a global hub.
Zohran Mamdani, who is running for the Democratic nomination and leading the polls, has long made opposition to Israel a core part of his political identity. As The Jerusalem Post’s Michael Starr reported last week, “Mamdani says co-founding the Bowdoin College Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and anti-Israel BDS activism were the ‘crux of the reason’ he joined the Democratic Socialists of America.”
Mamdani’s repeated claims that Israel is committing “genocide,” his calls to “arrest” Israel’s elected leaders, and his association with the BDS movement have transformed this race into a serious question for the city’s Jewish demographic. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed 60% of New York’s Jewish voters now support former governor Andrew Cuomo in the race, following Mayor Eric Adams’s withdrawal, while only 16% back Mamdani.
NEW YORK CITY mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks to the media while campaigning earlier this month. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Yet concerns over Mamdani’s likely election are about more than moral or ideological debates. There are financial ones too.
His financial attitude has left many feeling unimpressed. The financial sector and Wall Street have expressed concerns about Mamdani’s proposed agenda, which includes increasing taxes on the city’s highest earners, elevating corporate tax rates, halting rent increases for rent-stabilized units, and expanding affordable housing programs funded by public dollars.
These policy proposals have raised alarms within the finance community about potential damage to New York City’s economic competitiveness.
Speaking with the Post’s Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit, Congressman Mike Lawler warned that if Mamdani wins City Hall, New York could face an exodus of residents and capital.
“If he is the mayor of New York City, there’s going to be a mass exodus out of New York, and the people that can afford to leave will,” Lawler said.
He pointed to the city’s already high taxes, declining quality of life, and rising antisemitism.
“You add in antisemitism, in the manner in which he has conducted himself, and I think you are going to see a lot of people leave.”
Lawler added that investors are already preparing for contingencies. “Somebody has to pay for it,” he said of Mamdani’s progressive proposals. “When you ‘tax the rich,’ the people that can avoid paying tax by moving or by shifting their business to a different state will do so.”
Many would relocate just beyond the city’s borders, to Connecticut, New Jersey, or suburban New York, taking revenue and talent with them.
“He wants to eliminate the Jewish state,” the congressman said. “He does not believe in a Jewish state.” Lawler described the candidate’s worldview as one that “targets Jews well beyond Israel’s borders,” rooted in the same rhetoric heard at “globalize the intifada” protests that Mamdani refused to condemn.
The size of Israel-New York commerce could suggest that Mamdani’s hostility carries real costs. Israeli companies dominate sectors of the city’s start-up ecosystem, particularly in cybersecurity, medical technology, and green innovation. Their presence brings investment, employment, and technical expertise. Political rhetoric that turns a valued partner into a target risks unbalancing this ecosystem, with many deciding they are better off elsewhere.
While a mayor cannot alter federal trade policy, their approach attracts or repels global partners. A candidate who treats Israel as a pariah sends a signal that business with Israeli firms may become politically uncomfortable. That signal alone can influence decisions about where companies base their US operations.
The economic story here runs parallel to the communal one. New York’s Jewish population, the largest outside Israel, is deeply tied to the city’s civic, philanthropic, and business life. A mayor viewed as hostile to Israel will likely strain relationships that have long been part of what makes the city function.
As Lawler put it: “People who talk about the Jewish state being a problem have no issue with 57 Islamic states. But the one Jewish state – that is a problem. It makes no sense.”
This mayoral race could ultimately turn on domestic issues such as housing, safety, and affordability. Yet the debate around Mamdani’s views on Israel touches on something deeper: how New York, that bastion of liberal ideals and democracy, may define itself in a post-October 7 world.
The data shows that Israel is a major economic partner. The politics suggest that one of the leading candidates would rather turn that partner into an adversary. Whether voters see that as a moral stand or an economic gamble will determine the outcome.
As Lawler warned, “From a tax standpoint, from a job-creation standpoint, from an economic standpoint, people will vote with their feet. And they will leave if City Hall turns against them.”
That, essentially, is Mamdani-conomics. A theory in which politics comes first, and prosperity may come second.
New York City, Zohran Mamdani, Israel, Mayoral candidate, New York State, Mike Lawler
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