Has the Elbit left called this out yet? Will they act more outraged by Brad Lander openly mourning two Nazi soldiers than by the fact that NYC pension funds increased their investments in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems during the Gaza genocide under his watch? Someone tell @EmmaVigeland and @mattxiv to come get their boy.

Is this the new LARP? American politicians flying to the West Bank to cosplay as defenders of Palestinians while supporting the very institutions that make settler violence possible in the first place? Brad Lander, we didn’t need you to fly to Palestine and get into a scuffle with settlers to prove you’re an ally. We needed you to stop investing our money in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, while it profited from the genocide of our people. We needed you to stop proudly identifying as a Zionist while condemning Palestinian resistance. Palestinians don’t need your performative solidarity. We need you to stop supporting our oppressors. And those who stand with Palestine cannot allow these gestures to buy our trust, erase politicians’ records, or earn them our votes. A photo op in the West Bank does not absolve anyone of their complicity. Our standards for solidarity with Palestinian liberation cannot be lowered just because politicians have learned how to perform it.

When the police unions come after Mamdani it’s important to also defend his decision with holding them accountable. It’s a two way street, we criticize when he needs to do better and we support when he comes through.

Since @KyleKulinski follows me, I can explain why this isn’t astroturfed or some fringe faction of sectarian leftists. I know the people who led those chants. They’re Arab and Muslim youth who understand the difference between personal culpability and political responsibility. We’ve used these same chants against previous mayors. Eric Adams wasn’t personally sending bombs to Israel either, but he oversaw the NYPD, which maintains ties to the Israeli military and an office in Tel Aviv. Unless Mamdani has severed those ties, the underlying criticism remains valid. I might not have used that particular chant myself, only because I know how quickly bad-faith actors, liberals included, will seize on the wording to distract from the substance. But I’m not going to condemn people for using it, or pretend their criticism is any less legitimate. There’s always a problem with Palestinian chants. “Globalize the Intifada,” “From the river to the sea,” “Long live the resistance.” No matter what we say, the conversation gets redirected from what we’re protesting to how we’re protesting it. Stop joining the chorus policing Palestinian speech and start engaging with the actual policies and demands.

We warned you about NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. When Mamdani announced he was keeping her as NYPD Commissioner, we organized over 100 organizations to oppose her appointment and laid out her record of racist policing, mass surveillance, repression of protesters, and collaboration with Israeli occupation forces. These demands came from the streets, from the communities that have been subjected to this violence for years. The movement was right to oppose Tisch then, and we’re right to demand her resignation now. We are recirculating our statement and calling on every organization that has not yet signed to add its name. TISCH OUT. DISBAND THE SRG. ABOLISH ICE. wolpalestine.com/statements/…