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Brad Lander, an ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won the Democratic primary in a progressive New York House district on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, in a race that hinged largely on the candidates’ different stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

With 53 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Lander, a former city comptroller and mayoral candidate who has criticized Israel’s war in Gaza, was almost 30 points ahead of the incumbent, Representative Dan Goldman, a pro-Israel former federal prosecutor who helped lead the first impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Mr. Lander benefited from his deep roots in the 10th District, which covers Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. His victory makes him the likely winner of the general election in November.

Mr. Lander, 56, was one of three progressive primary candidates endorsed by Mr. Mamdani, with whom he has had a political alliance since last year’s Democratic mayoral primary.

The two men began as rivals, but cross-endorsed each other as the primary date closed in, saying they wanted to work together to keep former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo from winning the nomination. Their alliance has elevated them both — Mr. Mamdani to City Hall, and Mr. Lander to the cusp of a congressional victory.

Mr. Lander reflected on the decision to team up with Mr. Mamdani during a televised debate last week, saying it had modeled a new kind of politics for New York.

“It unleashed a nice sense of solidarity,” he said on the debate stage. “People said to me, ‘Wait, you mean politics doesn’t have to be a sour, selfish ego trip — it can be a team sport for the values you share?’”

Among several closely watched primaries across the city and state, the contest in the 10th District was notable for the degree to which it was dominated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both Mr. Lander and Mr. Goldman are Jewish and describe themselves as liberal Zionists, but they approach the issue in very different ways.

Mr. Lander has spent decades in the world of progressive Jewish activism, working with organizations like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and cofounding the New York Jewish Agenda, a left-leaning group.

He has also been a longtime player in Democratic politics in New York City, and entered the primary with a committed base and a groundswell of good will in the district.

He spent many years running a community development organization in Park Slope, then served on the City Council for more than a decade representing several of the congressional district’s neighborhoods. After he left the Council, he served as city comptroller, during which time he chose not to repurchase State of Israel bonds that had matured.

Mr. Lander has been an outspoken critic of Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Mr. Lander has backed claims by human rights groups and a United Nations commission that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, frequently using that word on the campaign trail, and has said he supports legislation to block U.S. military aid to the country until it meets human rights standards.

Mr. Goldman’s views hew more closely to the longtime status quo in American politics regarding the U.S.-Israel relationship. He is a critic of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but has said he supports continuing to provide the military aid that underpins the decades-long alliance between the two countries.

And he has said he does not believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza or that its treatment of the Palestinians can fairly be described as apartheid — another word Mr. Lander frequently uses — calling them ideologically charged terms.

Mr. Goldman accepted the endorsement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a hard-line pro-Israel lobbying group increasingly shunned by Democrats, but was also endorsed by J Street, a more liberal pro-Israel group.


https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/nyregion/ny10-primary-lander.html

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[-] CyborgMarx@hexbear.net 0 points 2 weeks ago

The conspiracy that....checks notes...a neo-nazi war criminal is lying about being a neo-nazi to avoid political fallout and fool leftists into thinking he'll be meaningful for change?

If he's a neo-Nazi, why isn't he running as a Republican? Why is he appealing to leftists in Maine of all places? Why is he inviting the wrath of the Zionist lobby, who aren't shy about digging into his family and personal life? Why is the media hounding him, are they unaware of the conspiracy? Why in an interview a month ago did he give the correct Marxist definition of class and trash the concept of class collaboration? What kind of Nazi does that or even knows enough to do that?

I don't care. The US senate is still going to continue their support of Isreal and the genocide of Palestinians

Cowardice and doomerism, that's all I get from you people, Bernie Sanders losing really bricked your minds

It's like asking if I prefer Netanyahu or Ben-Gvir for leader of Isreal.

When have Bibi and Ben-Gvir ever run on anti-zionism?

The reason I don't care us because I'm a Marxist who rejects Great Man of History. The system itself is fundamentally zionist and needs to be destroyed

The best-case scenario for Platner is a senator who votes to defund Israel. THAT'S IT, he's not fucking Lenin or baby Stalin or whatever other fantasy; he's a single goddamn vote at a crucial leverage point that could have downstream effects that benefit the Palestinians in their resistance against annihilation

AND YOU and the rest of the doomers don't have the POWER to dismantle this system, and you don't have the right to wait for correct conditions to spontaneously arise through accelerationist bullshit; we work with what we have and we suffer the consequences. Socialists don't get to say "I don't care"; that is individualism. You wrestle with this shit until we find a viable path to power; we try and try again. Stop acting like we won already

Maybe that's because so-called leftists in the Imperial Core keep reinforcing its power structure and institutions, instead of dismantling it?

Keynesianism IS DEAD, there have been no "leftists" in power since the end of WW2, the collapse of American empire will not be halted because we improved the living standards of Americans

We ruled out neither of them is helpful for the left in any meaningful way, so the solution was third party candidates or to not vote at all.

First of all most of us did conclude Trump would be better for the left in the long run, and we've been horrifically correct about that. And second, where are your third parties? This last year and a half was their moment to emerge; the Democrats suffered a historic defeat, and yet where was PSL? Where were the pure worker's parties? Did any bookclub groups hit the street and organize disillusioned libs into a viable national third party? No, third parties are structurally illegal in the United States; insurgency within the duopoly is the only viable path open to us, centered on anti-zionism as the litmus test

Your support is conditional.

My or your individual support IS USELESS, did my/your support save children from burning alive in Gaza? Platner is a vote, he's a tool, he isn't even human, he's a key to a lever in DC that reads "funding for Israel", he's gollum

I will sacrifice all notions of personal rectitude for ANY chance to upset the zionist machine

You're throwing away any solidarity that can be built with marginalized groups all for the sake of some bourgeois election

You don't even consider helping marginalized people in the West a viable option, and you think you're gonna help rescue the victims of the American empire overseas?

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 7 points 2 weeks ago

If he's a neo-Nazi, why isn't he running as a Republican? Why is he appealing to leftists in Maine of all places? Why is he inviting the wrath of the Zionist lobby, who aren't shy about digging into his family and personal life? Why is the media hounding him, are they unaware of the conspiracy? Why in an interview a month ago did he give the correct Marxist definition of class and trash the concept of class collaboration? What kind of Nazi does that or even knows enough to do that?

it fools leftists into letting their guard down around fascists

They are as the USA has always been: a one-party state, but with typical American extravagance, there's two of them.

When have Bibi and Ben-Gvir ever run on anti-zionism?

You're sooooooooooooooooooooooo close, I can feel it lmao

You don't even consider helping marginalized people in the West a viable option, and you think you're gonna help rescue the victims of the American empire overseas?

I AM one of those marginalized people living in the West, you fucking honkey.

[-] CyborgMarx@hexbear.net 0 points 2 weeks ago

You actually have to justify your conspiracy theory and not simply rely on intuition, vibes and crackpot cynicism. Platner being a secret agent of Mossad to pull one over on the left makes no sense, zionists do not push anti-zionism under any circumstance

I AM one of those marginalized people living in the West, you fucking honkey.

AND I AM ARAB, what now?

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

You actually have to justify your conspiracy theory

Calling it a "conspiracy theory" doesn't make it so. Nazis say the wrong things on purpose. They lie. I even provided you a quote from Mein Kampf and the chapter where Hitler talks about using leftwing rhetoric and aesthetics to fool socialists into voting for him. Hitler did it. Mussolini did it. Pol Pot did it. Nazbols in Eastern Europe do it. And every time, there were leftists who assumed, because they got the lingo correct, they could trust these people who turned out to be fascists.

It's not Mossad pushing Platner. He's a neo-nazi with a neo-nazi tattoo doing work to diffuse leftism and prevent it from organizing into an actual party. Bernie Sanders was also one such release valve, but he doesn't work anymore because of his zionism. So how do you prevent people from going to the DSA or PSL and stay within the Democratic party? Run another """"progressive"""" but without the zionism to steer people back to being the DNC voter base.

what now?

I dunno, maybe not run interference for people who would enthusiastically murder you because of your ethnicity? I don't know how you can defend a guy who was a guard at Abu Ghraib, used mortars on civilians, and worked for Blackwater, then got a nazi tattoo on top of it all. Have some self-respect.

this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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