Why does Andrew Cuomo have to keep clarifying his position on Israel and Gaza?

Andrew Cuomo, NYC mayoral candidate, outside the Ohel of the Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe on Sept. 17. Photo by Jacob Kornbluh

By Jacob Kornbluh September 18, 2025

Andrew Cuomo, who has long defended Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, keeps clarifying his comments about the conflict.

This week, The New York Times ran a headline quoting the independent candidate for New York City mayor as saying the “horrific” war must end “today.” This position would align him with a growing number of Democrats, including Zohran Mamdani, and a plurality of New York City voters who are calling for an immediate ceasefire. The Times also reported that Cuomo distanced himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, “I never stood with Bibi.” But Cuomo announced last year that he joined a legal “dream team” led by Alan Dershowitz to defend Netanyahu at the International Criminal Court.

Last month, Cuomo told Bloomberg News he doesn’t support “what the Israeli government is doing vis-à-vis Gaza.” Hours later, he told reporters he was “airing what some people feel.” In both instances, after the articles were published, Cuomo walked back the comments and said they didn’t reflect his own views.

Did Cuomo change course after his bruising primary loss to Mamdani, amid polls that show the New York City electorate is more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than to Israel? Or is he trying to walk a narrow lane that’s trapped him in the mud a few times?

In an interview with the Forward on Wednesday, Cuomo seemed eager to set the record straight.

“My position hasn’t shifted one iota,” Cuomo said as we walked the streets of Cambria Heights, Queens, after the former governor offered a brief prayer at the Ohel of the Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe. “I said we want three things: We want killing to stop, because it’s a matter of humanity. We want the hostages returned, and Hamas eliminated. If you don’t eliminate Hamas, you accomplish nothing. This will happen again and again.”

“Which, by the way, I believe, is the same thing that Israel wants,” he added. Netanyahu has said in recent media appearances that the primary mission of Israeli operations in the enclave, including a new incursion into Gaza City, is to “eliminate Hamas and its terrorist regime.”

Cuomo did not offer specifics on how he envisions the conflict ending, but suggested it would be over once Hamas returned all the hostages and Israel achieved its military objectives.

What New Yorkers are saying about Israel and Gaza

Cuomo said that his comments to The New York Times on the war were meant to reflect not his own views, but what New Yorkers feel, particularly the younger generation whose views are largely shaped by what they see online about Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. “Of course, nobody likes to see the carnage that is going on,” he said. “Israel is the place that has wanted peace — forever. And has been attacked. They are not the aggressors. But especially for younger people, there’s no sense of history, and they see the images every day on TikTok, on social media.”

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that only 26% of New York City voters sympathize more with Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while 44% side with the Palestinians. Only 13% of younger voters sympathize with Israel. The poll also showed that a plurality of voters said Mamdani offered the best approach to the conflict.

Cuomo is currently trailing Mamdani, a strident critic of Israel, by double digits, according to recent polls. The race also includes Mayor Eric Adams — running as an independent — and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, if Adams and Sliwa drop out, Cuomo could close the gap with Mamdani, these surveys found.

Reflecting on his primary loss to Mamdani

In our interview, Cuomo reflected on his loss to Mamdani by 12 points, despite leading in the polls.

“I actually got the number of votes I was supposed to get,” he said, meaning the total was what his campaign targeted. Cuomo received 443,229 votes, according to the final count in the ranked-choice contest, surpassing the number Adams received in 2021. Mamdani beat him by more than 130,000 votes, powered by younger and first-time voters.

Cuomo reiterated that Mamdani’s socialist views and support for Palestinian rights were a “major motivator” for activist Democrats and young voters. A recent poll confirms that 62% of Mamdani voters said his support for Palestinian rights swayed their decision, and 46% said the same about his willingness to criticize the Israeli government. In a speech earlier this month to Jewish supporters, Mamdani said his primary victory was an indication of how deeply troubled voters are by the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.

During the primary, Cuomo aggressively courted New York City’s 700,000 Jewish adults, who historically make up about 16% of the Democratic primary vote, with a strong pro-Israel pitch. He repeatedly targeted Mamdani and other rivals for their embrace of the boycott Israel movement and association with the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. He also pledged to adopt the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which labels many forms of anti-Zionism as antisemitic.

Since his primary loss, Cuomo has downplayed Israel as a centerpiece of his campaign. His near-daily press conferences during his run as an independent now focus on affordability, public safety, policing and school security. He has yet to invest in outreach to Orthodox leaders or voting blocs, critical to electing Adams in 2021, as he did during the primary.

Cuomo rejected the idea that he’s shifting because of polls, saying he simply now has a broader electorate to court, including moderate Democrats, independents and Republicans. “It’s a much larger universe,” he said.

He maintained that voters will eventually see the stark contrast between himself and Mamdani, and that will show in the polls.

Cuomo’s message to Jewish voters

Cuomo hasn’t given up on the Jewish vote, though.

A recent Marist poll showed Mamdani and Cuomo each with 35% support among Jewish voters in November’s general election. However, 55% said they would back Cuomo if the rest of the field dropped out — an unlikely scenario for now. Another poll showed that 75% of Jewish voters hold an unfavorable view of Mamdani.

Cuomo said he believes Jewish voters, those who trend centrist on Israel and are wary of Mamdani’s statements on Israel, will respond to the stark contrasts he is drawing.

“Mamdani is a socialist who happens to have won the Democratic primary, but he is a socialist on the Democratic line,” he said. “I’m a Democrat on an independent line, and I am an Israel supporter.”

Earlier this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who have a close relationship with New York Jews, endorsed Mamdani. Hochul said on Tuesday that she disagrees with Mamdani on Israel and reassured the Jewish community “that regardless of who the next mayor is, we’ll work together to protect them.”

The Democratic nominee is also backed by several Jewish elected officials, including Brad Lander, the city’s comptroller and highest-ranking Jewish elected official who competed in the primary for mayor against Mamdani and cross-endorsed him; Rep. Jerry Nadler, co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus; Nadler’s favorite to succeed him, Micah Lasher; and Ruth Messinger, the trailblazing Jewish political leader who in 1997 became the first and only woman to win the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor.

Cuomo said that Mamdani is trying to moderate some of his positions to assuage concerns about him. But Mamdani’s base won’t tolerate a change in his positions on Israel, Cuomo said. Last week, Mamdani repeated his pledge to arrest Netanyahu if he comes to New York, in compliance with an International Criminal Court warrant. Such an arrest would likely be unlawful, experts say. Mamdani also promised to divest from Israel Bonds and dissolve a council Mayor Eric Adams created in May aimed at strengthening the U.S.-Israel economic ties.

Cuomo suggested that Mamdani made these pledges public again because he was “having trouble holding” his “extreme left” base of support. “He doesn’t own them,” Cuomo said about Mamdani’s fans. “He’s borrowing their support, so he has to be very careful to maintain their support.” There are no polls that suggest Mamdani is losing support.