Let's talk about David Jablinowitz. For decades, among a host of other senior newsgathering roles, David worked at the State-run IBA Voice of Israel Radio News, served as Op-Ed editor at The JPost, and is now at Kan Israel News. In the worlds of international journalism and transatlantic diplomacy, his name is currency. This isn't hyperbole; it's a matter of record. For years, senior officials across the entire American political spectrum—from the White House to the sharpest corners of the Senate and Congress—have relied on David for off-the-record briefings. When Washington needs a clear-eyed, unvarnished assessment of realities on the ground, they call him. His word and his professional reputation are the gold standard.
But apparently, none of that pedigree mattered to a panicked staffer inside the Mamdani political apparatus. What should have been a casual, hometown connection quickly dissolved into a chilling demonstration of administrative blacklisting—a native son flatly told he is no longer welcome in his own city because he dares to exist as a Jewish Israeli. Bureaucratic tribalism at its ugliest. Pure, unadulterated cowardice.
David recently shared a worrying encounter that lays bare the vulgar bigotry and visceral hostility festering within the political camp of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. A mutual friend in New York City tried to bridge a simple gap, suggesting a casual conversation between David and a staffer in Mamdani’s circle.
The response was instantaneous. It was also pathetic.
Here is how the exchange unfolded:
The Friend: "I'd love to get the two of you to talk."
David: "Who, me and the mayor?"
The Friend: "No, you and [the mutual friend]."
David: "I would welcome the opportunity."
A few minutes later, the friend called back. The tone had completely shifted.
The Friend: "That was quick and awkward. I made the offer that the two of you talk. He said that he couldn't talk to someone like you; he would probably get fired. He then begged me never to suggest that he meet or even talk to someone who promotes Israel. He then said he had to end the phone call. Just before we disconnected, I told him that you're from Brooklyn. He said that I should tell you that you're not important enough for Mr. Mamdani to care about you, but that someone like you would not be especially welcome in the city."
Let that sink in.
"Someone like you would not be especially welcome in the city."
This is the new administrative baseline. It is a toxic mix of casual anti-Semitism and rigid institutional cowardice, burning hotter than the July asphalt. We are witnessing a political class so fragile, so utterly captured by rank bigotry, that a staffer genuinely believes merely speaking to a veteran Jewish journalist will end their career. They aren't running a public office. They are running a cult.
To tell a native New Yorker—a boy from Brooklyn who built a legendary career on integrity and balance—that he is "not important enough" and "not welcome" because he refuses to join their anti-Israel echo chamber is a grotesque display of arrogance. It is the kind of small-minded malice that thrives when raw ideology replaces basic human decency. They want to draw a Jewish/Israeli ideological redline around the five boroughs.
They want a city of compliance. A city of quiet, terrified conformity.
Well, this time they chose the wrong target. While his professional on-air radio voice has long shed his Brooklyn background, I’m going to caption his response as a shrugged “Fuggedabowdit.”
David's actual response to the dismissive snub was characteristically steady, unblinking, and entirely devoid of the moral cowardice that defines his detractors:
"I was born in New York, grew up in New York, still love New York, and will visit as many times as I want."
So the bureaucrats can keep their purity tests, their closed doors, and their frantic, fearful phone calls. New York belongs to the people who built its grit, not the “theater kidz' and fragile careerists trying to clean the streets of dissenting voices. A Brooklyn-born Israeli doesn't break that easily, or get fazed by petty spite.
“I’ll always love New York for what it’s meant to me and nothing will change that,” Jablinowitz concluded.
[Full Disclosure: David and I are not strangers. We have collaborated across the grinding gears of news writing and editing, and I consider him a vital professional mentor, and a trusted colleague and friend in local journalism. When I say his professional reputation is gold, I mean it. I've seen the receipts. - DB]
[A note from the field: this post may be updated or amended as events develop. My sincere thanks to those who follow, comment, and share these dispatches. Your support keeps the lights on and the cats fed while I’m out navigating the dynamic range of the Galilee. Because the standard Stripe plumbing doesn’t reach us here in Israel, I’ve set up a direct alternative for those who wish to support this work. If you’re inclined to help keep the lens focused, you can contribute via PayPal. Much appreciated. — DB]
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