In New York, Fury, Anxiety and Joy Over the Attacks on Iran - Lemmy.World
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43771671
[https://lemmy.world/post/43771671] > For those who can’t open the link:
https://archive.ph/B8JEN [https://archive.ph/B8JEN] > > Among elected officials
and Iranian Americans in the New York City area, the response to the
U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and the killing of the country’s longtime leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ranged from fervent opposition to unrestrained
celebration. > > New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, condemned the attacks on
Saturday as “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal act of war of aggression.”
> > Mr. Mamdani, a Democrat, added: “Americans do not want this. They do not
want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the
affordability crisis. They want peace.” > > Brad Lander, the former city
comptroller who is running for Congress, had even stronger words on Sunday.
> > “This is an illegal war being waged by a sociopathic president whose goal is
to distract people from his failing administration,” Mr. Lander said. > > Other
New York politicians were more restrained in their criticism. Mr. Lander’s
opponent in the Democratic primary, Representative Dan Goldman, said in a
statement that Iran had a “treacherous regime” but added, “Recent history has
taught us that toppling Middle East dictators in the name of regime change is
the beginning — not the end — of a process that too often results in expensive
and deadly forever wars.” > > Julie Menin, a Democrat and the first Jewish
speaker of the City Council, stopped short of agreeing with Mayor Mamdani but
criticized President Trump’s unilateral action, saying, “The Constitution
entrusts Congress with the solemn responsibility to decide questions of war and
peace.”
> > For some Iranian American New Yorkers, the response to the attacks was much
more complicated than rejoicing over the death of a dictator. > > Bahareh Ebne
Alian, a junior fellow at the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies at the
New School who has studied Iran extensively, was among those who were wary. > >
“There are people who are extremely fearful of what this war — that doesn’t seem
to have a very clear end — is going to bring to Iran,” Ms. Ebne Alian said, “in
terms of civil war, in terms of the disintegration of Iran, or in terms of just
another failed state in the region.”
> > Staunch supporters of the president’s actions included New York City’s
former mayor, Eric Adams, who was sharply critical of Mayor Mamdani’s response,
and Fabien Levy, an Iranian American who served as deputy mayor under Mr. Adams.
> > Mr. Levy lashed out at Mr. Mamdani on X, writing, “Now, as every single
Persian and person of Persian descent praying for a free Iran looks for a regime
change, you say nothing that provides our families comfort.” > > Another
supporter of the attacks was Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Republican who
represents a Brooklyn district. On Saturday, she posted on X: “The world is
safer today because US & Israel eliminated a top sponsor of GLOBAL TERRORISM.” >
> In Great Neck, on Long Island, where there is a large Jewish Iranian American
community, the attacks brought a sense of hope. > > At the Everfresh Supermarket
on Middle Neck Road, shoppers perused aisles of Middle Eastern spices and kosher
foods.
> > “The minute I walked in, I noticed a lightness in the store, a happiness,”
said Laurence Goldstein, the store’s manager. “I’m surprised there hasn’t been a
parade up and down the road in favor of what’s going on.” > > Kathy Cohen, 52,
an employee at the market, was born in Tehran and fled Iran when she was 15. Her
memories are vivid. “Me as a child standing in line for class, we had to say
‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel,’ or they wouldn’t let you go to class,”
she said. “Every single morning we had to say this.”
> > Ahmad Abuobead, 31, who is Palestinian and works as a chef, said the U.S.
and Israeli actions were “an illegal attack to a sovereign country.” > > He
added, “I don’t think the U.S. has the right to actually just go ahead and just
attack a country and kill its president — which is more like an assassination.”
