Last week, as Hell Gate blogged, The New York Times ran a story about Governor Kathy Hochul's "rare public advice" for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, which the Times paraphrased as: "Pay attention to New York, not Israel." The story gave the impression of a seasoned 67-year-old politician imparting a more sensible view to a 34-year-old mayor singularly focused on taking down Benjamin Netanyahu.
We were puzzled by the idea that the governor would use the opportunity of a big reelection interview with the paper of record to talk about her and the popular mayor's differing views on Israel, and we said so.
But after we wrote that story, Hell Gate requested transcript excerpts from the governor's office from Hochul's sit-down with the Times, which ran a bigger profile of the governor on Monday. The parts of the transcripts viewed by Hell Gate show the Times repeatedly pressing Hochul to speak on Mamdani's possible contributions to antisemitism in New York, and how she approaches the mayor in regards to their divergent views on Israel, as the governor declined to take the bait.
The excerpts also include comments from the governor about antisemitism and Islamophobia not included in the initial Times story, which states: "There is no shortage of deep disagreements between the moderate Ms. Hochul and Mr. Mamdani, and few are as thorny as their stances on Israel and its war in Gaza." All this leaves us to wonder: Why did the Times choose this angle?