What Mamdani said:
The attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney today was a vile act of antisemitic terror. I mourn those who were murdered and will be keeping their families, the Jewish community, and the Chabad movement in my prayers. May the memories of all those killed be a blessing.
On Bondi Beach today, as men with long guns targeted innocents, another man ran towards the gunfire and disarmed a shooter. Tonight, as Jewish New Yorkers light menorahs and usher in a first night of Hanukkah clouded by grief, let us look to his example and confront hatred with the urgency and action it demands. When I am Mayor, I will work every day to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe—on our streets, our subways, at shul, in every moment of every day. Let this be a purpose shared by every New Yorker, and let us banish this horrific violence to the past.
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What he didn't say: That the "men with long guns" shot the Jews in the name of the same religion he follows.
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Are we really supposed to believe that he will be praying for the Chabad movement? What is his prayer? "Allah - Please preserve and guard those evil infidels whom you commanded us to kill, whom you condemned to hell fires, and make them successful in all they do. יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד!! Allah Achbar!! Itbach Al Yahud!!!"
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Senator Ted Cruz also criticized Mamdani for his past statements, referencing Mamdani’s October 8, 2023, tweet in which the candidate mourned the deaths on both sides of the conflict but did not explicitly condemn the Hamas-led massacre. Cruz wrote, “ON OCTOBER 8, he couldn’t bring himself to condemn Hamas, the murder of 1200 Jews, or the rape of women & little girls. Instead, he just…blamed Israel.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for New York City Mayor, declined on Sunday to condemn the chant "globalize the intifada" during an appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press," despite repeated questions.
"That's not language that I use," Mamdani said when pressed by moderator Kristen Welker. "The language that I use and the language that I will continue to use to lead the city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights."
When asked again if he would directly condemn the slogan, Mamdani reiterated that he had heard concerns from Jewish New Yorkers and had responded with policy proposals. "I've heard those fears, and I've had those conversations," he said. "I don't believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech," he added.
Pressed further on why he would not explicitly denounce the phrase, Mamdani warned against "making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible," likening it to the approach of President Donald Trump. He cited the detention of students critical of Israel as a reason for his reluctance.
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In Australia - they globalized the Intifada. Mamdani denounced it.
Do you believe him?
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From a recent article:
The radicals are now in charge of NYC. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has unveiled his transition team and voters who agreed with his diagnosis that “everything is too expensive” will now have to live with the anti-police activists, anti-merit educrats and anti-Zionist radicals running the show. The moderate center is in for a shock.
Take Alex Vitale, Mamdani’s “safety advisor” and author of The End of Policing, who seeks to abolish police departments, viewing them as “a tool of white supremacy.” Vitale will collaborate with convicted armed robber Mysonne Linen on Mamdani’s public safety plan. They support Mamdani’s plan to replace the NYPD with a “Department of Community Safety” for a range of police calls. They also reject federal law enforcement assistance – presumably including the successful efforts that recently cleared rival drug gangs from Washington Square Park and the ICE raids that cleaned up Canal Street.
The education committee includes retreads from the Bill de Blasio era, such as former Deputy Chancellors Josh Wallack and Karin Goldmark, a Park Slope resident who promoted de Blasio’s signature diversity plan in Brooklyn’s District 15 – yet sent his own son to Manhattan’s District 2 screened schools, despite his intense criticism of their merit-based admissions. Goldmark played politics with Yeshiva students’ education by delaying a report that showed students were not receiving the “substantially equivalent” education the law required in 39 schools, and got caught red-handed. Both promise a return to raw politics over quality education for public school families. Equity advocates are also returning, including Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, who serves on the Youth and Education Transition Advisory Committee, and admires convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur and supported every effort to rid NYC public schools of meritocracy and educational excellence.
Mamdani’s true North lies in his “anti-Zionism” allies, many of whom offer little of the plausible deniability he employs to frame their views as anything other than outright “from the river to the sea” anti-Semitism. Familiar figures include Linda “Nothing is creepier than Zionism” Sarsour, who shares Mamdani’s unbridled animus towards Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. The BDS contingent is particularly strong: Waleed Shahid, a “political strategist” who portrays Zionism as a capitalist conspiracy; Tamika Mallory, “equity committee co-chair” and defender of Holocaust denier Louis Farrakhan; Hassaan Chaudhary, a communications aide who celebrates anti-Israel violence and promotes classic antisemitic tropes; and Nerdeen Kiswani and Yasmin Bawa of Within Our Lifetime (WOL), known for disruptive protests, bridge occupations, and calls for “global intifada,” both serving on the public safety transition committee.
Mamdani won the election and earned the right to assemble his team. His campaign was nearly flawless, propelling him from relative obscurity to mayor of one of the world’s most important cities, but his radicalism will have a cost – and presents a unique opportunity for Republicans in NYC.
Millions were spent trying to defeat him, and consequently more than a million voters – mostly Democrats and independents – did not vote for him. Andrew Cuomo’s independent “Fight and Deliver” line effectively served as an “Anyone But Mamdani” option, drawing Democrats, Republicans and independents, many of whom held their noses to vote for Cuomo, primarily to block Mamdani.
Those voters – many lifelong Democrats who habitually support the party – represent a tremendous opportunity for Republicans in New York City and statewide, if the GOP awakens to their discontent and offers a platform and candidates that can speak to the Mamdani-era politically homeless voters – who just had a practice run voting off of the Democrat line. More New Yorkers voted for Cuomo than for past mayors like Giuliani, de Blasio, or Adams and though he lost, Cuomo demonstrated the depth of opposition to Mamdani’s vision. New York is better than rich-kid socialism and intersectional grievance studies as a governing philosophy and many New Yorkers know it.
The transition team’s extremism foreshadows challenging times ahead for New York City, but they also offer NYC a chance to reset. The question is will a real opposition emerge?
