New York State Assembly member and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)
Zohran Mamdani

Live from New York: It’s Antisemitism, with Zohran Mamdani

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Mamdani attempts to cover for his past and his current ties by saying he will fight antisemitism, but uses contradictory language out of the other side of his mouth.

By Channa Rifkin, HonestReporting

Contrary to what one may believe, we’re not here to critique New York democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for his grating stint as a rapper.

What’s more troubling is the New York Democratic mayoral primary results that came out on Wednesday. There are currently massive efforts to unearth just who Mamdani is behind the cool millennial-politician facade. Here’s what you need to know.

Who’s the Real Zohran Mamdani?

e of his true stances are plentiful, public and loud. This clip tells you all you need to know:

Now, even though we aren’t going to make fun of Mamdani for trying his hand at an illustrious F-list rap career, we may as well criticize some antisemitic elements present in his songs.

One example is Salaam, released in 2017. In it, Mamdani praises the HolyLand 5, who were convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas through their organization. Here is what Canary Mission revealed:

Although his political platform seemed to focus on economic policies, The Times of Israel reported that Mamdani declared that the Palestinian cause is “central to his identity and the reason he got into politics” during his victory rally this week. It’s food for thought, to say the least.

Mamdani’s Antisemitic Blood Runs Deep

While Mamdani is a classic progressive who aligns with the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, his Israel stances are more extreme and deeply ingrained than both her and the typical Qatari-funded university club members he went to school with.

Both of his parents are staunch and well-known anti-Israel activists.

His father, Professor Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University, is known, according to Canary Mission, to be anti-Israel and consumed with the topic of “colonialism.”

Their report also revealed his backing of violent resistance movements, and unsurprisingly, his participation in the 2024 encampment protests.

He was also a featured speaker at one of Columbia’s Center for Palestine Studies (CPS) BDS events – equating South African Apartheid to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and calling to dismantle Israel as a Jewish state.

His mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, also has a history of BDS support, including rejecting an invitation to be a guest of honor at the Haifa International Film Festival in 2013.

Canary Mission revealed she is a signatory on an open letter demanding that Israeli actress Gal Gadot be banned from the Oscars this year.

With roots so deep, it isn’t surprising, and it should also be taken seriously. After all, anti-Zionism is clearly antisemitism here.

Redefining Antisemitism to Please Jew Haters

Media have taken a special interest in Mamdani – plastering heroic profiles of him everywhere. The New York Times, in particular, has taken quite the delusional approach in “The Attacks on Zohran Mamdani Show That We Need a New Understanding of Antisemitism.”

For one, Masha Gessen attempted to redefine what an antisemitic attack is:

Another excerpt describes the unfortunate xenophobia Mamdani has had to deal with and how broken up he is about being called an antisemite.

When I spoke to Mamdani on the phone a couple of days after that press conference, it became clear to me that there is another reason he chokes up: It’s hard to keep defending yourself against a false accusation.

While there are undoubtedly extremists who went too far in their criticism of him, it is legitimate to say that Mamdani is antisemitic.

The mere fact that he praises Hamas terror funders, marched with Hamas supporters, won’t denounce the chant “globalize the intifada” (because he says it is simply a coin of the Palestinian struggle), and decided (though he has no right to) that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism proves that.

Perhaps Mamdani himself as a non-Jew does not truly understand the significance of all this like a Jew would, but it is ignorant and appalling for a mayoral hopeful of the U.S. city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel to ignore why antisemitism is at an all time high, and more importantly how anti-Israel rhetoric creates that environment.

He’s part of the problem.

Op-Eds are meant for opinions, but facts are facts, and those do not change, no matter how you try to twist them or ignore vital context.

All in all, Mamdani attempts to cover for his past and his current ties by saying he will fight antisemitism, but uses contradictory language out of the other side of his mouth.

Suffice it to say, what he believes is antisemitism is irrelevant, because he has no right to redefine it. Jews of New York know better, and hopefully, the majority of non-Jewish New Yorkers will wake up before it’s too late.

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