Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani has drawn fresh criticism over his close ties to extremist rhetoric, including support for a Third Intifadah, raising alarms about a disturbing anti-Israel ideology shaping the leadership of New York City. In a resurfaced 2017 interview, Mamdani admitted, “I will help my parents, like editing their speeches or writings… to make it more accessible,” referring to his father Mahmood Mamdani—a Columbia professor who has repeatedly equated Jews with Nazis and praised suicide bombers as a “category of soldier.”
Mahmood Mamdani’s writings go as far as claiming Israel’s existence proves Hitler’s “Final Solution” succeeded, and he has called for a “Third Intifadah against settler colonialism.” His book Neither Settler Nor Native, dedicated to Zohran, states, “While the Holocaust forbids Germans (and everyone else) from being perpetrators, it entitles the Jews to do as they please.”
Despite his father’s efforts to distance himself—saying, “He’s his own person”—Zohran Mamdani told podcast hosts that he was deeply immersed in his father’s worldview: “I grew up, like, going to his lectures, book talks… So, I heard a lot of the main arguments of a lot of the pieces.”
Mamdani has not only echoed anti-Israel sentiments but also supported the controversial slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” condemned by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for its historical links to violence against Jews. His comments raise questions about the mainstreaming of radical ideology within the Democratic Party.
