The radical endorsement issued last week by New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is drawing swift backlash after he backed New York State Assembly candidate Aber Kawas—who once argued that 9/11 manifested from America’s “system of capitalism,” “racism,” “white supremacy,” and “Islamophobia.” Mamdani made the radical endorsement at a Democratic Socialists of America meeting, in what marks his first major political move since winning office.
Kawas, who moved to the district last year, told a 2017 panel that “we’re just seeing the manifestations of that continuation, right, with 9/11,” claiming that U.S. policies abroad formed a “long trajectory” leading to the attacks. She added that the expectation for condemnation of terrorism is misplaced, saying she opposed “the idea that we have to apologize for, like, a terror attack that, like, a couple people did.”
Past posts reveal further troubling associations. Kawas defended attempted synagogue bomber Ahmed Ferhani, writing that she “felt the deepst low” after he attempted suicide, calling him her “brother.” In another post, she praised convicted al Qaeda financier Fahad Hashmi and other extremists as “living martyrs” whose imprisonment meant “our hearts cannot be at ease.”
The radical endorsement also intensifies scrutiny of Mamdani’s own inner circle. A top transition aide used “Jew” as a slur and praised Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s claim that Israel is a “cancer.” Mamdani himself has defended “the idea” of the anti-Semitic phrase “globalize the intifada,” prompting the U.S. Holocaust Museum to warn that “all leaders must condemn its use.”
Kawas’s adviser underscored the campaign’s provocative strategy, reportedly declaring, “We have to draw the fire of the Israeli lobby… We did it with Zohran.”
