Zohran Mamdani, a candidate in the Democratic primary for the New York City mayoral election, drew pushback from Jewish organizations and political leaders this week after he appeared to defend the slogan “globalize the intifada.”
In an interview with The Bulwark posted Tuesday, Mamdani was asked whether the expression made him uncomfortable. In response, Mamdani said the slogan captured “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” He said the U.S. Holocaust Museum had used the word “intifada” in Arabic-language descriptions of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against Nazi Germany.
Mamdani, a progressive New York State Assemblyman who has forcefully criticized the Israeli government, also addressed the rise in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 terror attack and the war in Gaza, saying anti-Jewish prejudice was “a real issue in our city” and one that the next mayor should focus on “tackling.” He added that he believes the city’s community safety offices should increase funding for anti-hate crime measures.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the Washington-based U.S. Holocaust Museum sharply condemned Mamdani’s remarks: “Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors. Since 1987 Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.”
The U.S. Holocaust Museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how it had translated the Warsaw Uprising into Arabic.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, decried the phrase on X as an “explicit incitement to violence.” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who is Jewish, said in a statement that the term “intifada” is “well understood to refer to the violence terror attacks against innocent Israeli civilians that occurred during the First and Second Intifadas.”
“If Mr. Mamdani is unwilling to heed the request of major Jewish organizations to condemn this unquestionably antisemitic phrase,” Goldman added, “then he is unfit to lead a city with 1.3 million Jews — the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.”
Mamdani has also faced criticism from some of the other candidates in the crowded Democratic primary field — including the frontrunner, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo’s polling advantage has narrowed in recent weeks as Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, built momentum and nabbed a key endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
In a statement, Cuomo called on all the contenders in the race to “denounce” Mamdani’s comments and invoked recent violent attacks on Jewish people nationwide.
“At a time when we are seeing antisemitism on the rise and in fact witnessing once again violence against Jews resulting in their deaths in Washington, D.C. or their burning in Denver — we know all too well that words matter,” Cuomo said in part, referring to the killings of two Israeli Embassy employees and an attack on Israeli hostage advocates in Boulder. “They fuel hate. They fuel murder.”
The war in Gaza and the spike in antisemitism have loomed large over New York City’s mayoral primary. Cuomo, 67, casts himself as a fierce defender of Israel and pitches himself to Jewish residents and ideological moderates as the obvious choice in the race. Mamdani, who has characterized Israel’s conduct in Gaza as “genocide,” gained traction partly thanks to enthusiastic support from the city’s progressives.
Mamdani, speaking to reporters at a press event in Harlem on Wednesday, addressed the outcry over his interview with The Bulwark and the ensuing pushback, saying in part that “it pains me to be called an antisemite.”
“I’ve said at every opportunity that there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country. I’ve said that because that is something I personally believe,” Mamdani said.
He broke down crying as he described the vitriol he has received as he seeks to become the first Muslim mayor of New York City.
“I get messages that say: ‘The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.’ I get threats on my life, on the people that I love,” Mamdani said, eyes welling up with tears.
New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary is on June 24. The scandal-plagued incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, won election as a Democrat in 2021, but he is not participating in the party’s nominating contest. He is reportedly petitioning to run on two independent ballot lines: “EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe&Affordable.”