Socialist Mamdani Campaign Distances From Intern Exposed Tearing Down Hamas Hostage Posters After Oct. 7 [WATCH]

A Hunter College graduate who went viral for tearing down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas later secured an internship in the office of New York Assemblyman and current mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, records show, as reported by The New York Post.

Frances Macalimbon Hamed, who was widely identified online in 2023 after a video showed her ripping down posters near Hunter’s Upper East Side campus, worked as a “constituent-services intern” in Mamdani’s Queens legislative office.

The footage, released shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack, was amplified by watchdog group StopAntisemitism and spread quickly across social media platforms.

WATCH: Zohran Mamdani’s intern, Frances Hamed, caught tearing down posters of hostages held by Hamas just days after the October 7 massacre.

The Hunter College graduate was honored with a fellowship by her school AFTER she was exposed tearing down posters of innocent babies… pic.twitter.com/sPdaCpjusD

— Canary Mission (@canarymission) September 28, 2025

Mamdani’s campaign confirmed Tuesday that Hamed had interned in his Assembly office but maintained that his staff was not aware of her involvement in the viral incident at the time of her hiring.

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“This individual is and has never been employed by the Mamdani campaign,” a spokesperson said. “She was not employed by the Assembly office when this occurred, nor did they know of this video or this incident when she was hired.”

According to a profile on Hunter’s website, Hamed worked in Mamdani’s office from February through May, where she assisted district residents with case-management services, including unemployment and housing concerns.

The same profile noted she was considering future work in the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs or the Mayor’s Office of Asylum-Seeker Operations.

The 2023 video that brought Hamed into the spotlight showed her alongside another activist, identified as Jonathan Isla Rampagoa, tearing down posters that displayed the faces of hostages kidnapped during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

In the clip, a bystander can be heard asking, “What is your name? Are you from Hunter?” as Hamed attempted to shield her face from the camera.

The incident fueled significant backlash online as social media users worked quickly to identify the pair. Hamed’s face was featured on the front page of the New York Post at the time. Efforts to reach her this week were unsuccessful.

Hamed is not the only Mamdani intern connected to anti-Israel activism. City College student Hadeeqa Arzoo Malik, who also previously worked in Mamdani’s Assembly office, was recorded berating a Muslim police officer at a pro-Palestinian protest.

Malik served as a communications, outreach, policy, and constituent services intern during the summer of 2024, according to her LinkedIn page.

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, represents Astoria in the State Assembly and is currently running for mayor of New York City. His ties to interns connected to anti-Israel demonstrations have drawn new attention as his campaign moves forward.

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