Antisemitism report raises concerns about NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani

FIRST ON FOX: Fox News Digital exclusively spoke with the antisemitism research institute that released an 11th hour comprehensive report that summarized its concerns about New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. With just hours to go before Election Day, the report underscores the heightened scrutiny facing the socialist nominee. 

“It is incumbent on voters to understand the ideological context that Zohran Mamdani comes from and espouses,” said Charles Asher Small, founding director of The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, told Fox News Digital. 

His organization’s report, titled, “Zohran Mamdani: From SJP to Gracie Mansion?,” dives into Mamdani’s background and rise to prominence. It explains the controversial views of his father, a professor at Columbia University, on Israel, as well as how Zohran founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Bowdoin College, his past statements and positions, and lists the anti-Israel individuals who endorse him for mayor. 

The report concludes with a section that explores the implications of Mamdani’s agenda.

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“He has repeatedly declined to condemn the slogan ‘globalize the intifada,’ ignoring the fact that the word ‘intifada’ is synonymous with terror attacks, suicide bombings, and incitement to kill Jews,” the report states. Mamdani has refused to explicitly condemn the phrase, instead simply saying he would “discourage” others from using it. 

The report states that Mamdani “downplayed” the Oct. 7 massacre carried out by Hamas while characterizing Israel’s response as “genocide,” and hits him for introducing a bill to “punish New York charities that support Israel.” 

Mamdani sparked a political firestorm last month, drawing outrage from the law enforcement community, after posting a smiling photo with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn cleric who served as a character witness for the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and has been a longtime defender of convicted terrorists, raising funds for their legal defenses.

The ISGAP report mentions that association, while also looking into some other controversial associations the Mamdani campaign holds when it comes to radical Islam, which Fox News Digital reported on last week, including taking a $100,000 donation from The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) through a super PAC, “despite being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing trial.”

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“The normalization of antisemitism and anti-democratic rhetoric is now mainstream,” Small told Fox News Digital. 

“The radical left, the extreme right and radical political Islam are attacking the democratic center, and these different political movements use antisemitism as a core element of their ideology, to scapegoat and blame the Jews for all that is wrong,” he said. “It is essential to understand that words and ideas lead to action. The antisemitic discourse of Mamdani will inevitably lead to increased hate and violence.”

Hundreds of rabbis joined together to oppose Mamdani last month, Fox News Digital reported, declaring in a letter their position that Jewish Americans “cannot remain silent” on discrimination against Jewish people and calling on voters to reject Mamdani.

Despite the fervent opposition from many in the Jewish community and numerous viral clips showing Mamdani — in his own words — using inflammatory language toward Israel, he holds a commanding lead in the polls heading into the election, and has also drawn support from some Jewish leaders. 

“There are significant levels of economic, social and political marginalization in New York and throughout the nation,” Small told Fox News Digital about Mamdani’s popularity. “People are frustrated as their needs are not being met. In stressful times, populism and extremism become more appealing. Mamdani appears to be addressing the disenfranchised, especially the young. He gives fantastical policies that are appealing, yet will be impossible to deliver.”

In the conclusion of the report, ISGAP makes the case that a Mamdani victory could potentially “shatter the city’s fragile communal trust and roll back decades of hard-won progress in protecting Jewish life.”

“Zohran Mamdani’s rise is not simply the story of an ambitious local politician riding a wave of discontent over rents and inequality,” the report states.

“It is the story of how radical anti-Zionism has been repackaged as socialist, populist, progressive politics — and how this ideology now threatens to erode the sense of security for New York’s Jewish community, the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, and whitewash and legitimize anti-Zionism, support for terrorism, and even antisemitism.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment.