Zohran Mamdani, a candidate in the Democratic primaries for the elections of mayor of New York City, eliminated Jewish organizations and political leaders this week after he seemed to defend the slogan “globalize the intifada.”
In an interview with the Bulwark posted on Tuesday, Mamdani was asked if the expression bothered him. In response, Mamdani said that the slogan captured “a desperate desire for equal rights by defending Palestinian human rights.” He said that the United States Holocaust Museum had used the word “Intifada” in descriptions in the Arabic language of the 1944 Warsaw Survey against Nazi Germany.
Mamdani, a progressive assemblyman of the state of New York who has strongly criticized the Israeli government, also addressed the increase in anti -Semitism from the terrorist attack of October 7 and the war in Gaza, saying that the prejudice of Antijudío was “a real problem in our city” and one that the next mayor should focus on “tacos”. He added that he believes that community security offices of the city should increase funds for crime measures against hatred.
In a publication on X on Wednesday, the US Holocaust Museum with headquarters in Washington strongly condemned Mamdani’s comments: “Exploit the museum and Ghetto’s lifting in Warsaw to disinfect” globalize intifada “is unworthy and especially offensive for survivors. Since 1987, the Jews have been attacked and killed under their banner. They must confirm their use and history abuse. ” “
The United States Holocaust Museum did not immediately respond to a request for comments on how it had translated Warsaw survey to Arabic.
Jonathan Greenblatt, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, denounced the phrase in X as an “explicit incitement to violence.” The representative Dan Goldman, Dn.y., who is Jewish, said in a statement that the term “intifada” is “well understood to refer to the violent terrorist attacks against innocent Israeli civilians that occurred during the first and second intifada.”
“If Mr. Mamdani is not willing to pay attention to the request of the main Jewish organizations to condemn this undoubtedly anti -Semitic phrase,” Goldman added, “then it is not suitable for leading a city with 1.3 million Jews, the largest Jewish population outside Israel.”
Mamdani has also faced criticism from some of the other candidates in the busy Democratic primary field, including the favorite, former governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo’s voting advantage has been reduced in recent weeks when Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist, built impulse and caught a key support from the representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dn.Y.
In a statement, Cuomo asked all the contestants in the race to “denounce” Mamdani’s comments and invoked recent violent attacks against Jews throughout the country.
“At a time when we are seeing the increasing anti -Semitism and, in fact, once again witnessing the violence against the Jews that results in their deaths in Washington, DC or their burning in Denver, we know very well that words matter,” he said in part of Cuomo, referring to the murders of two employees of the Embassia of Israel and an attack of Israeli hostages against lawyers in lawyers. “They feed hatred. They drive murder.”
The war in Gaza and the peak in anti -Semitism have advanced on the primary mayor of New York City. Cuomo, 67, is presented as a fierce defender of Israel and launches Jewish and moderate ideological residents as the obvious option in the race. Mamdani, who has characterized Israel’s behavior in Gaza as “genocide”, won a traction in part thanks to the enthusiastic support of the city’s progressives.
Mamdani, speaking with journalists in a press event in Harlem on Wednesday, went to the protest for his interview with Bulwark and the following rejection, saying in part that “it hurts to be called Antisemite.”
“I have said on every time that there is no space for anti -Semitism in this city, in this country. I have said it because that is something I personally believe,” Mamdani said.
He broke crying while describing the Vitriolo he has received while seeking to become the first Muslim mayor of New York City.
“I receive messages that say: ‘The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.’ I receive threats in my life, in the people I love,” said Mamdani, with his eyes full of tears.
On June 24, the head of New York City, Eric Adams, won the elections as a Democrat in 2021, but does not participate in the party nominations contest. According to the reports, it is requesting that it be executed in two independent tickets: “Endantisemitism” and “safe and affordable”.
