Mamdani dodges calls to condemn ‘globalize the intifada’ slogan amid Jewish concerns
Democrats say more clarity is needed from the presumptive Democratic nominee for New York City mayor on combating antisemitism
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on June 29. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh June 29, 2025
Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, repeatedly refused to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada,” despite calls from some Democratic colleagues and Jewish organizations to condemn it as inciting violence against Jews.
“I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech,” Mamdani said in a Sunday interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, following his resounding victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “My concern is, to start to walk down the line of making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible takes me into a place similar to that of the president,” he added, referencing the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and permanent U.S. resident who was being held by the federal government for deportation over his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a separate interview on ABC’s This Week, urged Mamdani to clarify his stance as he seeks to become mayor of the U.S. city with the largest Jewish population. “I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development,” Jeffries said.
Mamdani, a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, faced fierce backlash during the campaign for defending the slogan used by some at the pro-Palestinian protests and perceived by many as a call for violence against Jews.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat who represents the heavily Jewish neighborhoods of Park Slope and Borough Park in Brooklyn and in lower Manhattan, questioned Mamdani’s fitness for office for refusing to condemn the phrase. After meeting with Mamdani this weekend, Goldman, who is Jewish, said he explained why Jews feel unsafe in the city and called on Mamdani to “not only condemn anti-Jewish hate and calls for violence, but make clear that as mayor he would take proactive steps to protect all New Yorkers and make us secure.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York declined to endorse Mamdani. She called on Mamdani to denounce the phrase, stating that it has been used to mean “slaughter the Jews and destroy Israel.”
In the Sunday interview, Meet the Press host Kristen Welker repeatedly asked Mamdani why he declined to condemn the phrase to assuage concerns. Mamdani responded that he understands people are concerned by that phrase, and that it’s not language that he personally uses. He went on to explain that his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “grounded in a belief in universal human rights” and that he will govern in a way that protects Jewish New Yorkers from hate and antisemitic violence.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller who cross-endorsed Mamdani in the final week of the campaign, defended the nominee’s stance. “Even if people in their own minds might mean ‘I’m fighting for the human rights of Palestinians,’ I want them to understand why that’s not how I hear it,” Lander, who is Jewish, said about “globalize the intifada” in an interview on Sunday. “And I thought on Meet the Press today, he made that very clear that it is not language he uses.”
Lander, a liberal Zionist who disagrees with Mamdani on Israel, added that he’s confident Mamdani is “committed to the safety of all New Yorkers, including Jews and Zionist New Yorkers. I don’t think anyone has anything to worry about that.”
Meanwhile, Trump threatened to punish New York City if Mamdani is elected. “Whoever is mayor of New York is going to have to behave themselves, or the federal government is coming down very tough on them financially,” Trump said in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on Fox News.
