A new video has surfaced featuring Zoran Mamdani, the frontrunner for mayor of New York City, where he criticizes local officials for their support of Israel.
In a clip from May 2021, Mamdani asserted, “From today onward, we stand with the Palestinians and will hold our city’s leaders accountable for their unwavering support for Israel.” He had just taken office representing Queens.
Leading a crowd of pro-Hamas supporters, he chanted “BDS, BDS,” referring to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement aimed at Israel.
“Our elected officials use taxpayer money to travel to Israel, attending the Israel Day parade and expressing solidarity,” he stated, reiterating that the message to them should be to support boycotting and divesting from Israel.
“That’s our demand—not just a request. I stand in solidarity with Palestinian families until the occupation ceases,” he added.
This footage was filmed during a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City, which was shared with The Post by a nonprofit founded by author Stephen Emerson, focusing on terrorism investigations.
The rally took place weeks before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and two years prior to Mamdani’s speech at another event where he passionately advocated for ceasing funding to “Israeli settler violence.”
During a spring 2021 rally, he highlighted his role in co-founding the first Palestine Justice student group at Bowdoin College, where he studied from 2010 to 2014.
After the October 7 incident, the group led campus protests against Israel nationwide. Mamdani urged participants to pressure lawmakers, with demonstrators holding slogans like “Stop all aid to Israel!” Some references hinted at a “revolution for intifada,” implying a desire for the end of Israel.
Emmerson remarked that Mamdani seems to overlook the persecution faced by countless Palestinian Christians, LGBTQ+ individuals, and Palestinian dissenters.
Mamdani criticized U.S. military aid to Israel, claiming it diverts funds from domestic programs. “Every year, $3.8 billion goes to Israel, while people here are homeless or struggling with education costs,” he stated.
He claimed, “We are funding the weaponization of the IDF, more than ever before.”
Protests also featured controversial figures, including Shirazi Wahhaj, a Brooklyn imam associated with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing investigation, which has drawn attention to Mamdani’s recent campaign activities.
Another speaker, Raja Abdulhak, who has called for the destruction of Israel and the U.S., also participated in the 2021 rally. He supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and was later involved in a pro-Hamas gathering at Columbia University in April 2024.
“Allah says the struggle in Palestine, Jerusalem, and Gaza is ours,” Abdulhak told the crowd. “We must fight for this cause.”
Mamdani has aligned himself with the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, supported by the Democratic Socialists of America in his mayoral campaign.
He noted, “Some of you might know I’m a proud socialist and a member of New York City DSA, drawn into this by the BDS movement, believing there’s no separation between our struggles here and there.”
Emerson contends that Mamdani appears to focus more on the opposition to Israel rather than advocating for Palestinian rights. “If he truly cared about the Palestinian people, he would have condemned Hamas’s brutal rule since they took control in 2005 after Israel withdrew from Gaza,” he remarked.
