Zohran Mamdani, the man most likely to be New York City’s next mayor, has said: “Antisemitism is not simply something that we should talk about. It’s something that we have to tackle. We have to make clear there’s no room for it in this city, in this country, in this world.”

That doesn’t sound so bad, but there is so much else on Mamdani’s record that calls it into question. He said in 2021 that the Palestinian jihad against Israel made him a socialist: “I sincerely believe in this political project. I sincerely believe in socialism. For me, it was Palestine that brought me into this movement.”

He maintained, on the other hand, that this did not mean that he was in favor of violence against Israelis or Jews in general. When a pro-Palestinian gunman murdered two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington on May 21, 2025, Mamdani wrote the next day: “We owe it to one another to confront hate with the urgency and solidarity it demands, and to ensure our Jewish neighbors can live safely and free of fear. May the memories of both victims be a blessing.”