New Yorkers have just elected an antisemite who cozies up to radical Islam as mayor. Zohran Mamdani’s victory signals voters’ alarming ignorance about their city’s history, from the tragedy of 9/11 to the more than 300 antisemitic hate crimes reported since Hamas attacked Israel two years ago.

During his campaign, Mamdani portrayed himself as a relatable millennial from an immigrant family. Mamdani’s social media accounts feature humorous videos about his policies and his Muslim background — see his video entirely in Arabic. But behind his charismatic persona, you’ll find a man who identifies with radical Islamic figures and organizations as well as blatant antisemitism.

While campaigning in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Mamdani met and posted photos of himself with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center. Wahhaj called the CIA and the FBI the “real terrorists,” when in fact members of his own mosque had killed six people in the attacks. Wahhaj has also denounced American ideals of liberal democracy in favor of Islamic law. Yet Mamdani called him “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century.”

 

Lest we chalk it up to ignorance, Mamdani has confidently condoned terrorist organizations in the past. During his short-lived rapping career, he sang in his song “Salaam”: “My love to the Holy Land Five./ You better look ’em up.” Perhaps his voters should have taken his advice.

The Holy Land Five Foundation, an Islamic charity organization, provided material support to Hamas and financed Hamas-controlled committees. The U.S. government designated it as a terrorist organization in 2001.

The Council of American Islamic Relations was named a co-conspirator in the HLF trial. CAIR’s legally separate but closely tied action committee also backed Mamdani and donated more than $100,000 to his campaign.

Nearly one in eight New Yorkers is Jewish, but Mamdani’s record with Jews has been abysmal. He has dodged calls to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” — an increasingly common, pro-Palestinian battle cry over the past two years. The intifadas were two Palestinian uprisings, the first lasting from 1987 to 1993 and the second of which killed 1,000 innocent Israelis between 2000 and 2005. Democrat and Republican politicians alike have condemned the use of the phrase.

“I am someone who, I would say, is less comfortable with the banning of certain words, and that I think is more evocative of a Trump-style approach of how to lead a country,” Mamdani said on the “FYPod” podcast.

After dodging the question and offering alternative interpretations of “intifada,” Mamdani eventually said, “I discourage its use.” Gee whiz.

In late October, Mamdani reminded the people of New York that the real victims of the 9/11 attacks were actually New York Muslims.

“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after Sept. 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” Mamdani said outside the Islamic Cultural Center in The Bronx.

Mamdani did not explain why his aunt — it was his dad’s cousin, he later clarified — felt unsafe on the subway. And no doubt, innocent Muslims became targets of suspicion after 9/11. But Mamdani is tone-deaf to the physical and psychological scars that New Yorkers carry to this day because of radical Islamic extremism. New York deserves better than a mayor who skirts around, if not openly supports, radical Islam.

But maybe Mamdani is onto something. Perhaps 9/11 isn’t fresh enough in the memory of New Yorkers anymore. Perhaps the rise in violence against Jews hasn’t been enough to convince New Yorkers to protect their Jewish neighbors. New Yorkers elected Mamdani because they don’t remember who they are: the city that united after the tragedy of 9/11, that welcomed persecuted Jews, that raised immigrants seeking freedom to the heights of success.

Whether the reality of Mayor Mandani will wake New Yorkers up remains to be seen. It’s up to you, New York.

Adriana Azarian is a senior studying politics.