Anti-Semitism report raises concerns about New York City mayoral candidate Mamdani

First on Fox: Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with the Institute for Anti-Semitism Research, which released a comprehensive 11th-hour report summarizing its concerns about socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zahran Mamdani. With just hours to go before Election Day, the report highlights the increasing scrutiny facing the Socialist candidate.

“Voters must understand the ideological context that Zahran Mamdani comes from and embraces,” Charles Asher Small, founding director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Politics, told Fox News Digital.

His organization’s report is entitled “Zahran Mamdani: From SJP to Gracie Mansion?” He delves into Mamdani’s background and rises to the fore. He explains Controversial opinions About his father, a Columbia University professor, about Israel, as well as how Zahran founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Bowdoin College, his past statements and positions, and an account of anti-Israel individuals who supported him for mayor.

The report concludes with a section that explores the implications of Mamdani’s agenda.

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“He repeatedly refused to condemn the slogan ‘globalization of intifada,’ ignoring the fact that the word ‘intifada’ is synonymous with terrorist attacks, suicide bombings, and incitement to murder Jews,” the report said. Mamdani refused He explicitly condemns Instead, he simply said he would “discourage” others from using it.

The report said Mamdani “downplayed” the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas while calling Israel’s response “genocide,” and criticized him for introducing a bill “to punish New York charities that support Israel.”

Mamdani It sparked a political storm Last month, he sparked outrage in the law enforcement community after posting a smiling photo with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn cleric who served as a character witness for the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and has been a longtime advocate for convicted terrorists, raising money for their legal defenses.

The ISGAP report notes this connection, while also examining some of the other controversial associations the Mamdani campaign has when it comes to radical Islam, Fox News Digital said. I mentioned it last weekincluding receiving a $100,000 donation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) through its super PAC, “despite being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation’s terrorism financing trial.”

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“The normalization of anti-Semitism and anti-democratic rhetoric is now mainstream,” Small told Fox News Digital.

He said: “The far left, the far right and radical political Islam are attacking the democratic center, and these various political movements are using anti-Semitism as a basic element of their ideology, to blame the Jews and blame them for everything that is wrong.” “It is essential to understand that words and thoughts lead to actions. Mamdani’s anti-Semitic rhetoric will inevitably lead to increased hatred and violence.”

Hundreds of rabbis joined together to oppose Mamdani last month, declaring in a letter their position that Jewish Americans “cannot remain silent” about discrimination against Jewish people and calling on voters to reject Mamdani, Fox News Digital reported.

Despite strong opposition from many in the Jewish community and numerous clips showing Mamdani using inflammatory language toward Israel, he holds a significant lead in opinion polls ahead of the election, and has also received support from some Jewish leaders.

“There are significant levels of economic, social and political marginalization in New York and across the country,” Small told Fox News Digital of Mamdani’s popularity. “People are frustrated because their needs are not being met. In difficult times, populism and extremism become more attractive. Mamdani seems to be appealing to the disenfranchised, especially young people. He offers imaginary policies that are attractive, but would be impossible to achieve.”

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In concluding the report, ISGAP explains that a Mamdani victory could “shatter the city’s fragile communal trust and undo decades of hard-won progress in protecting Jewish life.”

“Zahran Mamdani’s rise is not just the story of an ambitious local politician riding a wave of discontent over rents and inequality,” the report states.

“It is the story of how extreme anti-Zionism has been recast in the form of socialist, populist, and progressive politics — and how this ideology now threatens to undermine the sense of security of New York’s Jewish community, the largest Jewish community outside Israel, and to exonerate and legitimize anti-Zionism, support for terrorism, and even anti-Semitism.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.