Top Democratic Senator Goes On Wildly Racist Tirade Against Zohran Mamdani

Two other Democrats have now joined Kirsten Gillibrand in falsely accusing the Muslim mayoral candidate for New York City of supporting calls for violence against Jews.

A top Democratic senator has joined the mostly right-wing chorus of Islamophobic attacks against Zohran Mamdani, launching a shockingly racist tirade riddled with lies against the party’s recently elected Muslim mayoral candidate for New York City.

Last week, New Yorkers elected Mamdani as the Democratic nominee for November’s mayoral general election, beating out scandal-ridden former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Despite the young progressive skyrocketing in popularity, his campaign faced repeated attacks from the right on his identity as a Muslim American immigrant – attacks that only increased after his primary win.

Repeating that rhetoric is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who angrily made unsubstantiated claims about Mamdani’s beliefs during a Thursday radio appearance on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show.” The senator had responded on-air to a caller’s unfounded claims that New York’s Jewish community is facing threats as a result of Mamdani’s win.

“The caller is exactly the New York constituents that I’ve spoken to that are alarmed. They are alarmed by past public statements. They are alarmed by past positions – particularly references to global jihad,” Gillibrand said. “This is a very serious issue, because people that glorify the slaughter of Jews create fear in our communities. ‘The global intifada’ is a statement that means, ‘Destroy Israel and kill all the Jews.’”

The Arabic word “intifada” is used to describe uprisings and rebellions, most commonly the decades-long Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation. “Globalize the intifada” is a phrase used by some activists to express solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement. The Arabic word “jihad” means to struggle, though over time many non-Muslims in the U.S. have come to believe the word is synonymous with religious violence.