With the New York City mayoral primary just days away, the Democratic Socialist candidate, Zohran Mamdani, is facing a growing barrage of criticism over his refusal to condemn an anti-Israel slogan, “Globalize the Intifada.” 

The backlash — from Democratic and Jewish leaders alike — threatens to dent Mr. Mamdani’s campaign as he vies with the Democrat front-runner, Governor Cuomo, to lead a city that boasts the largest population of Jews outside of Israel. While Election Day is Tuesday, early voting is already in full swing. 

Notably, the American Holocaust Museum, which rarely addresses political matters, joined in the deluge of criticism. “Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors,” the museum stated on Wednesday. “Since 1987 Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.” 

Mr. Mamdani’s comments — which he defended in a tearful response in which he portrayed himself as a victim of Islamophobia — also struck a chord with Elisha Wiesel, the son of a late Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Elie Wiesel. 

“I can’t see into Zohran Mamdani’s soul, so when he doubles down on saying that globalizing the intifada is a good thing, I genuinely can’t tell whether he’s just completely naive or evil,” Elisha Wiesel, a Democrat, said. “Neither one of those is a good characteristic for someone in charge of our city.” 

Mr. Mamdani offered his take on the anti-Israel rallying cry while discussing antisemitic rhetoric on Tim Miller’s conservative, anti-Trump podcast, “The Bulwark.” At one point Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mamdani whether phrases like “Globalize the Intifada” make him “uncomfortable.”

The slogan, which has become a mainstay at anti-Israel protests, references two periods of Palestinian violence against Israel, in the late 1980s and the early 2000s, in which Palestinian terrorists indiscriminately attacked Israeli civilians via shootings, stabbings, and suicide bombings. The phrase has been widely condemned as a call for violence against Israel, Jews, and Jewish institutions worldwide. 

To Mr. Mamdani, though, the phrase speaks to “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” he said on Tuesday’s podcast. Mr. Mamdani went on to defend the word “intifada” by claiming that it was used by the American Holocaust Museum in an Arabic translation of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, “because it’s a word that means struggle.”

Mr. Mamdani appeared to reference an Arabic translation of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that had once been used on the museum’s website, the Jewish Telegraph Agency reported. The museum previously translated “uprising” to the Arabic word for “intifada” before changing it, in 2024, to “muqawama,” the Arabic word for “resistance.”

Mr. Mamdani continued by referencing his experiences as a Muslim man who grew up in the post-9/11 period, adding, “I’m all too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning.” 

The podcast clip spread online like wildfire and the ensuing backlash was just as swift. By the next day, Mr. Mamdani was handed harsh rebukes by some of the country’s largest Jewish advocacy groups and community leaders, including the American Jewish Committee, which called Mr. Mamdani’s justification of the slogan “outrageous”; the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, who branded Mr. Mamdani’s invoking of the Holocaust Museum “vile revisionism”; and the president of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, who insisted that “Globalize the Intifada is not just dangerous. It’s an explicit incitement to violence.” 

Mr. Mamdani also caught flack from his fellow Democrats, including Representatives Ritchie Torres and Josh Gottheimer and the New York City mayoral race front-runner, Mr. Cuomo, who linked the rhetoric to the rise in antisemitic attacks, including the recent deadly shooting in Washington, D.C., and the arson attack in Denver at an event in support of the Israeli hostages. 

“We know all too well that words matter. They fuel hate. They fuel murder,” the former governor wrote. Mr. Cuomo, who has named rising antisemitism “the most important issue” in the race, called on all mayoral candidates to join him in condemning Mr. Mamdani’s comments. 

This latest controversy comes after Mr. Mamdani has fielded criticism throughout his campaign for his views on Israel, including his refusal to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, his comments that he would divest from Israel if elected, and more. Given that New York City is the second largest metropolitan Jewish community in the world — only behind Tel Aviv, Israel — rising antisemitism and the war in Gaza have emerged as major issues in the mayoral primary race. 

Mr. Mamdani, though only 33 years old and with limited political experience, has emerged as a breakout candidate in the mayoral primary. His lively advertisements and progressive proposals — including his pledge to freeze rents and make buses free — have catapulted him into second place behind the seasoned, though controversial, Mr. Cuomo. While reports have swirled that Mr. Mamdani is within striking distance of Mr. Cuomo, the former governor, according to recent polls, holds a 10-point lead over the Democratic Socialist challenger. 

Mr. Mamdani responded to the accusations of antisemitism during a Wednesday morning press conference, telling reporters, “It pains me to be called an antisemite. It pains me to be painted as if I am somehow in opposition to the very Jewish New Yorkers that I know and love and that are such a key part of the city.” 

He then switched gears to discuss his own struggles with Islamophobia, tearing up as he told reporters that he receives death threats and gets messages that say “the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.” Mr. Mamdani was visibly emotional and had to pause on several occasions to compose himself before continuing.