New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Faces Antisemitism Accusations After Labeling AIPAC ‘Monsters’

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been accused of using antisemitic tropes after he called the American Israel Public Affairs Committee “monsters” at a rally last week.

Mamdani criticized the pro-Israel lobbying group while campaigning for progressive candidates in New York City congressional primaries. He stated that AIPAC moves “millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal — to preserve their power, so that they can turn us against one another.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., who is Jewish, said the mayor was peddling antisemitic clichés. “Swap ‘AIPAC’ for ‘Jews’ and it’s the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theory in the books,” he wrote. “That’s not criticizing a lobby. That’s laundering antisemitism from your podium as Mayor of a city with more than a million Jews.”

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a liaison for the Hasidic Lubavitch sect, told him he was “horrified” by Mamdani’s comments. “The bottom line is that the people who hear it see it as a silent endorsement of violence,” said Behrman, who had previously met with Mamdani to discuss ways to combat antisemitism. “It’s incredibly dangerous. The mayor has a responsibility to watch the way he speaks, especially if, as he says, he cares about all New Yorkers.”

Moshe Indig, a Hasidic rabbi and leader in Brooklyn’s anti-Zionist Satmar sect, disagreed, arguing that the latest accusations of antisemitism against the mayor are disingenuous.

Mamdani defended his comments Monday, stating he was referencing a quote from Antonio Gramsci, a founder of the Italian Communist Party in the 1920s. “We’re talking about a status quo where children are being killed on a daily basis,” Mamdani said to reporters. “I’m speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people.”

Two candidates running in the primaries who were not endorsed by Mamdani declined to condemn his remarks. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who is running in the 7th Congressional District, stated: “AIPAC is bad — period.” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who is running to retain his seat in the 10th Congressional District and is not endorsed by Mamdani, declined to comment. Goldman and his opponent, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, are both Jewish.

Lander has made past support for Goldman from AIPAC-affiliated groups and donors a central part of his campaign, though no such donations have occurred this cycle.