Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said he would “discourage” use of the controversial “globalize the intifada” phrase during an interview with social activist and MSNBC host Al Sharpton on Sunday, attempting to create more distance between himself and the divisive slogan. 

Sharpton pointed out that Mamdani’s previous refusals to condemn “globalize the intifada” hurt and offended many Jewish New Yorkers and asked whether his “personal views have changed” over the course of his mayoral campaign.

“Yes, they have,” Mamdani said, adding that he has committed to “wrestle with the complexities” of discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with New Yorkers. 

Mamdani shared that he’s conducted meetings with various “Jewish elected officials, with rabbis, with community leaders,” since the controversy surrounding his defense of the slogan. He said that a rabbi told him that the slogan reminded her of various bus bombings in Haifa, Israel, and that she feared that extremists could terrorize Jews in New York City. 

The slogan, which gained traction at anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests worldwide amid the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza, has been criticized by many Jewish New Yorkers who associate it with calls for violence against Jewish and Israeli civilians. The term “intifada,” Arabic for “uprising,” refers to two periods (the first beginning in 1987 and the second in 2000) when Palestinian terrorists ramped up violence targeting Israelis that included suicide bombings, shootings, and stabbings. Critics argue that invoking the intifada in a global context promotes the spread of political violence and implicitly endorses attacks on Jews, Israelis, and supporters of Israel worldwide.

Mamdani added that he recognizes there is a “gap” between the supposed intention of the slogan — which he claims is a call to bring attention to the so-called “Israeli occupation of Palestinian land” — and the impact the slogan has on many Jews in New York City. 

“This is language I would discourage,” Mamdani said. 

In June, Mamdani defended the phrase “globalize the intifada” by invoking the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II. In response, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum repudiated the mayoral candidate, calling his comments “outrageous and especially offensive to [Holocaust] survivors.” Amid backlash, Mamdani reportedly told a group of New York City business leaders that he would “discourage” use of the controversial slogan in a closed-door meeting in July. However, until now, Mamdani had not publicly distanced himself from the chant.

Mamdani’s attempt to reframe the slogan has drawn mixed reactions. Some Democratic leaders have said the clarification doesn’t go far enough. High-profile Democrats in the US Congress from New York such as Rep. Ritchie Torres, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have all urged Mamdani to condemn the slogan, arguing that the phrase has violent connotations.

Mamdani has also experienced intensifying scrutiny regarding his position on Israel since his surprise win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. 

Mamdani, a representative within the New York State Assembly and member of the far-left Democratic Socialist of America (DSA), has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career.

A self-described democratic socialist, Mamdani has both advanced state legislation seeking to punish Israel and labeled the Jewish state’s defensive military operations in Gaza a “genocide.” In 2021, he issued public support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — an initiative which seeks to economically and diplomatically isolate Israel as the first step toward its eventual destruction.

On Oct. 8, 2023, 24 hours following the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust when Hamas invaded southern Israel, Mamdani published a statement condemning “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s declaration of war” and suggesting that Israel would use the terrorist attacks to justify committing a second “nakba,” the Arabic term for “catastrophe” used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

Despite his controversial past, Mamdani holds a commanding 22-point advantage over his chief rival in the mayoral race, fellow Democrat and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 46 percent to 24 percent, according to a newly released by the New York Times and Siena College. Republican Curtis Sliwa polled at 15 percent, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, polled at 9 percent among likely New York City voters.

Perhaps most striking, the survey found that Mamdani would still beat Cuomo in November’s election, 48 percent to 44 percent, if the other candidates dropped out and it was a one-on-one matchup.