Anti-Israel New York City representative Zohran Mamdani, who is running for mayor in the Democratic primary today, said on Monday evening on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” that Israel is guilty of killing civilians indiscriminately in Gaza.
The comedian asked Mamdani how he would protect Jewish New Yorkers amid “a crisis of antisemitism.” The representative said he plans to increase funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800%.
“I know there are many New Yorkers with whom I have a disagreement about the Israeli government’s policies, and also there are many who understand that it is a disagreement still rooted in shared humanity,” Mamdani said.
“The conclusions I’ve come to, they are the conclusions of Israeli historians like Amos Goldberg. They are echoing the words of an Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who said just recently, ‘What we are doing in Gaza is a war of devastation,’” Mamdani said.
“It is cruel, it is indiscriminate, it is limitless, it is criminal killing of civilians,” he said. “These are the conclusions I’ve come to.”
New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, who is Jewish, also appeared on the show. He and Mamdani have cross-endorsed each other, urging voters to rank the other as their second choice under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which reallocates votes until a candidate reaches a majority.
Asked if the Jewish state has a right to exist, Lander said he supports a vision of “Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, but I hate what the Netanyahu government is doing in Gaza, and I’ve been saying that for a long time.”
“No mayor is going to be responsible for what happens in the Middle East,” he said. “But there is something quite remarkable about a Jewish New Yorker and a Muslim New Yorker coming together to say, ‘Here’s how we protect all New Yorkers.’”
Lander stated that Jewish New Yorkers and Muslim New Yorkers “are not going to be divided from each other.”
“We build a city where you have affordable housing and good schools and safe neighborhoods for everyone,” he added.
