Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani on Friday accused ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his different opponents of stoking Islamophobia — after fielding repeated assaults branding him antisemitic over his anti-Israel views through the marketing campaign.
The Democratic nominee referred to as out Cuomo, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Mayor Eric Adams throughout an emotional speech by which he mentioned his circle of relatives confronted anti-Muslim bias within the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults.
“In an period of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, plainly Islamophobia has emerged as one of many few areas of settlement,” Mamdani instructed reporters exterior the Islamic Cultural Heart of The Bronx.
“I need to converse to the reminiscence of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September eleventh as a result of she didn’t really feel protected in her hijab,” he mentioned, choking again tears.
His speech got here on the heels of a radio interview Thursday the place Cuomo chuckled on the suggestion from conservative WABC host Sid Rosenberg that Mamdani, who’s Muslim, would “be cheering” if “one other 9/11” occurred.
“Over these previous few days, these classes have develop into the closing messages of Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams. Yesterday, Andrew Cuomo laughed and agreed when a radio host mentioned that I’d cheer one other 9/11,” he mentioned.
Mamdani accused Sliwa of “slandering” him by claiming throughout Wednesday’s closing mayoral election debate that the socialist Queens assemblyman helps “international jihad.”
And he slammed Adams for saying “New York can’t be Europe, you see what is occurring in different international locations due to Islamic extremism” as he endorsed Cuomo’s impartial bid Thursday.
“Eric Adams mentioned that we will’t let our metropolis develop into Europe,” Mamdani mentioned. “He in contrast me to violent, extremists. And he lied many times when he mentioned that our motion seeks to burn church buildings and destroy communities.”
Mamdani, who can be New York Metropolis’s first Muslim mayor, if elected, has been dogged by accusations of antisemitism from his rivals for a lot of his marketing campaign.
“It’s all an act,” railed Cuomo at a press convention later Friday. “At the moment he’s taking part in the sufferer, however in actuality he’s the offender. What he has accomplished has so offended the Jewish group on this metropolis, I’ve by no means seen something prefer it.”
A spokesperson for Sliwa, Daniel Kurzyna, mentioned the Guardian Angels founder has “stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslim New Yorkers for 50 years, working to guard their communities from violence and hate, and he’ll proceed to take action as mayor.”
“To weaponize accusations of Islamophobia for political achieve is flawed and determined, and New Yorkers deserve a marketing campaign primarily based on details and options, not smears,” he mentioned.
A spokesperson for Adams’ suspended marketing campaign, Todd Shapiro, mentioned Hizzoner is “firmly in opposition to all types of hate — whether or not it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any ideology that seeks to divide and destroy.”
Mamdani’s opponents have ripped him for refusing to sentence the rallying cry “globalize the intifada,” which many imagine is a name for violence in opposition to Jews, although he not too long ago mentioned he advises in opposition to utilizing the phrase.
Mamdani has additionally confronted blowback for accusing Israel of conducting “genocide” in Gaza, and for vowing that as mayor, he would arrest Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a struggle legal if he units foot within the metropolis. And he’s been referred to as out, together with by a number of rabbis, over his help of the boycott, divestment and sanctions motion in opposition to Israel.
However Mamdani has sought to reassure the Jewish group, saying he’ll characterize all New Yorkers as mayor. He additionally vowed to guard Jews within the metropolis in opposition to antisemitism, proposing to dramatically increase funding for hate violence applications from $3 million presently to $26 million.
