Zohran Mamdani attacked by Cuomo over his response | Political News

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayoral race, has been slammed for his earlier refusal to condemn the slogan ‘Globalize the Intafada.’

Mamdani is commanding the polls by a vital margin, while impartial candidate Andrew Cuomo, who suffered a crushing defeat to Mamdani in the Democratic main, is trailing behind. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa joined them on stage.

Mamdani was questioned about his look on Fox News on Wednesday when he averted a query about if Hamas militants ought to give up energy and lay down their arms in Gaza. During the controversy he said, “Of course, I believe that they should lay down their arms.”

Mamdani has beforehand not condemned the phrase “Globalize the Intifada” but told NBC’s Kristin Welker on Meet the Press that he would also prioritize his position as mayor to “protect Jewish New Yorkers.”

“That’s not language that I use,” Mamdani had said in June. “The language that I exploit and the language that I’ll continue to use to lead this metropolis is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a perception in common human rights.

Asked about it on the controversy stage, Mamdani appeared to denounce it for the first time.

He said that he discovered from Jewish New Yorkers that “this phrase evokes many painful memories, memories about bus attacks in Haifa, restaurant attacks in Jerusalem” and repeated his earlier place of discouraging the phrase.

Cuomo lambasted Mamdani, saying that his opponent “still won’t denounce ‘globalize the intifada,’ which means kill all Jews.”

Later, Sliwa said, “Jews don’t trust you are going to be there for them when they are victims of antisemitic attacks,” to which Cuomo agreed.

The debate was co-hosted by Politico, Telemundo 47 and NBC 4 New York.

Sliwa claimed that “Andrew Cuomo is really Zohran Mamdani-lite and he’s trying to morph more and more to the Zohran Mamdani position.”

Following Mayor Eric Adams’ withdrawal from the race, he revealed on a webcast that he has been in talks with Cuomo concerning an endorsement.

“I’m in conversation with Andrew. I think it’s important that we can’t succumb to the far-left agenda in the city,” he said. “And so, I need to make sure if I say to New York is this is who I endorse, I need to make sure that they are not going to be harmful to the city that I love so much. So, when that time comes, I’ll make an announcement.”

Cuomo, who stepped down as New York Governor in 2021, was initially seen as a sure wager for the first before Mamdani pulled forward of the seasoned politician in the marketing campaign’s closing weeks.

Recent Cuomo speeches on the marketing campaign path had been interrupted by a number of protesters who introduced up his past controversies during his tenure as governor.

“This is what Zohran Mamdani does. This is his tactic- to send hecklers and disruptors because he doesn’t want New Yorkers to hear the truth,” Cuomo said after being heckled by protesters in New York.

Mamdani, often labeled as a Communist by Trump and senior Republican critics, also not too long ago made an look on Fox News.

“I’ll apologize to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank and file officers,” Mamdani acknowledged, marking a stark departure from his earlier stance on defunding the police. “And I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers, and I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day.”