A last-minute bombshell report is shining a harsh spotlight on New York City socialist mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani and raising fresh alarm bells over his record on antisemitism just hours before voters hit the polls.
Fox News Digital spoke with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, which dropped the lengthy report late in the game. The group argues the far-left Queens assemblyman’s ideology and ties deserve urgent scrutiny.
“It is incumbent on voters to understand the ideological context that Zohran Mamdani comes from and espouses,” Charles Asher Small, founding director of the Institute, told Fox News Digital.
The report — titled “Zohran Mamdani: From SJP to Gracie Mansion?” — tracks the candidate’s political rise, highlights controversial statements, and outlines the anti-Israel views of his father, a Columbia University professor. It also points to Mamdani’s founding of a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Bowdoin College, his past rhetoric on Israel, and the anti-Israel figures lining up behind his campaign.
“He has repeatedly declined to condemn the slogan ‘globalize the intifada,’ ignoring the fact that the word ‘intifada’ is synonymous with terror attacks, suicide bombings, and incitement to kill Jews,” the report reads. Mamdani has refused to explicitly condemn the phrase, instead simply saying he would “discourage” others from using it.
The analysis says Mamdani “downplayed” Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks while branding Israel’s response as “genocide,” and knocks him for pushing a bill to “punish New York charities that support Israel.”
Mamdani also ignited outrage last month after smiling for a photo with Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj — a cleric who backed the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and defended convicted terrorists.
“The normalization of antisemitism and anti-democratic rhetoric is now mainstream,” Small told Fox News Digital. He warned that “the radical left, the extreme right and radical political Islam” are undermining democratic norms — and using antisemitism as a political weapon.
“It is essential to understand that words and ideas lead to action. The antisemitic discourse of Mamdani will inevitably lead to increased hate and violence,” he said.
Hundreds of rabbis publicly opposed Mamdani last month, saying Jewish Americans “cannot remain silent” and urging voters to reject him. Still, despite intense pushback and viral clips of his inflammatory comments on Israel, Mamdani enters Election Day with a strong polling edge and some Jewish backers.
“There are significant levels of economic, social and political marginalization in New York and throughout the nation,” Small said, noting Mamdani’s appeal to disillusioned young voters. “People are frustrated as their needs are not being met. In stressful times, populism and extremism become more appealing. Mamdani appears to be addressing the disenfranchised, especially the young. He gives fantastical policies that are appealing, yet will be impossible to deliver.”
