US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

US Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) has repudiated popular right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson for claiming he would like to share “condolences” with the family of Osama bin Laden, the late al Qaeda leader who organized the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. 

“Something is wrong with Tucker Carlson,” Cruz said during an episode of his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” that was released on Monday.

Cruz was responding to Carlson, a controversial commentator and online provocateur, who said in a recent episode of his own podcast that he would have no problem expressing sympathy to bin Laden’s family of bin Laden following the arch-terrorist’s death.

Carlson was interviewing Shahed Ghoreishi, a former US State Department official who upset his superiors by offering condolences to the families of supposed journalists killed in Gaza, including the family of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif. Mounting evidence has revealed that al-Sharif may have operated as a political operative for Hamas prior to and during the Palestinian terrorist group’s ongoing war with Israel.

“Let me just say: I would be totally comfortable sharing condolences with Osama bin Laden’s family,” Carlson said in response. “I hate Osama bin Laden. On the other hand, if somebody dies, it’s OK to say, ‘I’m sorry’ to his family.

He then added, “I would say that to the family of an executed murderer in a prison. It doesn’t mean I support the murderer, but this is family. That’s OK. It’s called human decency.”

Cruz lamented Carlson’s career trajectory, claiming that he was “destination TV” during his stint on Fox News. The senator remarked that during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, Carlson’s show on Fox was “the single best thing on television.”

“I look at the Tucker today, he is unrecognizable,” Cruz then added.

Cruz then discussed his appearance on Carlson’s podcast in June, claiming that he knew that he would face a tough interview. At the time, Carlson clashed with Cruz over the latter’s support for Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a lobbying group that promotes bipartisan support for a strong US-Israel relationship. During the tense interview, Cruz called out Carlson over his “obsession” with the world’s lone Jewish state.

“You’re asking, ‘Why are the Jews controlling our foreign policy?’” Cruz stated. “If you’re not an antisemite, give me another reason why the obsession is Israel.”

Though Cruz was not surprised at the combative nature of the discussion, he expressed surprise that the podcaster would engage in “bizarre counterfactual assertions.”

“He said, for example, Iran’s not trying to kill the president,” Cruz said, referring to claims by Israeli officials, backed by US federal prosecutors, that the Iranian regime has tried to assassinate US President Donald Trump.

“That is, of course, absurd. Multiple people have been indicted for being Iranian agents trying to kill the president, trying to kill former US senior officials. But Tucker bizarrely said, you know, if Iran was trying to kill the president, well, then we should nuke them, which was a really bizarre proposition,” Cruz added. 

US prosecutors have unveiled multiple plots tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including an alleged plan to assassinate Trump and other US officials.

Carlson recently came under fire for interviewing Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian but not pushing back against his claims or challenging the leader on Iran’s nuclear program or human rights record.

Cruz also slammed Carlson for inviting a “loon professor” on his show to argue that the US should have sided with the Nazis over the allies in World War II. 

“No, there is not a good argument that America should have supported the Nazis. The Nazis were evil, period. The end. I got to say, any commentator, if you’re sitting around thinking, ‘You know what I need to do? I need to go out and embrace Adolf Hitler.’ Defend Hitler. Just pause right there. Think about what you’re doing,” Cruz said. 

In a recent episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Cornell University organic chemistry professor Dave Collum stated, “I think the story we got about World War II is all wrong.”

“I think that’s right,’ Carlson agreed. 

“One could make the argument we should’ve sided with Hitler and fought [then-Soviet leader Josef] Stalin,” Collum said, claiming that if the United States aligned with the Nazis, “maybe there wouldn’t have been a Holocaust.”

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,” Arabid 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.

Public safety professionals attending an antisemitism training session organized by the New York City Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism and the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Provided

Roughly 150 public safety professionals from across New York City on Monday attended a “first-of-its-kind” training on antisemitism hosted by Mayor Eric Adams’ Office to Combat Antisemitism and the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry at the Police Academy in Flushing, Queens.

Public safety officers and trainers from over a dozen city agencies attended the workshop, including the New York City Police Department (NYPD), school safety division, parks enforcement patrol, taxi and limousine commission police, and the departments of sanitation, health and mental hygiene, environmental protection, corrections, probation, and administration for children’s services.

The mayor’s office said the “high-level” event highlighted “the city’s commitment to equipping frontline personnel with the tools, context, and understanding to identify and respond to antisemitism in its modern forms.” Monday’s session opened with remarks from First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Daughtry, and Moshe Davis, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

“This training is part of our city’s all-of-government approach to combat antisemitism head-on. We are not only responding to hate but working to understand where it’s coming from, who is fueling it, and how it’s evolving,” Davis said. “Education is a powerful tool in that fight. By equipping our public safety professionals with the knowledge and context they need, we’re ensuring they can confront antisemitism wherever it appears, whether it be in our parks, our schools, our streets, and beyond. This is how we protect the safety and civil rights of every Jewish New Yorker.”

After opening remarks, there were presentations led by two experts in the field of antisemitism. David Collins, a retired FBI special agent and senior research fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism, discussed continuously evolving antisemitic extremism in the United States, and the ties between propaganda, terrorism, and the increase in anti-Israel rhetoric. EJ Kimball, director of interfaith engagement at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, then talked to the public safety professionals about how to recognize and identify hate symbols and behaviors, antisemitism, and other forms of hate in their respective fields.

Monday’s event was the first of a series of workshops that the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism will organize for city employees in the next few months to ensure that they are receiving the training and understanding needed to confront antisemitism.

“Keeping New York City’s streets safe is the first step to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate,” Adams said in a released statement. He noted that every officer, trainer, and city employee “must know how to recognize and respond” to antisemitism.

“That’s why we brought together New York City’s public safety leadership, to confront how antisemitism is evolving: how ancient hatred is being repackaged through conspiracy theories, political extremism, and propaganda masquerading as activism,” he explained. Adams added that his administration created the Office to Combat Antisemitism to lead with “clarity, coordination, and education, and it’s why we’re now training the people who keep this city safe.”

“From swastikas and inverted red triangles to threats against Jewish students or synagogues, we will not let hate gain ground,” he said, referring to the fact that inverted red triangles have become a symbol of support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

“In the face of rising global antisemitism, New York is setting a national standard. Here, we fight hate with action. We will fight for the city we love,” the mayor added

Adams’ interagency task force to combat antisemitism held its inaugural meeting in July. A month earlier, New York City adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.