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Cuomo reignites ‘globalize the intifada’ criticism of Mamdani ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary
This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 29 days to the election.
Cuomo renews his approach
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Andrew Cuomo has renewed his reproach of Zohran Mamdani over the phrase “globalize the intifada” as New York City prepares for the Oct. 7 anniversary.
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Cuomo demanded yesterday that Mamdani condemn the pro-Palestinian protest slogan ahead of the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel. Mamdani declined to condemn the phrase during the primary, though he has since said he does not personally use the language and would “discourage” it because of the interpretation that it could incite violence against Jews.
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Cuomo also noted a protest scheduled for Oct. 7 by the pro-Palestinian group Behind Enemy Lines, which plans to rally and “Escalate for Gaza” around sites in New York City including Sen. Chuck Schumer’s house, Rep. Ritchie Torres’ office and the Anti-Defamation League.
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Cuomo did not suggest any formal link between the group and Mamdani. But he said his rival “continues to play word games instead of showing moral clarity” and called on him to “reject any movement that glorifies violence or targets Jewish people.”
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Mamdani hasn’t yet responded to Cuomo’s attack, but he continues to stand by his pro-Palestinian advocacy and harsh criticism of Israel. He shared a photo from his meeting with Palestinian New Yorkers in Astoria over the weekend.
Mamdani’s Jewish outreach
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Mamdani has met with Hasidic leaders in recent weeks, including two rabbis from Williamsburg’s ultra-Orthodox Satmar community, according to CNN.
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The frontrunner has ties to left-wing Jewish groups in the city, and he joined city comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Jerry Nadler at progressive synagogues for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But he’s also hoping to convince less friendly Jewish audiences.
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He has a ways to go with many synagogues and mainstream Jewish organizations, as some have hosted him in private but declined to publicize their meetings.
- The meetings could have an impact behind winning support for Mamdani’s campaign. Jewish groups may want to start building relationships with the politician polls show is most likely to become the city’s next mayor.
Following the money
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Cuomo’s campaign raked in close to $1 million over recent weeks, including nearly $400,000 in the hours after Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race, according to his latest campaign filing.
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He’s still far behind Mamdani, who said he hit the city’s $8 million fundraising cap last month.
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Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa had his strongest fundraising stretch of the race, reporting more than $420,000 in the period of Aug. 19 to Sept. 29. A spokesperson for Sliwa said he hoped to reach $8 million by the end of October.
Winning without a majority?
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If the polls are right, Mamdani is set to win the race with about 45% of the vote. That would make him the first New York City mayor in recent history to be elected without majority support, according to Politico.
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Winning less than a majority could pose problems for him in City Hall, as the democratic socialist and Israel critic may lack a mandate to pull off his progressive vision against the opposition of the city’s financial powerbrokers and political moderates.
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Mamdani will face pressure from the Democratic Socialists of America if he is elected. A leader of the party’s New York City chapter said at an event last week, “Our endorsed candidates are expected to follow the will of the membership,” according to the New York Post.
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The post Cuomo reignites ‘globalize the intifada’ criticism of Mamdani ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Qatari PM Meets Iran’s Larijani in Tehran, Discusses Easing Regional Tensions
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in Tehran and reviewed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Saturday in a statement.
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Tesla Receives Approval to Test Autonomous Driving in Israel
March 12, 2025, Seattle, Washington, USA: A row of brand-new Tesla Cybertrucks stands in a Tesla Motors Logistics Drop Zone in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Wed., March 12, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
i24 News – The Ministry of Transport announced on Sunday that it has granted Tesla official approval to conduct trials of its autonomous driving system on Israel’s roads. The move comes as part of an effort to examine how the car manufacturer’s advanced technology can be integrated into the local driving environment, with full support from the ministry.
The trials will focus on Tesla’s Fully Self-Driving (FSD) system, a supervised autonomous driving platform. Under the terms of the approval, a driver must remain present in the vehicle at all times to supervise the system, despite its autonomous capabilities. This ensures safety while allowing the technology to be tested in real-world conditions.
The Ministry of Transport described the approval as a significant step toward advancing vehicle regulation in Israel. Officials said the initiative aims to create a regulatory framework that will allow for the routine, supervised use of autonomous driving systems in the future, safely and efficiently.
Tesla will use the trials to assess how the FSD system interacts with Israel’s road infrastructure, traffic patterns, and local driving behaviors. Data collected during the experiment will help refine the system and inform potential regulatory updates to accommodate autonomous vehicles.
The ministry emphasized that the pilot program is limited in scope and strictly monitored. It noted that all necessary safety protocols are in place and that public safety remains the top priority throughout the testing period.
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Reopening of Gaza’s Rafah Crossing Expected Monday, Officials Say
An aid truck moves on a road after entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 1, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Gaza’s main border crossing in Rafah will reopen for Palestinians on Monday, Israel said, with preparations underway at the war-ravaged enclave’s main gateway that has been largely shut for almost two years.
Before the war, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was the only direct exit point for most Gazans to reach the outside world as well as a key entry point for aid into the territory. It has been largely shut since May 2024 and under Israeli military control on the Gazan side.
COGAT, the Israeli military unit that oversees humanitarian coordination, said the crossing will reopen in both directions for Gaza residents on foot only and its operation will be coordinated with Egypt and the European Union.
“Today, a pilot is underway to test and assess the operation of the crossing. The movement of residents in both directions, entry and exit to and from Gaza, is expected to begin tomorrow,” COGAT said in a statement.
A Palestinian official and a European source close to the EU mission confirmed the details. The Egyptian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
STRICT SECURITY CHECKS
Israel has said the crossing would open under stringent security checks only for Palestinians who wish to leave the war-ravaged enclave and for those who fled the fighting in the first months of the war to return.
Many of those expected to leave are sick and wounded Gazans in need of medical care abroad. The Palestinian health ministry has said that there are 20,000 patients waiting to leave Gaza.
An Israeli defense official said that the crossing can hold between 150-200 people altogether in both directions. There will be more people leaving than returning because patients leave together with escorts, the official added.
“(The Rafah crossing) is the lifeline for us, the patients. We don’t have the resources to be treated in Gaza,” said Moustafa Abdel Hadi, a kidney patient in a central Gaza hospital, awaiting a transplant abroad.
“If the war impacted a healthy person by 1 percent, it has impacted us 200 percent,” he said, sitting as he received dialysis treatment at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. His travel request, he said, has been approved.
Two Egyptian officials said that at least 50 Palestinian patients will be processed on Sunday to cross Rafah into Egypt for treatment. In the first few days around 200 people, patients and their family members, will cross daily into Egypt, the officials said, with 50 people returning to Gaza per day.
Lists of Gazans set to pass through the crossing have been submitted by Egypt and approved by Israel, the official said.
NEXT PHASE OF TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN
Reopening the border crossing was a key requirement of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.
But the ceasefire, which came into effect in October after two years of fighting, has been repeatedly shaken by rounds of violence.
On Saturday, Israel launched some of its most intense airstrikes since the ceasefire, killing at least 30 people, in what it said was a response to a Hamas violation of the truce on Friday when militants emerged from a tunnel in Rafah.
The next phases of Trump’s plan for Gaza foresee governance being handed to Palestinian technocrats, Hamas laying down its weapons and Israeli troops withdrawing from the territory while an international force keeps the peace and Gaza is rebuilt.
Hamas has so far rejected disarmament and Israel has repeatedly indicated that if the Islamist terrorist group is not disarmed peacefully, it will use force to make it do so.