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Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
The morning after Zohran Mamdani won New York’s mayoral election, someone spraypainted swastikas on a Syrian Jewish yeshiva’s windows and walls.
“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city,” Mamdani wrote on X that morning. “As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city.”
It seemed like a perfect moment for Mamdani, whose campaign was dogged by assertions that he would be soft on antisemitism to reassure the city’s Jewish population that he will have their back — perhaps too perfect.
But immediately after Mamdani made that statement, conspirac y theories began to swirl around the graffiti alleging that it was a “false flag” — an incident that is not, in fact, carried out by the apparently responsible party. In this case, the conspiracy theory implied that the swastikas were painted by pro-Israel supporters trying to prove that Mamdani will encourage violence against Jews.
“Don’t fall for it until you find out who did it. They’re famous for these false flags,” argued one viral reply. “Anything to keep the victim spotlight on them to keep Israel’s stranglehold on the West.”
Others criticized Mamdani’s statement — for overemphasizing the gravity of the incident, and being too friendly to Jews. Some posted that Mamdani had already betrayed his voters. Others urged him to focus instead on Islamophobia.
“There’s no ‘scourge of antisemitism’ in NYC. Acts like these, while reprehensible, are often weaponized to justify Zionist narratives and repression of Palestine solidarity,” wrote Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of pro-Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime. “Mamdani shouldn’t be validating this framing.”
Many people also lauded Mamdani’s statement as reassuring and necessary. But the immediate uproar over what seemed to be a very basic condemnation of Nazi imagery — a condemnation that did not name or blame any particular group for the act, whether pro-Palestinian activists, neo-Nazis or false flag attackers — encapsulates the tricky position the new mayor-elect occupies, particularly when addressing antisemitism.
Part of Mamdani’s new constituency is desperately nervous that he won’t hear them or protect them; the other is worried he will overcompensate by emphasizing Jewish concerns over their own. And judging by the conspiratorial tenor to the response, some feel emboldened to lean into their own antisemitism, even when he is speaking out against it.
But Mamdani’s statement did not rank antisemitism above — or below — other priorities. The controversy around his words calls to mind a famous post from the old days of Twitter, which is still regularly passed around in meme form. It calls the site “the only place where well-articulated sentences get misinterpreted. You can say ‘I like pancakes’ and someone will say ‘So you hate waffles?’”
The post Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback appeared first on The Forward.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.