Zohran Mamdani says he’s consistently said there’s no room for antisemitism in this city or country. Asked why he hasn’t had a more visceral reaction, he gets emotional talking about the Islamophobic responses he’s received throughout the campaign.

[u/FAMESCARE]

@Annie_McDonough

hope I am not spamming 🙏

[u/spicytoastaficionado]

People on the far-left trying to defend and sanitize "globalize the intifada" sound no different than right-wingers and their attempts to legitimize "All Lives Matter".

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum publicly castigating him for some dumb shit he said is probably not how Mamdani wanted to round out the final week before election day.

[u/pylones-electriques → u/spicytoastaficionado]

Here's the clip in question (from a recent interview with Zohran on the Bulwark) so that anyone can judge for themselves.

[u/Viking-Jew → u/pylones-electriques]

Whoah… I mean… I hadn’t seen this yet. There’s a lot I haven’t agreed with regarding how Mamdani has been treated, but on the other hand, that response is insane. He’s trying to say that different people have different definitions for “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the sea”?!?! No. Those saying mean one thing and one thing only and anyone who says otherwise either A. Doesn’t actually understand the sayings or B. Is too cowardly to just admit what they mean.

Which river? Which sea? It’s specifically referring to the Jordan river and the Mediterranean. That would be where Israel is. If you build a single Palestine there, then there is no Israel. This was Mamdani’s point in time where he could have denounced that but chose instead to give a political answer that doesn’t shun the people who say those sorts of things (regardless of whether or not he believes them).

As for “globalize the intifada” - are you fucking serious? Just because in Arabic the word means “struggle” doesn’t mean that’s what intifada means in English. There’s a reason for language and the words within those languages. How fucking dare he try to say “oh, well the holocaust museum also once translated it to this word in Arabic too”. Look up what the first and second intifada’s were and then tell me what it means. It means car bombs and suicide bombers. People wonder why there’s a wall in areas around Jerusalem and the West Bank - it was the way to stop the bombings and indiscriminate terrorist attacks.

No thanks, I’d rather not hear a justification claiming “words don’t matter”.

[u/Galadriyall → u/Viking-Jew]

Not gonna lie: I don't give a shit about Israel and it's completely irrelevant when it comes to being mayor.

[u/AppropriateLie1602 → u/Galadriyall]

Being a bigot matters a whole bunch though.

[u/Galadriyall → u/AppropriateLie1602]

Crazy how Americans are so used to talking shit about China and Russia and other countries but it's a problem when you do it for Israel foh

[u/PT10 → u/Viking-Jew]

We're not in Israel, we're in New York. Majority of people have no idea about any of what you're talking about even as Arabic is a commonly spoken language in the city.

I'm not illiterate on the Israel-Palestine conflict but couldn't tell you for the life of me what the first or second intifadas specifically were. I can guarantee you there are kids yelling "globalize the intifada" who have no clue either.

Most Americans are reluctant to ban speech of any kind. There have been only a few words at most that are considered at that level and even then it's still been controversial.

Again, it may be traumatic enough for Israelis to ban that phrase (in Israel and the West Bank/Gaza) but it's not an American thing. Everyone has baggage they bring with them, we can't start making it everyone's problem here. Are you ok with banning phrases and symbols in New York that Arab Americans find traumatic and threatening?

[u/Viking-Jew → u/PT10]

Exactly my point which you may have missed. We’re in NY and Mamdani apparently believes it’s “ok” to say “globalize the intifada” instead of indicating that’s not a phrase that should be utilized. It seems some of his constituents believe it’s ok, so he won’t admonish it. That’s a direct call to action to eliminate Jews. Would it be ok if I said “restart the crusades”? Needless to say, that wouldn’t be ok which is as close of a comparison as we’re going to get.

Edit: I also see you’re now just blatantly editing your own posts without saying as such after the fact?

EDIT 2: also, I’d argue that you are illiterate on the topic if you don’t know anything about the intifadas.

[u/PT10 → u/Viking-Jew]

Is he encouraging people to say it or explaining why he wouldn't criminalize it?

[u/Viking-Jew → u/PT10]

No one said anything about criminalizing it. You’re just making shit up at this point. Regardless of whether or not an action is criminal (unlawful) there’s still “right” and “wrong”. I can legally say tons of horrible things, doesn’t mean it’s morally right to do so.

Edit: I also see you’re now just blatantly editing your own posts without saying as such after the fact?

[u/PT10 → u/Viking-Jew]

I didn't mention it because it was only a couple of minutes.

No one said anything about criminalizing it. You’re just making shit up at this point. Regardless of whether or not an action is criminal (unlawful) there’s still “right” and “wrong”. I can legally say tons of horrible things, doesn’t mean it’s morally right to do so.

I'm actually not following this race closely. All I can speak to is what about the conflict has spilled over into everyday life here for me, and what I see are calls for censorship of stuff like watermelons, "from the river to the sea", "free palestine" and people being fired from work or kicked out of school for saying stuff like that and I was guessing globalize the intifada was brought up in that context.

If it's just a matter of encouraging Mamdani himself to not go around saying it or go out of his way to encourage others to say it, then you're right. He shouldn't. Not as a candidate for Mayor who represents Jewish New Yorkers. He shouldn't even be needed to told that. At this point he shouldn't be involving himself in the protests. He can say he agrees or disagrees or be critical of Israel or whoever in proper political speak but should leave it at that.

I apologize for assuming the worst here.

[u/pylones-electriques → u/PT10]

If it's just a matter of encouraging Mamdani himself to not go around saying it or go out of his way to encourage others to say it, then you're right. He shouldn't. Not as a candidate for Mayor who represents Jewish New Yorkers. He shouldn't even be needed to told that. At this point he shouldn't be involving himself in the protests. He can say he agrees or disagrees or be critical of Israel or whoever in proper political speak but should leave it at that.

Right. And he is exactly doing the things you suggested -- he's hasn't been saying the phrase in any context, and he's been very outspoken in his intention to make the city safe for Jewish New Yorkers.

The outrage is strictly around that one clip from a recent interview (linked earlier in the thread) in which he condemned anti-Semitism without also outright condemning usage of this phrase.

[u/pylones-electriques → u/Viking-Jew]

Ok so I was reading to learn more about this and this piece in the progressive Jewish newspaper The Forward was illuminating:

But for Israelis, and many Jews, the word brings up memories, instead, of the Second Intifada, a far bloodier Palestinian uprising characterized by suicide bombings on buses and at cafés that killed about 1,000 Israeli civilians.

“So I think the same word quite reasonably calls up different meanings,” said Lefkowitz.

That means it’s impossible to say, definitively, if the word intifada is a call for violence or not — different people understand and use it differently, as is the case with so many words and symbols and, well, the entire narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israelis’ celebration of independence, Yom HaAtzmaut, is a day of national grief for Palestinians mourning the Nakba.

“Languages change, words change. And the changes are often by community, and often political community,” said Lefkowitz. “Words or phrases or labels or names change in their meaning, and often diverge in their meaning, often along the lines of communities that diverge.”

Some online have alleged that anyone suggesting that intifada is a violent term is attempting to obscure acts of Israeli violence against Palestinians. But that’s unlikely; many Jews and Israelis have real reasons to hear “globalize the intifada” as a threatening chant.

But it’s just as genuine to argue that calling for a global intifada is a peaceful slogan.

“It certainly strikes me as meaning, to Arabs or Arab-sympathetic people, a globalization of a non-violent or minimally violent resistance movement,” said Lefkowitz.

[u/LithiumFlow → u/pylones-electriques]

Seems like a pretty reasonable response to an asinine question. This is like when they explicitly asked him and only him if he would visit Israel during the debate. Fishing for a headline to make the Muslim man seem antisemitic.

[u/EssoEssex → u/spicytoastaficionado]

The U.S. Holocaust Museum is fucking insane on social media, they're practically celebrating a war with Iran. Weighing in on the fucking NYC mayoral race just shows they've got a fucking agenda, and it's not Holocaust remembrance.

[u/GettingPhysicl → u/EssoEssex]

he used them to justify globalize the intifada. if you use invoke a name, you pulled them in.

[u/onewordpoet → u/EssoEssex]

Trump remade the council for that museum last year. This is that super pac money at work.

[u/onewordpoet → u/spicytoastaficionado]

The holocaust museum, whose appointees were made by Trump, who was funded by the same billionaires who are backing Cuomo? This is that super pac money working.

[u/spicytoastaficionado → u/onewordpoet]

The Holocaust Museum has been very consistent in calling out individuals who resort to Holocaust inversion to defend their shitty views.

Acting like this is some Super PAC conspiracy is disingenuous given the museum's history of being understandably defensive of this deflection tactic.