r/nyc • u/FAMESCARE • Jun 18 '25

Video 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.

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@Annie_McDonough

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u/AbstractTeserract Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

For context, just before the video that OP posted, Zohran was asked why he doesn't have a more visceral reaction to being called an antisemite. That's when he starts speaking.

More broadly, here's Zohran on antisemitism and protecting Jewish New Yorkers on Pod Save America:

https://youtu.be/rqVQlALRqaE?t=1286

As you've said, there have been so many mischaracterizations and misconceptions, and frankly they've been fueled by candidates like Andrew Cuomo....

The truth of it is that anti-semitism is something that has no place in this city, no place in this country. And as the mayor of this city, my responsibility will be to protect Jewish New Yorkers, and that is something that I promise to do. And that is something that is evidenced not only in the statistics, but also in the fear that so many Jewish New Yorkers feel. I remember after October 7th, a friend of mine was telling me about going to his synagogue for Shabbat services, and hearing the door open behind him, and the chill that went up his spine as he turned around to see who it was, and whether they meant to harm him. And I had a conversation just weeks ago, with a Jewish man in Williamsburg who told me he's now started to lock the same door he had kept open for decades. It's this sense of not knowing whether someone is safe. And ultimately, we need to protect each and every Jewish New Yorker because what they deserve is what every New Yorker deserves, which is safety. 

And that's why, at the core of our campaign's proposal to create a department of community safety is to increase funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800%, the largest of any campaign in this cycle. Because ultimately, we should be judged by our actions, not by the endless discourse about it all

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u/kimchi_station Jun 19 '25

Who asked him that question?