‘Disturbing!’ Palestinian Activist Slams ‘Very Disappointing’ Mamdani for Carrying Water for Hamas

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council and the director of Realign for Palestine, slammed New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani (D) on Thursday for carrying water for Hamas during an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum the previous day.

After Alkhatib observed that Hamas has terrorized the population of Gaza in the days since it agreed to a fragile peace with Israel, as well as condemned the pro-Palestine movement for not speaking out about Hamas’ atrocities against the Palestinian people, he addressed Mamdani’s repeated refusal to call on Hamas to lay down its arms and give up power during his sit-down with MacCallum.

“Very disappointing,” declared Alkhatib after being asked what he made of Mamdani’s evasive answers. “Look, I’m not in the business of commenting on mayoral races. However, it should be straightforward and low-hanging fruit to say that a terror organization that harmed the Palestinians should be able to disarm. Claiming that you don’t have an opinion on international and foreign relations and-, while at the same time saying you will arrest Bibi Netanyahu, that’s a contradiction to me. You should be able to definitively distance the just, and urgent Palestinian people’s aspirations from Hamas. I was very disappointed, very disturbed by the rhetoric. And again, this is symptomatic of a larger trend within the so-called pro-Palestine movement that exists in the diaspora.”

Here’s how the exchange between MacCallum and Mamdani went down:

MAcCALLUM: So, you’ve denounced Israel and the United States for the response to the slaughter on October 7th. In fact, at times you’ve called it a lasting stain, the response, and at times you have left October 7th out of your statements completely around this issue. Right now, you just talked about Israelis killing some Palestinians, but Hamas is killing Palestinians within Gaza. And they have not returned the bodies that they promised to return, including two Americans, Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, whose families we have interviewed over these months. So what is your response to what Hamas is doing now?

MAMDANI: I think those are bodies and remains that should absolutely be returned. And I think that I have no issue with critiquing Hamas or the Israeli government, because my critiques all come from a place of universal human rights. And my focus, however, is right here in New York City and transforming the most expensive city in America into one that’s affordable for each and every New Yorker.

MAcCALLUM: But, okay, and I want to get to that, absolutely. But do you believe that Hamas should lay down their weapons, and leave the leadership in Gaza?

MAMDANI: I believe that any future here in New York City is one that we have to make sure that’s affordable for all. And as it pertains to Israel and Palestine, that we need to ensure that there is peace, and that is the future that we fight for.

MAcCALLUM: But you won’t say that Hamas should lay down their arms and give up leadership in Gaza?

MAMDANI: I don’t really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety, and the fact that anything has to abide by international law. And that applies to Hamas, that applies to the Israeli military, applies to anyone you could ask me about.

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