Zohran Mamdani Concedes On MSNBC His ‘Personal Views’ On ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Have Changed

New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani (D) said his view on the phrase “globalize the intifada” has changed and that he would “discourage” others from using it moving forward.

Mamdani  — while discussing the hot-button topic with Al Sharpton on his MSNBC show, PoliticsNation, on Sunday evening — said he has soured on the phrase after a rabbi said it reminds her of bus bombings and restaurant attacks targeting Jews in Israel. The 33-year-old Democratic Socialist added the “gap in intent” between people who use the phrase to protest Israel’s “occupation of Palestinian land” and how many Jews and pro-Israel New Yorkers view it as a dangerous slight led to his evolution on the matter.

The word “intifada” means “uprising” or “shaking off” in Arabic, and the phrase “globalize the intifada” has been used for decades by Palestinian supporters as a rallying cry for “aggressive resistance against Israel,” according to the American Jewish Committee.

Sharpton, during a lengthy intro to his question, noted some of his past comments have been “misunderstood,” without offering specific examples. Sharpton may have been referring to his comments during the 1991 Crown Heights riots, in which he said, “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.”

He then pressed Mamdani on whether his “personal views” on intifada — which he mispronounced as “the intifitada” — have changed in recent months. Here is what Mamdani said in response:

“When we won the primary election, I said on that stage that I know that millions of New Yorkers care deeply about what happens in Israel and Palestine — and I’m one of those New Yorkers. And I commit to reaching even further, to understand disagreement, to wrestle with the complexities of those differing viewpoints, because what this city deserves is a mayor that looks not only to represent the close to 600,000 New Yorkers that voted for me, but rather the 8.5 million people that call this city home.

And in the meetings that I have had since that moment, I’ve met with Jewish elected officials, with rabbis, with community leaders. And there was one rabbi that spoke to me about how that phrase, for her, brought back memories of bus bombings in Haifa, of restaurant attacks in Jerusalem. And I knew that from what she was sharing with me that she had a fear, as she said, that that could come home to New York City.

And so in having that conversation with her, I knew that the gap between the intent that I have heard some New Yorkers share with the use of that language, of calling for the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, was disconnected from the impact it was having in that same conversation I was having with that rabbi. So I have said, after having that conversation, that this is language I would discourage.” 

Mamdani’s answer comes a few months after he danced around questions about the phrase from Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press.

During his June appearance on the program, Mamdani said it is “not language that I use.” He also said that, if elected mayor, he does not view it as his role to “police” speech. In July, the New York Times reported that Mamdani said in a “closed-door” setting he would “discourage” the use of the term “globalize the intifada.”

The leading contender to replace NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D) had a busy few days leading up to his interview with Sharpton. On Friday, CNN’s Abby Phillip grilled Mamdani on his plan to open five government-run grocery stores, and on Saturday, he hosted a town hall in Brooklyn alongside fellow socialist Bernie Sanders. During the event, the Vermont senator said he and Mamdani would “not allow” Tesla CEO Elon Musk to become the world’s first trillionaire, if they have anything to do with it.

Watch Mamdani’s response to Sharpton above, via MSNBC.