Mamdani clarifies stance on 'globalize the intifada,' says distance between phrase's intent and reception is 'bridge too
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani said during a Thursday night TV interview that he now discourages using the phrase “globalize the intifada” as he seeks to quell a weeks-long controversy over his repeated refusal to condemn a slogan that many Jewish New Yorkers see as an incitement to violence.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the primary over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by nearly 13% last month, told NY1 host Errol Louis on July 17 that while some New Yorkers view the saying as a call to “end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,” it evokes memories of violence against Jewish people for others. He gave the answer following meetings this week with some of the city’s top business and Jewish leaders who are concerned about his previous responses to the rallying cry
Specifically, Mamdani — a fierce critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights — said that he now recognizes that the term reminds many Jewish New Yorkers of the “second intifada,” a Palestinian uprising against Israel in the early 2000s that involved a series of Palestinian suicide bombings that killed Israeli civilians.
“It’s heard as a reference to bus bombings in Haifa, restaurant attacks in Jerusalem, and engenders a fear … of the possibility of those very attacks coming home here in New York City,” Mamdani told Louis. “That distance between what some intend and what others hear is a bridge that is too far, and it is why I have not used the phrase, and it is why I discourage its use.”
https://www.amny.com/news/mamdani-changes-stance-globalize-the-intifada/
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