Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani on Friday accused ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his other opponents of stoking Islamophobia — after fielding repeated attacks branding him antisemitic over his anti-Israel views during the campaign.
The Democratic nominee called out Cuomo, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Mayor Eric Adams during an emotional speech in which he said his own family faced anti-Muslim bias in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement,” Mamdani told reporters outside the Islamic Cultural Center of The Bronx.
His speech came on the heels of a radio interview Thursday where Cuomo chuckled at the suggestion from conservative WABC host Sid Rosenberg that Mamdani, who is Muslim, would “be cheering” if “another 9/11” happened.
“Over these last few days, these lessons have become the closing messages of Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams. Yesterday, Andrew Cuomo laughed and agreed when a radio host said that I would cheer another 9/11,” he said.
Mamdani accused Sliwa of “slandering” him by claiming during Wednesday’s final mayoral election debate that the socialist Queens assemblyman supports “global jihad.”
And he slammed Adams for saying “New York can’t be Europe, you see what is happening in other countries because of Islamic extremism” as he endorsed Cuomo’s independent bid Thursday.
“Eric Adams said that we can’t let our city become Europe,” Mamdani said. “He compared me to violent, extremists. And he lied again and again when he said that our movement seeks to burn churches and destroy communities.”
Mamdani, who would be New York City’s first Muslim mayor, if elected, has been dogged by accusations of antisemitism from his rivals for much of his campaign.
“It is all an act,” railed Cuomo at a press conference later Friday. “Today he’s playing the victim, but in reality he is the offender. What he has done has so offended the Jewish community in this city, I have never seen anything like it.”
A spokesperson for Sliwa, Daniel Kurzyna, said the Guardian Angels founder has “stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslim New Yorkers for 50 years, working to protect their communities from violence and hate, and he will continue to do so as mayor.”
“To weaponize accusations of Islamophobia for political gain is wrong and desperate, and New Yorkers deserve a campaign based on facts and solutions, not smears,” he said.
A spokesperson for Adams’ suspended campaign, Todd Shapiro, said Hizzoner is “firmly against all forms of hate — whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any ideology that seeks to divide and destroy.”
Mamdani’s opponents have ripped him for refusing to condemn the rallying cry “globalize the intifada,” which many believe is a call for violence against Jews, though he recently said he advises against using the phrase.
