A number of Columbia faculty members who signed onto a letter of support for a student statement contextualizing Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel have donated to Zohran Mamdani's New York City mayoral campaign, according to a review of public records by The Washington Free Beacon.
Mamdani reportedly supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel and has vowed to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister enters New York City.
The 33-year-old democratic socialist, who has accused Israel of committing genocide, recently declined to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," which is widely seen as a call for violence against Jews. Mamdani instead described it as "a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian rights."
In a letter dated Oct. 30, 2023, nearly 180 Columbia faculty members defended the students' effort to legitimize Hamas' terror attack on Israel. Katherine Franke, Lila Abu-Lughod, Reinhold Martin, James Schamus, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Mamdani's father, Mahmood Mamdani, were among the letter signers who have contributed to Mamdani's bid for New York City mayor, according to the Free Beacon's analysis.
Mahmood Mamdani, who is currently the Herbert Lehman professor of government at Columbia, has reportedly called for "the dismantling of the Jewish state." He was also reportedly an active participant during last year's Gaza solidarity encampment at the Ivy League school.
"The resistance this time began in Jerusalem and spread to Gaza, now the West Bank and Palestinian communities beyond," the elder Mamdani wrote on X in May 2021. "This is not a conflict between Israel and Hamas. We are witnessing something far more meaningful, the birth of the Third Intifadah against settler colonialism!"
According to the Free Beacon, Mahmood Mamdani has funneled $2,100 into his son's mayoral campaign, with another $8,880 over the years for his state Assembly races in Queens.
Records show that Franke, who retired at the beginning of this year, donated more than $2,800 to Mamdani's campaigns throughout the years.
She reportedly participated in a November 2023 pro-Hamas demonstration with Jewish Voice for Peace that shut down the Manhattan Bridge and was banned from entering Israel in 2018. Franke was also a vocal supporter of the Columbia encampment, according to the Free Beacon.
Abu-Lughod, the Department of Anthropology's Joseph L. Buttenwieser professor of social science, has reportedly donated more than $1,600 to Mamdani's campaigns, while supporting academic boycotts against Israel since 2014.
Architectural history professor Martin, who reportedly participated in the Columbia encampment, has given more than $2,700 to Mamdani's campaigns for mayor and state Assembly, records show, while Schamus, who is affiliated with Columbia's Center for Palestine Studies, has given more than $1,400 in donations to Mamdani over the years.
Spivak, a "Marxist, Feminist, Deconstructionist" professor at Columbia, has contributed more than $2,800 to Mamdani campaigns, according to the Free Beacon's analysis. In February 2024, she described the Holocaust as "a legislative excuse for violence."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.