House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday challenged presumptive Democrat New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani to clarify his position on Israel and antisemitism and for declining to condemn the phrase, "Globalize the intifada."
"Globalizing the Intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing," Jeffries, D-N.Y., told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "He's going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward. With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development."
Mamdani on Sunday declined to condemn the phrase, which means uprising, but emphasized he would a mayor that "protects Jewish New Yorkers."
"That's not language that I use," Mamdani told NBC's Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press." "The language that I use, and the language that I will continue to use, to lead this city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights."
Rather than reject the phrase, though, he told Welker, "We have to root out that bigotry."
State Assemblyman Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim born in Uganda, is the likely Democrat candidate for New York City mayor after winning the first round of the ranked-choice primary election on Tuesday.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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