Is there a memo circulating around the office that tells reporters only to refer to Zohran Mamdani as a critic of Israel rather than the supporter of a hate movement that seeks the destruction of a country housing half the world\u2019s Jewish population?<\/p>\n
The New York Times has\u00a0consistently<\/a>\u00a0and disingenuously\u00a0referred<\/a> to vehemently anti-Israel Zohran Mamdani as a \u201csharp critic of Israel<\/a>.\u201d At times Mamdani is instead a \u201cstaunch critic of Israel<\/a>,\u201d an\u00a0\u201coutspoken critic of Israel<\/a>,\u201d a \u201csocialist critic of Israel<\/a>,\u201d or a \u201clongtime critic of Israel<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 There are also references to the new mayor of New York City having \u201csharp criticism of Israel,\u201d like in Nicholas Fandos\u2019 Feb. 11, 2026, \u2018Hot Girls for Zohran\u2019 Co-Founder Floated Conspiracy Theories About Israel<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most other \u201csharp critics\u201d\u00a0The Times\u00a0describes are critical of things like spending<\/a>, leaders and\/or policies<\/a>, industries<\/a> and governments<\/a>.\u00a0Except for a singular reference in 1997 to Nancy Pelosi being a \u201csharp critic of China,\u201d The Times does not describe any American politician \u2013 other than Mamdani \u2013 as\u00a0a \u201csharp critic\u201d of a whole country, including North Korea, Russia, China, Qatar,\u00a0Iran\u00a0or Nigeria. Perhaps this is because there is no such thing.<\/p>\n Calling Mamdani a sharp critic of Israel is almost like calling Vladimir Putin a sharp critic of Ukraine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is part<\/a> of the anti-Zionist\u00a0hate movement<\/a> and supports<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Boycott\u00a0Divestment and\u00a0Sanctions\u00a0(\u201cBDS\u201d)\u00a0Movement<\/a>. Anti-Zionism is\u00a0generally defined<\/a> as opposition to Jewish people having self-determination in their ancestral homeland of Israel. Given that Jews have been killed or were forced to flee from almost every place they\u2019ve lived since being exiled from ancient Israel, denying them self-determination in their indigenous homeland and the ability to defend themselves is a tacit death wish for half of the world\u2019s Jewish population \u2013 more than seven million Jews<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Those who argue for the destruction of the Jewish State endanger the lives of Jewish Israelis given the violent, Jew-hating terror organizations that surround them.<\/p>\n The New York Times\u00a0is\u00a0blue-and-whitewashing Mamdani\u2019s hatred of Jews, and gaslighting readers, by mislabeling it as sharp critique of Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n The BDS Movement, as CAMERA has previously detailed<\/a>, is an effort to end<\/a> the Jewish State through boycott, divestment and sanctions.<\/p>\n BDS advances many lies, among them that all of Israel is a \u201csettler colony on the Palestinian indigenous homeland<\/a>.\u201d One can acknowledge that Arabs lived in the area for a long time without denying the historical fact of Jewish indigeneity to the land of Israel (Jews come from Judea), but BDS refuses to do this. Instead, in an effort to end the Jewish State, the BDS movement takes a multi-pronged approach of advocating for military embargoes and divestment by pension funds and universities, banning Israeli imports, boycotting Israeli companies, and severing ties with Israeli academics and institutions. BDS is not attempting to change some kind of behavior on the part of Israel\u2019s government or change its laws \u2013 it wants to eliminate the Jewish State completely.<\/p>\n If Mamdani believed in Israel\u2019s right to exist as a Jewish state\u00a0but criticized \u2013 no matter how heavily \u2013 the Israeli government, Israeli policies, Israeli laws, Israeli society \u2013 then\u00a0The Times\u00a0could\u00a0credibly \u2013 albeit generously \u2013\u00a0label him a sharp critic. But someone who wants to do away with Jewish self-determination\u00a0and firmly opposes Israel as a Jewish State\u00a0is an individual ignoring the real possibility of death for millions of Jews.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Times willfully ignores\u00a0the fact that Mayor Mamdani\u00a0was\u00a0widely\u00a0condemned<\/a> by Jewish organizations when, on his first day in office, he revoked two prior executive orders (1) adopting the widely used\u00a0IHRA definition<\/a>\u00a0of antisemitism\u00a0and\u00a0(2)\u00a0protecting against\u00a0the\u00a0discriminatory\u00a0BDS Movement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Over 1,000<\/a> rabbis warned of the anti-Zionism Mamdani espouses. In addition, the genocide libel he has propagated<\/a> has been rejected by over 500 scholars.<\/a> The Times\u00a0insults millions of Jews when it routinely ignores what\u00a0the Mayor\u00a0says<\/a> and supports<\/a>, as well as his inability<\/a> to condemn chants to \u2018globalize the intifada,\u2019 \u2013 all of which squarely fall into the category of Jew-hatred and threaten Jewish safety.<\/p>\n In addition to Mamdani\u2019s own words and deeds, it is said that \u201ca man is known by the company he keeps.\u201d At least 20 percent of the mayor\u2019s administrative appointees, according to the Anti-Defamation League, are connected<\/a> to anti-Zionist activist groups. In addition to other low-level staffers<\/a>, Mamdani\u2019s company includes anti-Israel Chief of Staff Elle Bisgaard-Church<\/a>, Brooklyn borough director Alvaro Lopez<\/a>, who labeled \u201cheroes\u201d those who ripped down Israeli hostage posters soon after Oct. 7, 2023, and others<\/a> who justified Hamas.<\/p>\n Mamdani recently replaced the head of New York City\u2019s Office to Combat Antisemitism with Phylisa Wisdom, who shares Mamdani\u2019s opposition<\/a> to the IHRA definition and who a prominent New York rabbi described as antisemitic. And who could forget that Mamdani\u2019s choice for director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, had to resign nearly immediately after her old \u201cmoney-hungry Jews<\/a>\u201d comment surfaced?<\/p>\n