Overview
- At a June 18 campaign rally in Brooklyn with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused AIPAC and its backers of being "monsters" who move "millions in dark money" and oppose ending what he called Netanyahu’s wars.
- Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz and the Simon Wiesenthal Center publicly condemned the language as incitement and a replay of old antisemitic portrayals that cast Jewish political activity as secretly malign.
- Steinmetz warned the remarks could inspire violence and explicitly referenced Elias Rodriguez, the man charged last year in the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers, as an example of the danger rhetoric can pose.
- Reporting places the comment within a pattern of Mamdani’s pro‑Palestinian actions and statements, including support for BDS, accusations that Israel committed "genocidal war," rescinding his predecessor’s Israel‑related executive orders, and boycotting the Israel Day Parade.
- The controversy is deepening divisions within the Democratic coalition and could prompt heightened security and political pressure on Mamdani as Jewish organizations, elected officials, and city residents demand a response.