Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is finding himself on the defensive Thursday as backlash grows over his refusal to denounce the controversial slogan �globalize the intifada� � a phrase which incites violence against Jews.

Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens and avowed democratic socialist, struggled to clarify his position at a press conference, offering a vague and at times meandering defense. �These words have different meanings for many different people,� Mamdani said, pivoting to affordability issues and insisting he opposed �any incitement of violence.�

But his remarks did little to quell the controversy. Instead, they deepened the political fallout, with even one of his most prominent allies, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander � who recently cross-endorsed Mamdani in the ranked-choice race � publicly expressing discomfort with the phrase.

�I hear it as a violent call,� Lander said on the �Pod Save America� podcast this week. �Maybe you don�t mean to say it�s open season on Jews everywhere in the world, but that�s what I hear.�

The remark came in the wake of recent attacks on Jews in the U.S. tied to pro-Palestinian rhetoric, including the assassination of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., and a Molotov cocktail attack in Colorado.

Lander said he still believes Mamdani is �a person of decency and integrity,� and reaffirmed his second-place vote for him in the city�s ranked-choice primary. �We do not agree on everything about Israel and Palestine,� Lander said on Thursday, �but I do believe that he will protect Jewish New Yorkers.�

Still, Lander�s public unease highlighted a growing divide on the left, where solidarity with Palestinians has collided with concern over antisemitism. Mamdani has argued that the �globalize the intifada� chant � often heard at protests � should be seen as a call for Palestinian human rights. He even attempted to neutralize the phrase by pointing out that the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum once used the Arabic word �intifada� to describe the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Polish Jews.

The museum swiftly rejected that framing.

�Mamdani�s comparison is misleading and historically inaccurate,� a museum representative said, pushing back on his attempt to blur the term�s contemporary meaning.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)