Socialist mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani is facing another political firestorm after newly resurfaced tweets appear to defend notorious al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki � while pinning the blame for his turn to terror on the United States.

In a series of eyebrow-raising 2015 posts, Mamdani, then 23, criticized the FBI for its surveillance of al-Awlaki, claiming that federal monitoring helped drive the radical cleric into the arms of al-Qaeda.

�Why no proper interrogation of what it means for FBI to have conducted extensive surv. into Awlaki�s private life?� Mamdani wrote after reading a New York Times report describing al-Awlaki�s use of unsavory women despite his conservative religious preaching.

�How could #Awlaki have ever trusted @FBI to not release surveillance esp. if he continued to critique [the] state?� Mamdani added. �Why no further discussion of how #Awlaki�s knowledge of surv. eventually led him to #alqaeda?�

Critics have erupted over the comments, calling them a grotesque insult to 9/11 victims and an obscene rewriting of history.

�To blame the United States for al-Awlaki is like blaming the Jews for Hitler,� blasted retired Rep. Peter King, a former Homeland Security Committee chair. �Mamdani is making excuses and rationalizing al-Awlaki joining al-Qaeda. It�s an absolute disgrace. It should disqualify Mamdani from being mayor of New York City.�

Al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born cleric, was connected to three of the 9/11 hijackers and eventually plotted numerous al-Qaeda terror operations before being killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

Mamdani, 33, has built a high-profile social media following that helped him topple former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. But he�s faced other controversies over past posts, including sharing a video mocking Chanukah and leading �BDS� chants outside the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan.

Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism slammed Mamdani for the Chanukah video as �sick� and accused him of �cosplaying Jews.�

Al-Awlaki�s teachings have been linked to roughly a quarter of Islamist terrorism convictions in the United States between 2007 and his death.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)