Does Mamdani Support Terrorists?

“According to Zohran, protesters are white suprematists, but two radical islamists with explosives aren’t considered terrorists” – Rep. Nancy Mace

Nancy Mace has never been outright Islamophobic, as far as I can tell. She certainly does crusade against Muslims at every opportunity, though. Last week was Walz and Ellison for Somali (read, Muslim) fraud in Minnesota. This week it appears it’s Zohran Mamdani in New York.

Just like Ilhan Omar, Mamdani gets a lot of hate. In this post, I aim to look into the reasons given for this hate and see if Mamdani is really a terrorist supporting monster, or just a politician who happens to be Muslim.

Time for a short bio of Mamdani and his politics.

Zohran Mamdani’s Rise to Politics

Mamdani, like Omar, was born outside the U.S. In the case of Mamdani, he was born in Uganda in 1991. His parents were brilliant and talented people: his mother an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and his father an anthropologist. Both of his parents were born in India. When Mamdani was seven, his family settled in NYC for his father to teach at Columbia University.

Mamdani attended Bowdoin College in Maine, where he cofounded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. He graduated with a B.S. in Africana studies. According to Brittanica, this time period was his political awakening. Quote, “Mamdani has said that grappling with U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine was a formative political experience. ‘We say we care about freedom and justice and self-determination and yet for some reason we draw the line when it comes to Palestinians,’ he said in a 2023 interview. ‘It became a driving force for me.”’

After College, Mamdani joined Change Corps. He was part of a hip-hop duo, going by the name of Young Cardamon. He ended up in a job as a foreclosure prevention counselor in Queens. Inspired by his job and his college experience, he ran for the New York State Assemble in 2020 and was elected, running as a democratic socialist. From Brittanica, “One of his legislative achievements was cocreating a pilot program to make a small number of New York City buses free for a year. In 2021 Mamdani went on a 15-day hunger strike to protest predatory loans that were afflicting New York City taxi drivers. The city eventually secured $450 million in debt relief for the drivers”.

He ran for Mayor in 2024 on a campaign to make NYC more affordable. He wants to lower the price of rent, childcare, groceries, and transit. During his campaign he was criticised for his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stating controversially(????), “Israelis have a right to exist as a state with equal rights”.

Mamdani’s ultimately successful campaign got attention from the highest office. Trump even threatened to withhold funding the NYC if Mamdani was elected. He threatened to arrest Mamdani and strip him of his citizenship (which he received in 2018). Later, when Mamdani and Trump met, Trump changed his tune. “I met with a man who … really wants to see New York be great again. I’ll really be cheering for him,” Trump said.

Upon taking office on January 1, 2026, Mamdani became New York City’s first Muslim mayor, its first Indian American mayor, and its youngest mayor since 30-year-old Hugh J. Grant was elected in 1889. During his inaugural address, he stated he would not abandon his principles for fear of being deemed radical. This seems to be holding true so far.

I slipped it in there without much fanfare – Mamdani is a democratic socialist. What does that really mean?

Democratic Socialism 101

I was tempted to use the Democratic Socialists’ own literature to understand their theology, but decided to instead use material from outside to try to be more unbiased.

To some, the concept of democratic socialism is redundant. I previously thought of socialism as a left-wing branch, somewhere in there with the democratic party. I was incorrect – socialism refers to the economic system, not the political one. It’s true that socialism is commonly found in left-wing run countries, but they are distinctly different topics altogether. This is probably because everything my Economics teacher said in High School sounded like the adults talking in the Peanuts cartoons.

In a paper written by David Schweickart, et. al., it’s explained like this, “Democracy appeals to political equality, the right of all individuals to participate in setting the rules to which all will be subject. Socialism emphasizes material equality–not strict equality, but an end to the vast disparities of income and wealth traceable to the inequalities of ownership of means of production”.

The core belief of Democratic Socialism is that genuine democracy and socialism are not just compatible – they are mutually dependent. Democracy appeals to political equality (the right of all to participate in governance), while socialism emphasizes material equality – specifically, ending vast disparities in income and wealth rooted in unequal ownership of the means of production. Democratic Socialists believe both are necessary.

The also believe that capitalism is incompatible with true democracy. They feel that capitalism inevitably gives rise to vast disparities of wealth, and that this economic power inevitably translates into political power – through money in elections, corporate media ownership, and the threat of “investment strikes” that can destabilize elected governments. In their view, as long as a small class holds such economic power, real democracy is impossible. Sound familiar?

The Soviet model of socialism is rejected by current democratic socialists: democratic socialists do not want a non-market, centrally-planned economy. There is no one chosen alternative to this that is agreed upon by all democratic socialists. Some advocate for retaining market competition but socializing ownership of the means of production and extending democracy to the workplace. Others advocate for a non-market, participatory economy.

How does Mamdani interpret his beliefs?

“When we talk about my politics, I call myself a democratic socialist in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King from decades ago who said, ‘Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country,’” he said, referring to a 1961 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. “And as income inequality has declined nationwide, it has increased in New York City. And, ultimately, what we need is a city where every single person can thrive.”

In short, being a democratic socialist does not mean wanting to Soviet Union here in the states. It advocates for equality and a partially socialized means of production to ensure that equality.

Now that we understand Mamdani’s history, let’s look at the controversies.

Mamdani’s Controversies

“Supporting” Terrorism: Starting with the most recent first, on March 7th, 2026, two teenagers threw explosives at protestors outside Gracie Mansion in NYC. Gracie Mansion is where Mamdani lives with his wife, Rama. The teenagers claimed that ISIS was responsible for their actions.

Here’s the context: The protest in question was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer”. This was sparsely attended, and was put on by J6 Insurrectionist and White Supremacist Jake Lang. It’s important to note this context, because it’s not as though these two Muslim teenagers just attacked random protestors. These protestors were there advocating for the removal of religious rights for the followers of Islam.

This is also important to understanding how Mamdani responded. From NY Times on March 9th, “Mayor Mamdani called the protest on Saturday ‘vile’ and ‘rooted in white supremacy.’ Still, he said, he will protect the right to protest”. Mamdani also stated, “They are suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism”. People really take issue with his phrasing – he didn’t say “These men were terrorists”, he said “They are suspected of terrorism”. In my humble opinion, the was Mamdani phrased it is correct. They are suspected of being aligned with ISIS, but it hasn’t been proven yet. They did commit the crime, but the motivation still needs to be clarified.

Note, both men have been federally charged for their crimes.

Swearing in on the Quran: Mamdani was the first NYC Mayor to ever swear in on a Quran. This got Christian Nationalists all upset, as they saw it as anti-American. I don’t really understand this view. In no way was America created only for Christians. George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation in Savanna, GA often, stating, “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land—whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation—still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah“. As discussed in a previous post, Jews, Christians and Muslims are all adherents to an Abrahamic religion. We all pray to the same God at the end of the day.

It would have been disingenuous for Mamdani to swear in on a bible. He took the oath of office and swore that promise in the name of his God, the same God in the King James Book. As we learned in my previous post on Islam, there is nothing radical about the Quran. Only the ways people choose to bend the words to justify radicalism..the same that happens with Christianity.

Jewish Representation: Mamdani’s stance on Israel has gained the ire of Jewish Activist groups like the American Jewish Council (AJC).

The three issues they have with Mamdani is 1) his continued calling the Israeli attacks against Gaza a Genocide, 2) speaking out against Israel’s existence as a Jewish State and 3) his lack of condemnation of Hamas as a group.

On the first, the ICC has called for Netanyahu’s arrest in a criminal warrant for his role in what they call a genocide against Gaza. The UN Human Rights Council has also done extensive work on looking into Gaza and summarizes it’s a Genocide as well. These crimes are not yet tried as none of the leaders will turn themselves in, but I would say enough evidence exists to support Mamdani’s label.

For issue two, it seems that Mamdani’s stance is this: He does not support Israel’s existence as an explicitly Jewish state, arguing instead for a state with equal rights for all, regardless of religion. Another note, he is stating this looking at Judaism the Religion, not the ethnic group. Mamdani is not antisemitic and advocating for ethnic and/or religious Jews to lose their rights in Israel. He’s simply stating that separation of church and state would better protect the rights of ALL people in Israel, not just the religious Jews. If he were advocating for removing religious rights from Israeli Jews, I would understand the concern. Since he’s only advocating rights for all, I don’t see why this is a concern.

On the last issue, this appears to have been invalided. In a statement one day after a pro-Hamas protest in NYC, Mamdani released this statement on X: “As I said earlier today, chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest”. Critics still argue that one day later was too late, but I don’t feel that way. Taking time to understand the issue before making a final statement seems like a decent idea to me.

Mamdani’s wife landed in hot water after liking social media posts advocating for the freeing of Palestine, to which Mamdani’s office responded, “Mayor Mamdani has been clear and consistent: Hamas is a terrorist organization, October 7th was a horrific war crime, and he has condemned that violence unequivocally”. I disagree with her if she supports Hamas, but not if she believes Palestinians deserve the right to exist.

Socialism: Mamdani’s continued funding of social programs to help out the “little guy” in New York City has attracted complaints of overspending. In an X post, he wrote, “Kids grow fast, and so do we. This fall, we’re adding more than 1,000 seats for universal 3-K in 56 zip codes. Childcare will be more accessible and affordable across all five boroughs”. Here is how X responded:

Sifting through all the atrocious comments, there are some like this:

The answer, of course, is taxes. Some disagree with the use of taxes to fund these programs, primarily those who don’t have kids and feel they aren’t obligated to pay for other people to raise theirs. I personally agree that it takes a village, and investing in kid’s futures benefits society as a whole. That’s a matter of opinion though!

Conclusion

I see absolutely no evidence that Mamdani supports terrorists. He’s condemned the actions of the “ISIS” terrorists after their attack on Lang’s protest, and condemned pro-Hamas protests, calling Hamas a terrorist organization.

My belief is that him being a democratic socialist and a Muslim makes him too easy of a target for bigots to ignore. I can find nothing in his history or politics that show that he’s making any attempt to turn NYC into an Islamic City. I see no evidence of him trying to seize all means of production and turn NYC into a Communist City. I do see a promising young politician who is testing out ideas that could benefit us all if they work.

Thanks for reading!