Dems Slam Zohran Mamdani For Refusing To Condemn ‘Globalize The Intifada’

Several high profile Democrats have responded after Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” over the weekend.

On Sunday, Mamdani was pressed three times to condemn “globalize the intifada” during an appearance on NBC, and each time he refused to do so, but said, “it’s not language that I use.”

“But do you actually condemn it?” NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed, noting that many people hear it as a “call to violence against Jews.”

“Globalize the Intifada” is a call to violence. Full stop.

Words matter—whether Mamdani cares to believe that or not.

New Yorkers need to reject this lunatic. pic.twitter.com/xLk9kyR9vQ

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 30, 2025

“I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech in the manner, especially, of that of Donald Trump, who has put one New Yorker in jail, who has just returned to his family, Mahmoud Khalil, for that supposed crime of speech,” Mamdani said.

Mahmoud Khalil was a prominent participant of pro-Palestinian protests and campus occupations at Columbia University.

Also on Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) demanded Mamdani “clarify” his position on the controversial phrase.

“Globalizing the intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing,” Jeffries said on ABC. “He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.”

“With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the City of New York, which has been an unacceptable development,” Jeffries said.

“Any mayor, whether you’re a Democratic mayor, a Republican mayor, an independent mayor, has got to commit to the safety of all of the people of the city of New York,” Jeffries said.

Hakeem Jeffries on Mamdani: "'Globalizing the intifada' by way of example is not an acceptable phrasing. He's gonna have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward." pic.twitter.com/TA9Hn6lFD9

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 29, 2025

Jeffries was also hesitant when asked whether he planned to endorse Mamdani, and said his district includes many Jewish Americans.

“Well, we don’t really know each other well. Our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him, and so that’s the next step,” Jeffries said, adding that he and Mamdani have agreed to sit down and talk.

Meanwhile, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat came out swinging against Mamdani for refusing to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

“New York constituents I talked to are alarmed. They are alarmed by past public statements. They are alarmed about past public positions, referring to global jihad,” Gillibrand said during a WNYC interview on Thursday.

“This is a very serious issue because people who glorify the slaughter of Jews create fear in our communities,” she said. “The global intifada is a statement that means destroy Israel and kill all the Jews.”

Other Democrats weighed in as well.

Rep. Laura Gillen, a freshman Democrat representing Long Island who is known as a centrist, accused Mamdani of “a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments.”

“He is the absolute wrong choice for New York,” Gillen said.

Mamdani, a New York assemblyman representing Queens, won the Democratic primary last week in an upset that threw the New York City mayor’s race into chaos. Current Mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo will both likely run as independents, and Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, will face them all as the Republican candidate.

The general election for mayor will be held on November 4.