Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appointed more than 400 people to his transition team, the largest number of individuals an incoming mayor has had on such a team in recent memory. Their opinions and beliefs are diverse, but an Anti-Defamation League audit of the Mamdani transition team announced Monday found that many of the members engaged in activity deemed antisemitic or anti-Israel.
Some of the reported behavior was quite galling.
Kazi Fouzia, who is on the mayor-elect’s worker justice committee, wrote on social media, “Resistance are [sic] justified when people are occupied” the day after the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas upon Israel.
Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, appointed to the committee on youth and education, posted photos on social media of her participation in a CUNY pro-Palestine encampment. The images included one of herself standing in front of a banner with an inverted red triangle, a symbol popularized by Hamas that glorifies violence, and the words “LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE.”
The ADL’s report came days after a Mamdani cabinet appointee, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, resigned after old tweets of her antisemitic and anti-police statements resurfaced.
Somehow, the Mamdani vetting team did not see, or completely ignored, such statements that ADL found in its extensive study.
Instead of taking responsibility for woeful vetting and welcoming people with antisemitic beliefs, the new mayor chose to attack the ADL, insinuating that the organization conflates opposition to the Israeli government with antisemitism.
But it was the Mamdani transition team members exposed in the ADL report who chose to express their apparent opposition to the Israeli government by embracing symbols and statements condoning violence against Israelis and Jews in general. Could they not express their opposition to war without supporting symbols of violence?
Would the Mamdani transition team accept members of the John Birch Society or the Proud Boys? Would it accept anti-Muslim radicals within its ranks? We doubt it.
So why is there room at Mamdani’s table for antisemitic behavior?
When amNewYork interviewed then-Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in October, he expressed a desire, if elected, to build an administration of diverse voices, including people whose beliefs differed from his own.
“There will be many a New Yorker in real decision-making authority within my own mayoral administration that will have a very different view on Israel and Palestine,” he told us, referencing his own strong opinions on the matter. “Because, why do I need to ask the Department of Transportation commissioner what they think about Israel and Palestine?”
Mamdani should strive to have as diverse a range of voices as possible in his administration. But instead of excusing hatred, the new mayor must keep the haters out.
