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New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani was seen in video footage leading chants against what he called “Israeli settler violence” at a rally in Manhattan in mid-2023- months before Hamas launched its deadly 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. The footage, which circulated widely on social media, shows the Democratic Socialist state assemblyman from Queens shouting into a megaphone at an anti-Israel demonstration in Midtown. “That’s what we’re calling for,” Zohran Mamdani told the crowd, adding, “We are calling for it because we know that the days of inconsistency, the days of drawing the lines in Palestine, those days are over.” He was also seen leading chants of “Not on our dime!”, urging New Yorkers to oppose public or charitable support for Israeli causes. “What we are calling for is the end of our complicity as New Yorkers,” he said. The July 2023 rally was held in support of a bill Zohran Mamdani introduced in the New York State Assembly which sought to end tax-exempt status for organisations that raise money for Israeli military or settlement activity. The proposal did not advance but it drew significant attention from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists at the time. In his speech, Zohran Mamdani criticised what he described as a double standard in American politics when it comes to Palestinian rights. “When I grew up in this city, I grew up hearing a term- ‘progressive except Palestine,’” he said, adding, “I saw the politicians that I admired speak of universal rights and then draw the line right when it came to Palestinians.” At one point, the rally was briefly disrupted by a heckler accusing Zohran Mamdani of being “part of the problem” as an elected official. The assemblyman responded by restarting the chants to drown out the interruption. Zohran Mamdani, who represents Astoria in Queens, has long been a vocal critic of US military aid to Israel. “When I decided to run for office, I was told to keep my thoughts on Palestine to myself if I wanted to win,” he told the crowd at the 2023 rally. “I spoke every day to my constituents about the need for us to stand up in a consistent manner for justice- whether in Astoria or in Palestine,” he then said.
