NYC Mayor Mamdani Defends Calling AIPAC Monsters
The mayor of New York faced rare criticism from some of his Jewish supporters on Monday after calling the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC "monsters" at a rally—criticism he rejected by citing the death toll in Gaza.
Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) after being asked whether calling the pro-Israel lobbying group “monsters” could be dangerous.
Mamdani last week denounced the pro-Israel lobby’s spending in a New York primary election race, saying AIPAC spends “millions in dark money”, leading to criticism from some Jewish leaders, Al Jazeera reported.
“When I am speaking about AIPAC, I’m speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people, not just in Palestine, but frankly, through much of the region, and it is a status quo for immorality,” Mamdani said on Monday at City Hall.
The mayor noted that more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces since a US-brokered “ceasefire” was agreed last October to halt Israel’s genocidal war.
“And when it comes to the way in which they defend the status quo, oftentimes they defend it through direct contributions, as we are seeing right now in New York,” said Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor.