NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on May 4. Photo by Madison Swart /Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh and Hannah FeuerMay 16, 2025
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist Assemblymember gaining momentum in the New York City mayoral race, came under fire following a report that he declined to co-sponsor resolutions recognizing Israel’s independence and commemorating the Holocaust earlier this year.
Mamdani was one of only five legislators who did not add their names to the symbolic measures passed annually by the 150-member body.
Mamdani said Friday that he supports Israel’s right to exist as a state and that he has condemned the atrocities of the Holocaust in public statements. He struggled to explain why he refused to attach his name to the bipartisan resolutions.
“I haven’t been signing on to any resolutions that have been coming through my Assembly email this year as my focus has been on the substance of what we actually legislate on and on running for mayor,” Mamdani told reporters on Friday.
He added that he has “condemned the Holocaust every year” and that his “views are firmly in line with that resolution.”
Mamdani has signed eight resolutions this year, including commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Lunar New Year, Black History Month and Women’s History Month.
David Greenfield, a former Councilmember and head of the Met Council charity, posted on X that failing to commemorate the Holocaust makes Mamdani “an antisemite.”
In a follow-up statement, Mamdani pushed back more forcefully against his critics. “I have voted every year for the Holocaust Remembrance Day resolution to honor the more than 6 million Jewish people murdered by the Nazis,” Mamdani said. “I have repeatedly supported allocating millions of dollars in the state budget for Holocaust survivors.” He said that in the discourse of the campaign, “the real crisis of antisemitism has been weaponized as a political talking point.”
His campaign also shared a document highlighting his voting record and public statements on the matter. The memo says Mamdani “has voted for the Holocaust Remembrance resolution every year” since he entered the Assembly in 2021. Public records show that Mamdani didn’t co-sponsor the 2023 and 2024 resolutions.
Mamdani, who is Muslim with a long history of criticizing Israel and who leans left on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has surged in the polls in recent weeks. He is in second place behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the crowded June 24 Democratic primary for mayor. A new poll showed Mamdani garnering 14% of Jewish voters.
The city’s more than 700,000 Jewish adults make up about 16% of the electorate in the Democratic primary.
Mamdani reiterated on Friday that his appeal to Jewish New Yorkers goes beyond Israel and antisemitism. He cited a recent survey showing that the top four priorities for Jewish voters in the mayoral race are eldercare, paid family leave, affordable housing and combating discrimination.
“Ultimately, what we need is a mayor who recognizes the humanity of all New Yorkers; doesn’t pick and choose,” Mamdani said.
The Mamdani campaign said he has committed to appointing a senior-level advisor on antisemitism if elected mayor.
Mamdani’s views on Israel’s independence
“I do support its right to exist as a state,” Mamdani told a reporter on Friday when asked about his views on Israel.
Andrew Epstein, Mamdani’s campaign spokesperson, who is Jewish, told Politico that Mamdani declined to support the resolution marking the 77th anniversary of Israel’s founding because he disagreed with language stating that the country “continues to strive for peace” Epstein said the statement is “’belied by the conduct of the right-wing government over the past 18 months.”
Some of his Jewish Democratic colleagues in the state legislature didn’t buy the explanation.
Supporting Israel’s right to exist “is a fundamental American value — one that goes back more than 77 years and that an overwhelming majority of Jewish New Yorkers support,” said Nily Rozic, the first Israeli-born member of the Assembly and sponsor of the resolutions. “This is not something Democrats should be relitigating now when our resources and energies are greatly needed elsewhere.”
