By: Meyer Wolfsheim

Fox News first reported that Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour — a close ally and mentor to New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani — sent a clear message to the candidate on Saturday night, vowing to “hold him accountable” if he fails to fulfill his campaign promises, including dismantling the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG), a unit that handles terrorism threats and protests.

During an Instagram livestream obtained by Fox News Digital, Sarsour told her followers that Mamdani’s expected victory wouldn’t give him unchecked power. “Electing Zohran doesn’t mean we’re just going to let him do whatever the hell he wants when he gets to City Hall,” she said. “Our friends on the inside need people on the outside to hold them accountable.”

As Fox News reported, Sarsour made it clear she has no plans to join Mamdani’s administration. “I’m not going to work for the Zohran administration,” she said. “There gotta be people like me willing to stay outside.”

Sarsour, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) like Mamdani, has been one of his earliest political mentors. The pair first worked together in 2017, campaigning for DSA-backed City Council candidate Khader El-Yateem. Soon after, Mamdani joined the board of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, which Sarsour co-founded. She endorsed his successful run for the state Assembly and later his campaign for mayor.

According to Fox News, Sarsour’s nonprofit group, MPower Action, is among more than 100 progressive and Muslim and South Asian organizations forming the backbone of Mamdani’s political network. But in her livestream, she warned that their support comes with strings attached. “When he does something and he’s wrong, I’m going to tell him he’s wrong,” Sarsour said. “Voting for Zohran is not a blank check. Our job is to hold whoever gets to City Hall accountable.”

While Mamdani has emphasized his Muslim identity on the campaign trail, Sarsour rejected claims that religion drives his politics. “Our candidate just happens to be a Muslim,” she said. “None of his campaign has been about ‘Free Palestine’ or Muslims getting extra rights. That’s just part of who Zohran is, not what he’s running on.”

Fox News first reported that Mamdani has pledged to dismantle the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, which was created in 2015 and frequently deployed during protests, including pro-Palestinian demonstrations after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Both Sarsour and Mamdani have participated in such protests.

Mamdani has said he plans to retain current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch but will expect her to follow his directives. “I think everyone will follow my lead. I’ll be the mayor,” Mamdani said in a podcast interview.

Sarsour told her audience she was “not happy” about Mamdani’s decision to keep Tisch but emphasized that the police commissioner answers to the mayor. “If Zohran says to Tisch, ‘You gotta do A-B-C,’ Tisch gotta do what the mayor says,” she declared. “If she doesn’t, then we’ll go to Zohran and say, ‘You made the wrong decision — what are you going to do to hold your police commissioner accountable?’”