U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jewish Leaders Condemn NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani for Defending “Globalize the Intifada” Slogan

By: Fern Sidman

In a sharply worded rebuke that reverberated across political and communal lines, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum issued a forceful condemnation of the controversial slogan “globalize the intifada,” calling its exploitation—particularly in reference to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising—“outrageous and especially offensive to survivors.” As The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)  reported on Wednesday, the museum’s statement, though not naming any individual explicitly, clearly targeted recent comments made by New York State Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

The museum’s statement underscored the lethal legacy of the phrase, which it emphasized has “been associated with the murder and assault of Jews since 1987.” “All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history,” the museum declared, drawing a definitive moral line in the sand regarding the normalization of radical, incendiary language under the guise of political solidarity.

Why is CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress encouraging students to vote for Zohran Mamdani, a politician who spreads vile antisemitism and defends calls to “globalize the intifada?”

CUNY realizes they’re testifying before Congress next month, right?

Do NOT rank Zohran Mamdani. pic.twitter.com/GUgrYrbmeR

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 19, 2025

The controversy erupted after Mamdani defended the slogan during an interview on The Bulwark podcast hosted by Tim Miller, where he argued that “globalize the intifada” is merely an expression of Palestinian resistance. “Ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” Mamdani said.

He further invoked linguistic and cultural relativism as a defense, claiming the word intifada—Arabic for “uprising” or “struggle”—had also been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic. “As a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m all too familiar with the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, distorted and used to justify any kind of meaning,” Mamdani asserted.

But critics across the political spectrum have charged Mamdani with moral obfuscation and rhetorical opportunism. As JNS reported, his comments have triggered a firestorm among Jewish leaders, elected officials, and survivor advocacy groups, many of whom view the slogan as nothing less than a call to arms against Jews.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, himself a Democratic contender in the city’s 2025 mayoral race, castigated Mamdani for attempting to rationalize the slogan. “When Mamdani was asked a direct question about what he thought of the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ he dismissed it as ‘language’ that ‘is subject to interpretation,’” Cuomo told JNS. “That is not only wrong. It is dangerous.”

BREAKING: CAIR quietly funneled $100,000 to Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for NYC mayor.

The UAE designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014. pic.twitter.com/vSmpf65u5B

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) June 19, 2025

Cuomo drew a direct link between words and action, emphasizing that the normalization of incendiary rhetoric has real-world consequences. “At a time when we are seeing antisemitism on the rise and witnessing once again violence against Jews resulting in their deaths in Washington, D.C., or their burning in Denver, we know all too well that words matter,” he said.

Cuomo was unequivocal in his appeal to political colleagues: “As the U.S. Holocaust Museum so aptly said, all leaders or those running for office must condemn the use of this battle cry. There are no two sides here.”

That sentiment was echoed by Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, who told JNS that Mamdani’s defense of the slogan renders him unfit to protect the city’s Jewish population. “In the past month, one terrorist murdered two young employees of the Israeli embassy outside a Jewish event in Washington, and another terrorist set 15 people on fire in Boulder at a peaceful march for hostages still held by Hamas terrorists,” Deutch said. “What did they have in common? In D.C., the terrorist ‘did it for Palestine,’ and in Colorado, he wanted to ‘kill all Zionist people.’”

ALERT 🚨 NYC – Wake Up Before It’s Too Late

Zohran Mamdani just revealed the truth behind his political career – it’s not about public service.

It’s about Palestine (Islam) and socialism.

It’s about using Islamic grievance and Marxist ideology to seize power, not serve the… pic.twitter.com/SYMej8VVd2

— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) June 18, 2025

“This antisemitic terrorism can only be stopped when political leaders condemn this dangerous rhetoric rather than make excuses for it,” Deutch added. “That’s one urgent step to keep Jewish New Yorkers and all New Yorkers safe.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), one of the most prominent voices in Congress on antisemitism, issued one of the most searing indictments of Mamdani’s remarks. “The ‘globalize the intifada’ movement has ignited a powder keg of terror and violence against Jews in America—from the firebombing of a Jewish governor’s home to the cold-blooded assassination of an Israeli and Jewish couple to a Molotov cocktail hurled at Jews demanding the release of hostages,” Torres told JNS.

“To compare the instigators of antisemitic violence to Jews seeking liberation from Nazi death camps, as Zohran Mamdani has done, is not only disgraceful,” Torres stated. “It is disqualifying.”

Even among religious leaders, the condemnation was unequivocal. Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, stated to JNS that the slogan has nothing to do with liberation or human rights and everything to do with genocidal hate. “‘Globalize the intifada’ is certainly associated with the Holocaust, just not in the way that advocates claim,” Menken said. “It is the rallying cry of those who wish to complete Hitler’s Final Solution. Hitler also believed eradicating the Jews was a human rights cause, so good job there.”

Mamdani has attempted to walk a rhetorical tightrope in the face of the backlash, telling podcast listeners that while he condemns antisemitism and vows to protect Jewish New Yorkers, he would not police the usage of language. “I am someone who… am less comfortable with the idea of banning the use of certain words,” he said. “That, I think, is more evocative of a Trump-style approach to how to lead a country.”

But as JNS has meticulously documented, critics see in Mamdani’s statements not just a failure of leadership, but a moral abdication at a time when antisemitism is surging both locally and nationally. As antisemitic attacks rise—many of them explicitly referencing anti-Zionist or pro-intifada rhetoric—Jewish leaders are demanding not nuance, but clarity.

In a city as diverse and symbolically significant as New York, where Jewish communities make up a vital thread of the civic and cultural fabric, the stakes could not be higher. And as JNS continues to report, the intersection of language, leadership, and public safety will remain central to the debate over who is fit to lead the city through a moment of moral reckoning.