By: Fern Sidman

In what The New York Post described as an “exclusive bombshell revelation” in a report that appeared on Saturday, antisemitic activist Linda Sarsour—once hailed by progressives as an icon of resistance—has emerged not merely as a supporter but as a political mentor and longtime confidante to New York City’s far-left mayoral frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani.

According to a foreign intelligence report obtained by The New York Post, the Palestinian-American activist—infamous for her ties to radical Islamist figures and her unrelenting hostility toward Israel—has quietly shaped Mamdani’s political ideology for nearly a decade, cultivating his evolution from a privileged, idealistic socialist into a candidate now viewed as the embodiment of New York’s far-left insurgency.

The 34-year-old Queens assemblyman, whose platform fuses Marxist economic promises with vehement anti-Israel rhetoric, has publicly acknowledged Sarsour as a personal friend. But, as The New York Post exclusive report revealed, their bond runs far deeper than friendship—it is a political alliance forged through ideology, activism, and shared animosity toward Zionism.

The New York Post’s exclusive reporting cites intelligence findings that link Mamdani’s political network to a “web of Islamist figures and organizations with extremist associations.” Among the most prominent is Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a controversial cleric and unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who once openly urged “jihad” on New York City.

“Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy is linked closely within a network of Islamist figures and organizations with extremist associations,” the intelligence document reads, according to The New York Post report. “His reliance on Linda Sarsour as a mentor, and her own allegiance to Wahhaj, situates Mamdani within the ideological chain of influence extending from Wahhaj’s radical teachings to the political sphere of New York City.”

Sarsour, 45, has long described Wahhaj as one of her spiritual and political mentors. “My favorite person in this room, because that’s mutual, is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been a mentor and motivator and encourager of mine,” she said during the 2017 Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention—a statement cited directly in The New York Post exclusive report.

The imam, though he denies ties to terrorism, remains one of the most controversial Islamic leaders in the United States. His influence on Sarsour—and by extension, on Mamdani—has alarmed both national security observers and Jewish advocacy organizations.

Before his alliance with Sarsour, Mamdani’s political ambitions were more whimsical than ideological. As The New York Post report recalled, his earliest campaign—a failed high school student government run under the slogan “Fresh Juice for All”—hinted at the utopian flair that would later define his brand of democratic socialism.

But Sarsour’s mentorship, beginning around 2016, transformed the young Queens resident into a political radical with a hardened worldview. “Linda Sarsour nurtured the ideological transformation of Zohran Mamdani,” the intelligence report notes, according to the report in The New York Post. “Her guidance helped shape his anti-capitalist, anti-Zionist, and anti-establishment rhetoric.”

By 2017, Mamdani had joined the Muslim Democratic Club of New York (MDCNY)—an organization co-founded by Sarsour and long associated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The New York Post reported that the MDCNY served as Mamdani’s entry point into city politics, where he quickly rose through the ranks and became a key operative in campaigns that blended leftist economic populism with Islamist grievance narratives.

According to the information provided in The New York Post report, both Sarsour and Mamdani campaigned in 2017 for Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian-American DSA-backed community activist whose failed City Council run in Bay Ridge set the tone for a new era of Arab and Muslim left-wing activism in New York politics.

El-Yateem ultimately lost to Democrat Justin Brannan, who, ironically, is now one of Mamdani’s and Sarsour’s allies. Their relationship underscores what political consultant Hank Sheinkopf called “a troubling overlap of radical ideologies and mainstream Democratic politics.”

“Anyone who thinks Linda Sarsour won’t have access to City Hall if Mamdani becomes mayor—especially on matters affecting Jewish New Yorkers—is out of their minds,” Sheinkopf told The New York Post. “She is a critical element of his thinking, which is anti-Israel and ultimately antisemitic.”

Sheinkopf added that “every administration has had informal advisors,” but that Sarsour’s proximity to power in a Mamdani administration would represent a “historic normalization of antisemitic influence within city government.”

Sarsour’s record of antisemitic rhetoric is well-documented—and, as The New York Post report emphasized, stretches back long before the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre that ignited the ongoing Gaza war. In 2018, Sarsour told an ISNA audience that Muslims must not “humanize Israelis,” declaring, “If you’re on the side of the oppressor, or you’re defending the oppressor, or you’re actually trying to humanize the oppressor, then that’s a problem.”

That same year, The New York Post report noted, Sarsour was forced to resign as co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington after her open admiration of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a long history of antisemitic vitriol, became a national scandal.

Her radical activism has since found a new vessel in Zohran Mamdani—a candidate who mirrors Sarsour’s contempt for Israel almost word-for-word.

Their political alliance is intertwined with deep personal affection. After Mamdani’s first major political victory—his 2020 State Assembly win in Queens—Sarsour took to Facebook, posting a heartfelt message that, as The New York Post reported, revealed their closeness.

“I am sitting here crying. My heart is FULL,” Sarsour wrote, sharing one of Mamdani’s campaign flyers. “He is very dear to my heart.”

Mamdani responded in Arabic: “Love you, habibti,” adding, “You did so much to make this a reality,” with a red heart emoji.

It was, as one former political ally told The New York Post, “the moment Sarsour became more than just a mentor—she became his ideological compass.”

By 2018, Sarsour placed Mamdani on the board of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, a move critics now see as the beginning of his formal grooming for higher office. That board, The New York Post reported, included individuals with prior roles in the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)—organizations previously cited in federal investigations involving alleged Hamas funding channels.

While Mamdani’s election to the board was technically by member vote, insiders told The New York Post that Sarsour’s influence “all but guaranteed” his victory.

Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a proud Zionist and one of Mamdani’s fiercest critics, did not mince words in her interview with The New York Post: “Zohran Mamdani is the lovechild of the radical left and radical Islamist movements that Linda Sarsour spearheaded for the past decade. Linda groomed him so Zohran could run—and destroy.”

As The New York Post report outlined, Sarsour’s long-term investment in Mamdani’s career appears to be paying dividends. Behind the scenes, she played a significant role in his mayoral campaign, mobilizing her vast online following and tapping her donor network to support him.

Sarsour donated the maximum $2,100 to Mamdani’s campaign, while repeatedly promoting him across her social media platforms to hundreds of thousands of followers. During the Democratic primary—where Mamdani shocked the political establishment by defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo—Sarsour’s digital presence was ubiquitous.

“Linda Sarsour played the long game,” said Sara Forman, executive director of the New York Solidarity Network, in comments to The New York Post. “Zohran Mamdani may pretend to be indifferent to foreign policy, but when he’s winking and nodding about Jews and Israel, it’s directed toward Linda Sarsour and those in his orbit.”

Forman called Sarsour “one of the main antagonists responsible for normalizing anti-Israel rhetoric in New York’s public sphere,” adding that Mamdani’s political ideology is “indistinguishable from hers.”

Jewish community leaders interviewed by The New York Post have sounded the alarm over what they see as a dangerous ideological shift within the city’s left. “Much of what Mamdani now says about Israel and Zionists would have been unthinkable just a few years ago,” said Forman. “He’s mainstreamed the language of delegitimization that Sarsour spent decades pushing.”

Critics warn that if elected, Mamdani could use City Hall to amplify voices hostile to the Jewish community. “Every administration has its informal power brokers,” Sheinkopf reminded The New York Post. “If Mamdani wins, Sarsour will be one of them. That’s not conjecture—that’s a guarantee.”

The intelligence document obtained by The New York Post adds a chilling dimension: it claims Sarsour’s network includes activists with “transnational affiliations,” some of whom have expressed open support for designated terrorist groups. Though the report stops short of alleging criminal conduct by Mamdani or Sarsour, it warns that “the ideological overlap between far-left anti-Zionism and Islamist movements presents increasing security and social cohesion risks for Jewish residents.”

Despite repeated inquiries from The New York Post, neither Sarsour nor Mamdani returned messages seeking comment. Their silence has only fueled speculation about the extent of their collaboration—and what it might mean for New York’s political future.

“New Yorkers deserve to know who’s influencing their next mayor,” one Democratic insider told The New York Post. “If it’s Linda Sarsour, that’s a problem—not just for Jews, but for anyone who believes in moderation and tolerance.”

What emerges from The New York Post’s exclusive reporting is not simply a tale of mentorship, but of ideological inheritance. Linda Sarsour, once a street-level activist railing against “Zionist oppression,” has found in Zohran Mamdani a vessel to carry her cause into the corridors of institutional power.

Their alliance—rooted in radicalism, emotional loyalty, and a shared contempt for Israel—illustrates how fringe activism has seeped into mainstream politics. As one New York Post columnist put it, “The question isn’t whether Linda Sarsour will have influence in a Mamdani administration—it’s how much, and how soon.”

For New York’s Jewish community and its many allies, the prospect of City Hall guided by Sarsour’s ideological imprint has become not merely a political concern, but a moral one. The city that once symbolized Jewish refuge and resilience now faces the unnerving possibility that its next mayor may take counsel from a woman who calls Israel an oppressor—and who helped craft the worldview of the man poised to lead the world’s greatest Jewish diaspora outside Israel itself.