Exclusive | Zhoran Mamdani spews antisemitic tropes, falsely claims taxpayers foot the bill for NY pols Israel trips: Jewish activists

Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is being accused of spewing antisemitic tropes — after he falsely claimed taxpayers were footing the bill for New York lawmakers’ trips to Israel.Jewish advocates railed that the Queens state Assembly member was insinuating Jewish pols were swindling New Yorkers to benefit Israel at their expense.“The danger that Mamdani poses to Jewish freedom in New York City is palpable,” fumed Queens Councilman Rory Lancman, a senior counsel at the non-profit Louis D.Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.Mamdani, 33, made the bogus claim in recently resurfaced video from a May 11, 2021 pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest, where he also led chants of “BDS” – supporting the economic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state.“We have elected officials paid for trips to Israel,” he said in the clip posted on his Facebook page, which came back to light Sunday — hours before the Salute to Israel Day parade in Manhattan.“They are going there paid for by your tax dollars,” Mamdani said.“They show up at the Israel Day parade and they say, ‘We stand in solidarity,’” he went on.

“We want to let them know that there are three letters that we have as an answer to what is happening in Palestine.It’s BDS.”But the trips taken by state legislators and city council members are sponsored and paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York via philanthropic dollars, said JCRC CEO Mark Treyger, the grandson of Holocaust survivors.He called Mamdani’s inaccurate claim “insulting and deeply offensive,” and slammed the lefty pol’s run for mayor as “one the most divisive citywide campaigns in modern New York history.”“Many Jewish New Yorkers are still outraged that Mamdani spent hours sipping espresso with hate influencer Hasan Piker, who has referred to Jews as bloodthirsty pig dogs,” Treyger said, referring to an interview Mamdani did with the cont...