Mamdani brands AIPAC ‘monsters’ in broadside at pro-Israel US Jews
Bernie Sanders co-signed the attack at a Brooklyn rally, accusing AIPAC funding of shaping US foreign policy as Democrats’ Israel rift deepens
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took aim at AIPAC and its Jewish pro-Israel supporters in the US on Thursday evening, branding members of the lobby “monsters” during a political event in Brooklyn.
In a fiery 30-minute speech at a rally backing progressive candidates in Brooklyn ahead of the Democratic primaries, Mamdani accused the group of pouring “millions of dark-money dollars” into efforts to turn the public against itself. He claimed the lobby feared democracy and “the end of the genocide and Netanyahu’s wars.”
In a fiery 30-minute speech at a rally backing progressive candidates in Brooklyn ahead of the Democratic primaries, Mamdani accused the organization of pouring “millions of dark-money dollars” into campaigns aimed at pitting voters against one another. He claimed the lobby feared democracy and “the end of the genocide and Netanyahu’s wars.”
Mamdani also directed criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the war in Gaza, calling on the crowd to help elect progressive politicians opposed to Israel’s policies. They included State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, whom he praised for organizing ceasefire efforts, Jewish former city comptroller Brad Lander, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who previously led the protest encampment at Columbia University.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who headlined the main rally at the Kings Theatre, took the stage and reinforced the sharp criticism of the lobby, declaring that “the American people understand that much of our terrible foreign policy is influenced by AIPAC funding.” While the lobby itself declined to respond to requests from local media, the internal battle within the Democratic Party is intensifying, particularly in light of the difficulty faced by Israel supporters in confronting the left’s growing hostility toward the Jewish state.
Despite the combative tone, Mayor Mamdani sought to end with a message of unity, also addressing Jewish voters by saying: “Whether you pray in a synagogue, a mosque, a church, or do not believe at all, we all share the belief that our city deserves leaders who lead from hope and not from fear, because we are all New Yorkers who want the same things.”
Mamdani’s blunt remarks immediately sparked a wave of reactions and harsh criticism on social media, especially against the backdrop of heightened security tensions and physical threats against lobby officials on the ground in the US.
Just two days earlier, federal indictments were filed against five men who allegedly planned to assassinate government officials at a White House sports event, after an FBI investigation found that one of the suspects had specifically searched his phone for information about members of Congress backed by AIPAC.
On the same day Mamdani delivered his speech, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Forrest Kendall Pemberton, a 27-year-old from Florida, for allegedly attempting to carry out a mass shooting targeting lobby employees at the organization’s offices in Plantation.