![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2225236571-scaled-e1752647668682.avif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNew York mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said time and again that I recognize Israel\u2019s right to exist,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI would not recognize any state\u2019s right to exist with a system of hierarchy on the basis of race or religion,\u201d added Mamdani, who has said that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested should the premier come to the Big Apple.<\/p>\n
Mamdani quickly addressed a question that he didn\u2019t answer during an interview with Fox News<\/em>.<\/p>\n Martha MacCallum, of the network, asked him if Hamas should disarm. \u201cI believe that any future here in New York City is one that we have to make sure that\u2019s affordable for all,\u201d Mamdani told Fox News<\/em><\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cAnd as it pertains to Israel and Palestine, that we have to ensure that there is peace and that is the future that we have to fight for.\u201d<\/p>\n MacCallum pressed him on whether Hamas should disarm. \u201cI don\u2019t really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At Thursday night\u2019s debate, Mamdani said, \u201cOf course, I believe they should lay down their arms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud to be one of the first elected officials in the state who called for a ceasefire,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reason we called for that is not only for the end of the genocide but also an unimpeded access to humanitarian aid.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he hopes that the ceasefire will hold.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hopeful it is just,\u201d he said. \u201cFor it to be just, we also have to ensure that it addresses the conditions that preceded this, conditions like occupation, like the siege and apartheid. This is what I am hopeful for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018That is code \u2026 \u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Andrew Cuomo, a former New York governor running as an independent after losing the Democratic nomination, blasted Mamdani on the issue during the debate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe assemblyman will not denounce Hamas,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cThe assemblyman just said in his response that it depends on occupation. That is code for meaning that Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state, which he has never acknowledged.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is \u2018from the river to the sea,\u2019\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cThat\u2019s why he won\u2019t denounce \u2018globalize the intifada,\u2019 which means \u2018kill all Jews.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A Quinnipiac University poll<\/a> in the first week of October suggested that Cuomo has been narrowing Mamdani\u2019s double-digit lead as he picked up the support from Jewish voters, who initially supported New York City Mayor Eric Adams after he dropped out of the race. (A Democrat, Adams was also running as an independent.) An even more recent poll<\/a> cites further movement on the part of Mamdani.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be very clear. The \u2018occupation\u2019 is a reference to international law and the violation of it, which Mr. Cuomo has no regard for since he signed up to be Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s legal defense team during the course of this genocide,\u201d Mamdani said during the debate.<\/p>\n The third candidate in the race, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, criticized both Mamdani and Cuomo for failing to recognize U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s role in, at least temporarily, ending the fighting in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump should have been applauded,\u201d Sliwa said. \u201cI certainly applauded him for bringing peace to Gaza and trying to end the hostilities in the war. Give credit where credit is due.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo responded that he did applaud Trump and his administration. \u201cI think it was a great accomplishment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sliwa also went after Mamdani at a time of rising Jew-hatred. \u201cJews don\u2019t trust that you are going to be there for them when they are the victims of antisemitic attacks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n