Mamdani denounces pro-Israel lobby group as ‘monsters’

Jewish groups blast New York City mayor after he accused Israel of “genocide” and referred to AIPAC supporters as “monsters.”

By World Israel News Staff

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism from Jewish leaders and pro-Israel groups after calling AIPAC and its political supporters “monsters” during a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders and progressive congressional candidates ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primaries.

Mamdani made the remarks Thursday night at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, where he appeared with Sanders and a slate of left-wing candidates he is backing in New York House races, including former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assembly Member Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier.

In his speech, Mamdani framed the candidates’ campaigns as part of a broader effort to challenge establishment Democrats and groups that spend heavily in elections.

“The monsters that we are up against, they take many different forms,” Mamdani said, before turning to AIPAC.

He described the pro-Israel lobby as an organization “for whom the only thing more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and Netanyahu’s wars.”

Mamdani also accused AIPAC of moving “millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal, to preserve their power so that they can turn us against one another instead of our leaders turning towards the moral change we all know to be necessary.”

“In the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we need not live in fear of monsters any longer,” Mamdani said.

The comments drew condemnation from Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, who said Mamdani’s language targeted not only AIPAC as an institution but also its supporters.

“Mamdani is accusing AIPAC of being a monster that subverts democracy, supports genocide and wants to divide Americans,” Steinmetz wrote in a social media post. “This is pure incitement. It inspires people like Elias Rodriguez to take violent action against AIPAC and its supporters.”

Rodriguez has been charged in the May 2025 killing of two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington, DC.

“Well, I’m an AIPAC supporter. And Mamdani is inciting hatred against people like me,” Steinmetz wrote. “Mayor Mamdani: you are speaking about me. About millions of New Yorkers who support the very policies AIPAC advocates for. You are demonizing them. And you are the one who is turning New Yorkers against each other in order to grab power.”

“New York already has an antisemitism problem. Right now, you are pouring fuel on the fire. I shudder to think what happens next. But you will be responsible for it,” he added.

Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, also criticized Mamdani’s remarks, saying they echoed older accusations against Jewish political organizations.

“The claim that AIPAC exists not to pursue a political agenda, but to spread discord and wield influence for its own sake, is not new,” Berk said.

“Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns and earlier antisemitic movements similarly portrayed Jewish organizations as pursuing power not to achieve political goals, but because Jews themselves were said to crave influence and control,” he continued.

“The suggestion that Jewish political participation is inherently suspect, illegitimate, or secretly manipulative is abhorrent. This is the same old story, retold in a new language.”

The Anti-Defamation League also called on Mamdani to apologize, saying his comments crossed “a dangerous line” by using dehumanizing and conspiratorial rhetoric.