Jewish leaders urged late night talk show host Stephen Colbert to grill Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani over his refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and his other strident anti-Israel views.
Mamdani and fellow mayoral candidate Brad Lander were set to get the star treatment on CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Monday night — on the eve of the Democratic primary election.
But in a letter sent to Colbert early Monday, activists called on the talk show host not to treat Mamdani and Lander, the current city comptroller, with kid gloves, noting his show airs in New York, which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
“For nearly two years, since the massacre of October 7th, 2023, our community has faced a terrifying tide of rising antisemitism, and fear for our safety and our future in the most Jewish of cities,” states the letter, obtained by The Post.
“Over the last several days, Mr. Mamdani has repeatedly refused to condemn calls to ‘globalize the intifada,’ incendiary language in which he has publicly trafficked for at least a decade,” the missive notes.
“To Jews and most mainstream authorities, this is an exhortation of violence against Jews, referring directly to two waves of violence from the late 1980s to the turn of the millennium in which nearly a thousand Jews were murdered by terrorist bombings in cafes, nightclubs and bus stops.”
The letter was signed by Elisha Wiesel, the son of the late Holocaust survivor, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner Eli Wiesel.
Elisha Wiesel, during a Post interview quoted his dad, saying: “I learned to trust the threats of enemies before the promises of friends.”
Other signatories included: former Anti-Defamation League president Abraham Fox, American Jewish Congress President Daniel Rosen and Andres Spokoiny, president and CEO of The Jewish Funders Network.
Also signing on was Duvi Honig, founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, Rabbi Yaakov Berman of the Jewish Future Alliance, Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, Rabbi Daniel Sherman of The West Side Institutional Synagogue and Rabbi Binyamin Krauss of the SAR Academy.
The Jewish rights advocates told Colbert that Mamdani, as a young rapper, also “glorified and “sent love to” the so-called Holy Land Five, five individuals convicted by courts of funneling at least $12 million to Hamas, a designated terror organization responsible for hundreds of attacks on Israel, including the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
“We strongly call on you in no uncertain terms to ask Mr. Mamdani about his use of the term globalize the intifada’ and his 2015 use of the phrase the third intifada looms,’ and his praise of the Holy Land Five,” the letter states.
“To fail to do so as you provide him with a platform to promote his candidacy would be a grave error and an affront to millions of Jewish Americans.”
Colbert also shouldn’t let Lander, who is Jewish, off the hook, the activists wrote. Mamdani and Lander have cross-endorsed each other in Tuesday’s ranked-choice voting primary.
Lander has said that “globalize the intifada” means calling for an “open season on Jews to him,” but still supports Mamdani.
Mamdani, during an interview Monday morning on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show,” again refused to condemn the anti-Israel rallying cry “globalize the intifada” — saying it wasn’t his job to be the language police, though it’s not a phrase he uses.
He said the slogan has “a variety of meanings to a variety of people,” adding, “that is not language I use.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the NYC mayoral race
“I do not believe it’s the mayor’s position to be policing language in a manner we are seeing in this moment,” said Mamdani, the first Muslim candidate for New York City mayor.
The Queens assemblyman said he understood the fears and concerns of Jewish New Yorkers and vowed to insure their safety, if elected, because there is a “real crisis of antisemitism.”
Read the full article here
