Socialist New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani once implied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was an Islamophobe and likened the highest-ranking black House lawmaker in US history to notorious segregationist George Wallace.
The past digs resurfaced as Jeffries continues to drag his feet on an endorsement after meeting with Mamdani last week for the first time since the Queens state lawmaker locked down the Democratic mayoral nod.
The two are expected to have another confab when Mamdani returns from his Uganda vacation at the end of the month.
The pro-Palestinian pol has been part of a cadre of lefty firebrands that has long bashed Jeffries over his remarks in steadfast support of Israel from a 2014 rally, comparing it to Wallace’s infamous 1963 call for “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
“After at least 2,251 Palestinians were killed over the course of July 2014, Hakeem Jeffries got on stage at a rally in NYC and paraphrased George Wallace. ‘Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever,’” Mamdani fumed in a November 2022 X post.
Jeffries, a Brooklyn-based Democrat, has been a staunch backer of Israel, though since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, he has tried to highlight concerns about the treatment of the Palestinians as well.
Mamdani, meanwhile, has been a ferocious critic of the Jewish state — a term he rejects.
Several months after comparing Jeffries to Wallace, Mamdani appeared to accuse the party boss of Islamophobia, while opining on a 2000 debate in which the Brooklyn Dem noted the religious differences he had with his rival for a seat in the New York State Assembly.
“Yes, my opponent is older; I’m younger. It’s not religion. Yes, the assemblyman is a practicing Muslim, and I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church,” Jeffries said in the 2000 debate before his then-foe Roger Green stormed off.
Mamdani, a practicing Muslim and assembly member from Queens, strongly insinuated Jeffries had been Islamophobic with those remarks.
“[Islamophobia] has become less explicit. … You might not hear the word ‘Muslim.’ You might not hear the word Islam. But you will hear about extremism or ties to specific groups or attempts at making associations that will block any consideration of a candidacy in a voter’s mind,” Mamdani reflected to Politico in 2023.
Later that same year — just over two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel — Mamdani publicly roasted Jeffries for not backing a ceasefire, in a clip he proudly shared on social media.
“Congressman Jeffries has yet to call for a ceasefire. Congressman Jeffries has said that he seriously supports President Biden’s request for an additional $14 billion in military funding for Israel,” Mamdani chided.
“And I must ask Congressman Jeffries how many more Palestinians must be killed before you call for a ceasefire? How many more?” he added to cheers.
Mamdani has long fixated on the Israel-Hamas war. In October 2023, just about a week after Hamas’ surprise attack sparked the conflict, Mamdani was arrested during a protest near then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Park Slope home.
Like Jeffries, Schumer has so far refrained from endorsing Mamdani in the mayoral race.
Since Mamdani’s shock primary win in June, Jeffries has engaged in a delicate dance of not backing the young socialist, but refraining from criticizing him publicly as well.
Last month, Jeffries gently called on Mamdani to clarify his defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada” — widely seen as a call for violent uprisings against Israel — which the socialist chalked it up to a “desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”
But as he campaigns for the November general election, Mamdani has since said he would “discourage” the use of the phrase, and stressed that he hadn’t been using it.
Some progressive hardliners, emboldened by Mamdani’s primary victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have mused about targeting other so-called “establishment” Democrats like Jeffries.
Jeffries’ allies, though, have warned Democratic socialists in New York City against messing with him.
“Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans,” his senior adviser André Richardson told CNN earlier this month.
“However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman Mike Marinella said Jeffries’ prospects at re-election didn’t look good in light of Mamdani’s past critiques of the top House Dem.
“Hakeem is too weird and too weak to even win over the Democrat nominee for his own city. How would anyone expect him to win back the House?” Marinella told The Post.
“The socialism wing has taken over the Democrat Party because this is their radical platform.”
Mamdani announced on Sunday that he will be taking a break from the campaign so that he and his wife can go to Uganda, where he immigrated from when he was a child.
Jeffries told reporters Monday that he’ll meet with Mamdani when the candidate returns.
“We agreed to reconvene with other members of the [New York] delegation and high-level community leaders in Brooklyn upon his return to the country,” he said.
His spokesperson, Justin Chermol, added in a statement Tuesday: “Leader Jeffries and Assemblyman Mamdani recently met for over an hour and had a constructive, candid and community-centered conversation focused on the needs of everyday New Yorkers. Past political discourse is in the past.”
Mamdani’s reps didn’t comment.
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