US Holocaust Museum Slams Zohran Mamdani for Invoking Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to Justify ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Chant

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday repudiated New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for defending the “globalize the intifada” phrase by invoking the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II.

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Bulwark Podcast,” host Tim Miller asked Mamdani, a Democrat, whether he would be willing to condemn the chant “globalize the intifada,” arguing that the phrase — which references previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels — calls for violence against Jewish people. Mamdani refused to condemn the chant, claiming that it has been misinterpreted and represents a “desperate desire for equality and equal rights.”

“I am someone who, I would say am, is less comfortable with the banning of certain words, and that I think is more evocative of a Trump-style approach of how to lead a country,” Mamdani said in comments first reported by Jewish Insider. 

“I think what’s difficult also, is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means ‘struggle,’” he continued. “And, as a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m all too familiar in the way in which that Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted.”

The Holocaust Museum subsequently issued a blistering repudiation of Mamdani’s comments, calling them “outrageous and especially offensive.”

“Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors,” the museum said in a statement posted on social media. “Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.”

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an effort by Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland to fight back as they were set to be deported to concentration camps and killed as part of the Nazis’ campaign to exterminate Jewry during the Holocaust.

Decades later, the slogan “globalize the intifada” has sparked controversy and been widely condemned as offensive and antisemitic due to its apparent call to expand violence historically marked by attacks targeting Israeli civilians. The term “intifada,” or uprising, refers to two periods (the first beginning in 1987 and the second in 2000) when Palestinian terrorists ramped up violence targeting Israelis that included suicide bombings, shootings, and stabbings.

Critics argue that invoking the intifada in a global context promotes the spread of political violence and implicitly endorses attacks on Jews worldwide. Jewish organizations and watchdog groups have condemned the slogan as a form of hate speech that blurs the line between criticism of Israeli policy and incitement against Jewish communities, especially amid a rise in antisemitic incidents globally.

Fellow New York City Democratic mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo and Whitney Tilson also issued statements condemning Mamdani for attempting to use the history of the Holocaust to justify use of the controversial slogan.

“Hamas and other terrorist groups know the true meaning of the phrase. The ‘intifada’ in the early 2000s was a wave of suicide bombings that killed nearly 900 Israeli civilians,” Tilson said. 

“Mamdani’s refusal to disavow terrorism against Jews is utterly disqualifying. His assurances that he will protect Jewish New Yorkers ring hollow,” Tilson continued. 

“At a time when we are seeing antisemitism on the rise and in fact witnessing once again violence against Jews resulting in their deaths in Washington DC or their burning in Denver— we know all too well that words matter. They fuel hate. They fuel murder,” Cuomo said in a statement. 

In the wake of the recent shooting of two Israeli embassy aides in Washington, DC and the firebombing of a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, experts have told The Algemeiner that rampant antisemitism and anti-Israel activism on university campuses, where “globalize the intifada” has become a popular chant, is fueling violence against Jews in the US and elsewhere.

Amid the backlash, Mamdani organized an impromptu press conference on Wednesday morning to address the controversy. After declaring that “antisemitism has no place” in New York City, he launched into an emotional tirade accusing his critics of Islamophobia. 

Mamdani, a representative within the New York State Assembly, said that he hasn’t issued a “more visceral reaction” to antisemitism because when he speaks “with emotion” he is characterized “as a monster, as being at the gates, language that describes almost a barbarian, looking to dismantle a civilization.” He claimed that “the very sad burden of being the first Muslim candidate for mayor is to deal with humanizing language.”

Mamdani then took shots at Cuomo, a former governor of New York, claiming that he “doesn’t even view Muslims as being a part of this city” and criticized him for not visiting a mosque during his campaign. 

“It pains me to be called an antisemite. It pains me to be painted as if I am somehow in opposition to Jewish New Yorkers I know and love,” Mamdani said. 

The candidate then became visibly emotional and claimed that he’s received daily Islamophobic hate messages and threats against his life.

“It takes a toll,” he said. “Antisemitism is such a real issue in this city. It is hard to see it weaponized by candidates who do not seem to have any sincere interest in tackling it but using it as a pretext to win political points.”

Although Mamdani entered New York City’s mayoral race as a longshot, polls indicate that the progressive firebrand has made significant strides among the electorate in the past month. Mamdani trails Cuomo by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent among likely voters, according to a May 23-26 Emerson College poll.

In the closing stretch of the Democratic primary, Mamdani’s views on Israel and antisemitism have been increasingly scrutinized. Mamdani, a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organization, has been under pressure by anti-Israel activists to adopt a more adversarial posture against the Jewish state.

Moreover, the progressive official also sparked outrage after engaging in a series of provocative actions, such as appearing on the podcast of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas influencer Hasan Piker and vowing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During an event hosted by the UJA-Federation of New York last month, Mamdani also declined to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Mamdani doubled down on that position during the first Democratic primary debate, in which he refused to acknowledge the Jewish state’s right to exist.

Mamdani has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career.

New York City, which is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, has experienced a major spike in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

The post US Holocaust Museum Slams Zohran Mamdani for Invoking Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to Justify ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Chant first appeared on Algemeiner.com.