Israeli minister describes Mamdani as 'Hamas supporter'

Israel's diaspora minister on Wednesday said New York's leftist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a "Hamas supporter" and called on the city's Jews to move to Israel following his victory.

"The city that once stood as a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter," right-wing Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, wrote on X.

He went on to say that Mamdani's views were "not far from those of the jihadist fanatics who, 25 years ago, murdered three thousand of their own people," referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda on New York and Washington.

Mamdani, 34, who has pledged to make New York more affordable, will become the city's first Muslim mayor when he takes office in January. 

In recent months, he has made a point of vocally denouncing antisemitism, as well as the Islamophobia he has suffered. 

Mamdani is a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian cause.

His positions on Israel, which he has called an apartheid regime and referred to the war in Gaza as a genocide, have drawn the ire of some in the Jewish community. 

"New York will never be the same again, especially not for its Jewish community. The city is walking, eyes open, into the abyss into which London has already plunged," Chikli added on X. "I invite the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel."

Mamdani's decisive election victory came in the face of fierce attacks on his policies and Muslim heritage from business elites, conservative media commentators and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump made an eleventh-hour intervention in the election race on Tuesday, smearing Mamdani as a "Jew hater" on his social media platform.