In one short week, we will all have the 'pleasure' of watching Zohran Mamdani become New York's mayor.
Zohran ran a truly frightening and powerful Israel-hating campaign and he was elected anyway, or perhaps, he was elected because of it. So none of us should be surprised that he just said he would make combating Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism a cornerstone of his administration, following a meeting with a young Palestinian-American student who became the target of online harassment after being falsely linked to a campus shooting.
“I will make it my job to cherish, protect, and celebrate all New Yorkers and combat Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism at every corner,” Mamdani wrote on X.
The post followed Mamdani’s encounter with Mustapha Kharbouch, a 21-year-old Palestinian-American from Rhode Island studying at Brown University. Kharbouch was wrongly identified online as the suspect in a December shooting at the Ivy League school. Far-right accounts and conspiracy theorists zeroed in on him after spotting a photo of him wearing a keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf often associated with solidarity for the Palestinian cause.
Despite no evidence connecting him to the incident, the actual suspect was arrested separately, Mr. Kharbouch endured doxxing, death threats and widespread harassment. Mamdani described the episode as “a stark example of the real-world harm caused by Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.”
