Where Mamdani Has Refused to Moderate
The New York City mayor is not soft-pedaling his views on Israel.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, played host this past week to another young married couple, who came to Gracie Mansion to break their Ramadan fast. A photograph taken of the dinner was softly lit and sweet, smiles all around.
The mayor posted the photo on social media the next day, along with a tribute to his guest, Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student and anti-Israel activist who is fighting a deportation order. “This past year has been marked by profound hardship—and by profound courage,” Mamdani wrote, describing Khalil’s detention by ICE last March. “All of this for exercising his First Amendment rights in protesting the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
Mamdani’s decision to speak up for Khalil is certainly consistent with his past support for Palestine. It might register as an act of kindness. Khalil has had a very rough year indeed; ICE separated him from his wife right before she gave birth, and held him for 104 days. The Trump administration accused him of leading demonstrations at Columbia that it deemed anti-Semitic, seemingly targeting him for his speech.
