Sharon Zhang:  Democratic Senator Gillibrand Goes on Islamophobic Rant Against Mamdani

The Democrat’s rant has sparked calls for her to resign over her bigoted language.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (New York) went on an Islamophobic rant against New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in a radio interview on Thursday, spewing lies about Mamdani and suggesting that he would represent a threat to public safety if elected.

In an appearance on WYNC’s “Brian Lehrer Show,” the senator repeated numerous lies about Mamdani, echoing oft-repeated bigoted statements made about Palestinians and the pro-Palestine movement.

During the segment, kicked off by a call-in question by a listener, Gillibrand said that Mamdani, who is Muslim, is dangerous and supports violence, citing his refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and equating the words “intifada” and “jihad” to fear monger about them. 

Her statements were completely removed from reality, and clearly informed by some of the worst hatred spread against Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians in particular over the past decades. For instance, Gillibrand said that just the phrase “global intifada” — with “intifada” meaning “uprising” or “rebellion” in Arabic — is “violent and destructive.”

“It doesn’t matter what meaning you have in your brain, it is now how the word is received. When you use a word like intifada, to many Jewish Americans and Jewish New Yorkers, that means you are permissive for violence against Jews,” Gillibrand said. Her statements ignored the many times that Mamdani has denounced antisemitic violence — instead suggesting that Mamdani made an explicit call for violence when he did not.

“I would be very specific in these words, and I would say you may not use them again if you expect to represent everyone, ever again, because they are received as hateful and divisive,” she said, discounting the many Arabic speakers for whom the word simply means “uprising.”

Gillibrand was referring to recent comments made by Mamdani after he was asked to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Mamdani, who has been active in the movement for Palestinian rights, said that the phrase speaks to Palestinians’ desire for equal rights. He pointed out that the word has been politicized to incite violence against Palestinians, even though the word “intifada” was used by the Holocaust Museum in its Arabic translation for the Warsaw Uprising.

Gillibrand steamrolled over Lehrer’s attempts to correct her and rein her rant back in — even as she admitted that Mamdani has assured her that he will work to protect all New Yorkers, including Jewish people. 

“I just feel compelled to say, we can find no evidence that he has supported Hamas or has supported violent jihad, as the caller was asserting,” Lehrer said. Later, he also chimed in, saying, “I think we also clarify, or he was clarifying that he never said ‘globalize the intifada.’ He was asked in an interview if he would denounce the phrase.”

But Gillibrand refused to back down. “He should denounce it. And that’s it. Period. And you can’t celebrate it, you can’t value it, you can’t lift it up,” she said, going on to reference the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack. 

“When you hear things like intifada, when you hear things like jihad, when you hear ‘from the river to the sea,’ it is received as ‘slaughter the Jews and destroy Israel,’ period,” she said, suggesting that the mere use of two Arabic words is violent.

Never once did she acknowledge the Muslim and Arab communities that she represents as senator of New York, who may feel alarmed by her blatant Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bigotry. Directly following her comments, the conversation shifted to President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran, which Gillibrand criticized for being unauthorized by Congress but praised for their supposed strength.

Many commentators noted the shocking nature of Gillibrand’s bigotry, with some calling for her to resign.

“I think she should resign for falsely smearing [Zohran Mamdani] as a terrorist,” said Zeteo Editor-in-Chief Mehdi Hasan. “He has never invoked a ‘global jihad’. This is a nasty, Islamophobic racist smear from a sitting Dem senator.”

After a recording of the interview spread widely on X, Gillibrand’s communications director claimed in a post that the senator “misspoke.” “She also highlighted that Mr. Mamdani assured her that, if elected, he would protect Jews and all residents of NYC,” her spokesperson said.

But Gillibrand delivered her rant with confidence, without stuttering or hesitation, and went on for nearly six minutes. While she did offer scant acknowledgement of Mamdani’s commitment to equal rights for all, those comments were nestled in between other parts of her rant.

Gillibrand joins a large chorus of those on the right who spewed Islamophobia after Mamdani’s landmark win on Tuesday, inciting violence against the Muslim politician.

This bigotry has been taken to an extreme by some Republicans, with one, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee), calling Mamdani a bigoted nickname while calling on him to be denaturalized and deported.

Editor’s note: According to Open Secrets, AIPAC (the Israeli government’s lobbying arm in Washington) has given Gillibrand almost $1,00,000.

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First published in Truthout and licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

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SHARON ZHANG is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies.