New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani used his first White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to reiterate the accusation that Israel is guilty of a “genocide” in Gaza. New York’s first Muslim mayor also criticized U.S. military aid to the Jewish state.
This comes a day after Mamdani raised alarm among U.S. Jews with his response to a mob gathering outside a Manhattan synagogue to chant “Death to the IDF,” “We don’t want no Zionists here,” and “Resistance, you make us proud, take another settler out.”
A spokesperson for Mamdani suggested that hosting Nefesh B’nefesh—a group devoted to helping U.S. Jews who want to immigrate to Israel—was inappropriate and “in violation of international law.
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Mamdani “believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law,” read the statement from him press secretary Dora Pekec.
During his White House visit on Friday, Mamdani was pressed by a reporter on his past comments on Israel. He said he had “spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide” and about “our government funding it.”
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Mamdani said he told the president he appreciates “all efforts towards peace,” including Trump’s.
The president did not directly respond to Mamdani’s characterization of Israeli actions as “genocide” during their brief appearance before the press.