New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing pushback after Jewish leaders argued that he went too far in his recent condemnation of the pro-Israel lobby’s spending in a New York House primary.

AIPAC Spending in New York Primaries

Mamdani rallied with a slate of progressive challengers he has endorsed, describing ‘monsters’ that he said include ‘those who fund television ads that blanket the airwaves with misleading and bad faith attacks’ against his three endorsed candidates. Mamdani then ripped into AIPAC, which has spent millions to boost pro-Israel candidates in congressional primaries this year, often by running ads that reference domestic issues rather than foreign policy.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, made two political contributions last month totaling over $600,000 to BOLD America, which has been funding ads in support of Rep. Adriano Espaillat – whom Mamdani-backed candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier is challenging in New York’s 13th District.

Accusations of Antisemitism

In the following days, the leaders of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee condemned Mamdani’s remarks, accusing Mamdani of using antisemitic tropes and warning of the dangers of such language coming from the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel.

Mamdani stood by his remarks, noting the increasing death toll in Gaza despite a fragile, US-brokered ceasefire. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect in mid-October.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.