{"id":330639,"date":"2025-10-25T03:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T03:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/330639\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T03:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T03:21:13","slug":"mamdani-defends-his-islamic-faith-and-slams-cuomo-in-a-tearful-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/330639\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani defends his Islamic faith and slams Cuomo in a tearful speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, stood outside a mosque Friday and slammed independent candidate Andrew Cuomo for laughing at the suggestion<\/a> Mamdani would cheer a terror attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not change who I am, how I eat or the faith that I am proud to call my own,\u201d said Mamdani, who is vying to become the city\u2019s first Muslim mayor.<\/p>\n

Flanked by a crowd that included women wearing hijabs, Mamdani teared up as he talked about family members facing anti-Muslim prejudice growing up in the aftermath of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to speak to the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in a hijab,\u201d Mamdani said, adding: \u201cI want to speak to the Muslim who works for our city, whether they teach in our schools, or walk the beat for the NYPD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuomo in recent days has trained a spotlight on Mamdani\u2019s faith and immigrant upbringing, trying to undercut Mamdani with people concerned about his criticisms of Israel and whether he would fight antisemitism.<\/p>\n

During an interview Thursday with radio host Sid Rosenberg, Cuomo said, \u201cGod forbid, another 9\/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d be cheering,\u201d Rosenberg responded.<\/p>\n

Cuomo paused and laughed, adding, \u201cThat\u2019s another problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after Mamdani\u2019s speech, Cuomo held his own event with South Asian supporters in Jackson Heights, Queens, where he accused Mamdani of being an \u201cactor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday he is playing the victim, but in reality, he is the offender,\u201d Cuomo said.<\/p>\n

He distanced himself from Thursday\u2019s interaction with Rosenberg: \u201cI can see where if you took it seriously, it was offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t take the remark seriously at the time, and of course I think it\u2019s an offensive comment, period, but it did not come out of my mouth,\u201d Cuomo added. \u201cThat is my point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Cuomo accused Mamdani of stoking tensions by espousing antisemitic rhetoric and falsely claiming Mamdani\u2019s campaign had been entirely focused on Israel and Gaza. That\u2019s a notable shift for the former governor, who has repeatedly accused Mamdani of disrespecting Jewish voters with his criticisms of Israel and once served as a lawyer for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does Gaza and Israel have to do with running for mayor of the city of New York?\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cIs the mayor a member of the United Nations? Is he part of a negotiating team? Why? Because he wanted to use it for political purposes to divide New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also this week, Cuomo\u2019s campaign released an unfinished version of an advertisement, created with artificial intelligence, mocking a 2023 interview with Mamdani in which he eats rice with his hands and talks about Palestinian rights, and featuring images of criminals with a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag.<\/p>\n

A Cuomo spokesperson said the video was inadvertently posted and deleted after five minutes.<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth comes on the heels of the final general election debate earlier this week, during which Mamdani and Cuomo traded in-person accusations of antisemitism and bigotry.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the savior of the Jewish people? You won\u2019t denounce \u2018globalize the intifada,\u2019 which means \u2018Kill Jews,\u2019\u201d Cuomo said, referencing the controversial phrase that Mamdani has discouraged using<\/a> and noting that hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him. \u201cThere\u2019s unprecedented fear in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani on Friday also criticized Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa for suggesting during Wednesday\u2019s debate<\/a> that Mamdani had praised \u201cglobal jihad\u201d \u2013 which Mamdani denies doing \u2013 and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has endorsed Cuomo, for appearing to suggest on Thursday that Mamdani\u2019s election would usher in Islamic extremism to New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to use this moment to speak to them any further,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cI want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Zohran<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani speaks outside the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx in New York on October 24, 2025. – Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The setting of Mamdani\u2019s speech was quintessentially New York, outside on a Bronx street with the sound of sirens and airplanes in the background as well as a dog that barked through parts of Mamdani\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

The owner of the dog was a local resident who gave his first name as Robert. He said he was a Cuomo supporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least my dog is saying what people are saying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mamdani then went inside the mosque to address congregants. In remarks that could be heard on a loudspeaker outside, he asked members of the audience to raise their hands if their names had ever been mispronounced. He described the final days before the November 4 election as \u201cour last opportunity to show ourselves \u2026 our dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

As dozens of men left the service, several stopped at a Mamdani campaign table to register to vote.<\/p>\n

This story has been updated with additional details.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, stood outside a mosque Friday and slammed independent…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":330640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5297,99,50,131271,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-330639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-andrew-cuomo","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sid-rosenberg","12":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115432658717372416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}