Question

Support of Israel has become a major issue in the NYC mayor's race --

When I asked Zohran Mamdani to clarify if he thought Israel had a right to exist as a Jewish state, an aide tried to stop the interview. Then he didn't answer directly himself, several times.

www.cnn.com/2025/06/03/p...

Answer 1

It's true that the issue of a candidate's support of Israel has become an influential issue in the upcoming NYC mayor election.

According to NYT reporting, there have been spats between front-running candidates Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, who defended his views and refuted claims that he is antisemitic after receiving criticism from Cuomo over his support for Palestinians. Politico says that "their stances [on Israel and Palestine] are central to both of their platforms".

The NYT further notes: 
"His [Mamdani's] rapid response [to claims that he had refused to acknowledge the Holocaust] illustrated how a candidate’s stance on Israel and Jewish issues, especially during the divisive Israel-Gaza war, could carry outsize importance in the Democratic primary on June 24."

However, it should be noted that the second claim that Mamandi refuses to answer about his stance on Israel's right to exist (mentioned in the linked Bluesky post) is not true – in a Politico interview with Mamandi himself, the candidate says flat out, "Yes. I recognize Israel." This was similarly reported by the NYT, as well as in the CNN article that the Bluesky tweet itself linked to. 

Edit: 

I should clarify that the Bluesky post states that after an aide attempted to stop the interview, Mamdani refused to answer about his stance on Israel several times. The important context that this leaves out is that he then eventually does answer that “Israel has a right to exist as a state with equal rights,” as stated above. This framing makes it seem like Mamdani didn't answer at all, and it feels misleading.

Comments

This is a very thorough fact check. I really appreciate how you looked past did viral clip and looked further for Mamdani's quotes in both Politico and the NYT. It is a good remind of how easy it is to develop an opinion based on one (possibly out of context) media impression. I wonder if the framing of the Bluesky post was meant to be misleading. Either way, it serves as an important reminder to fact check.

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Thanks! Yeah, it feels like Dovere meaningfully omitted that Mamdani does, in fact, clearly state his stance, even within the same interview. It could be that he wants to underscore Mamdani's general hesitation in responding, but the framing feels meaningful.