New Yorkers woke up to fresh concerns about the direction of their city government when old social media posts from Hassaan Chaudhary, a member of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team, came to light. Chaudhary, who worked as Muslim outreach director during the campaign, used “Jew” as a slur in one 2012 message: “oh forgot that Jew hoga tera baap.”
In another post from the same year, he praised Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by sharing a statement calling Israel “cancer which will be eliminated very soon,” and added his own comment: “This banda is fearless.” Chaudhary went further, branding Israel a “barbaric nation” that kills “indigents and innocent Palestinians,” and a “bloody country” in separate outbursts.
Even as recently as December 2024, Chaudhary reshared a jab at Pennsylvania’s Jewish governor Josh Shapiro: “If Luigi [Mangione] had shot a Gazan toddler instead, Josh Shapiro would have given him a medal.” Back in 2012, he dismissed discussions on gay rights as “purely claptrap” that “doesn’t make sense,” insisting a “boundary line should be drawn somewhere.”
Chaudhary offered regrets in a statement: “I apologize for my tweets, as they do not reflect my current views, or represent who I am today.” Mamdani’s spokesperson distanced the mayor-elect from the remarks: “These comments from over a decade ago are reprehensible and in no way reflect the views of the Mayor-elect or this transition.” No word came on whether Chaudhary would lose his role.
Republican voices wasted no time calling out what they see as a pattern. Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz declared: “This isn’t some innocent staffing mistake. This is who Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani is and what his transition team/incoming administration stands for.”
He warned that surrounding himself with someone who echoes “language about Jews reminiscent of the 1930s” signals extremism at the core of the new administration.
Councilwoman Inna Vernikov piled on: “The same agitators screaming in defense of Hamas would be thrown off a roof for their various gender identities. Zohran needs to get one thing clear: he is no longer a protester. He now has a city of 8 million to govern.”
Former assemblyman Dov Hikind labeled the posts “Adolf Hitler language” and a “horror show,” blaming Mamdani for setting a “hate-filled” tone.
Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf noted: “This advisor to the mayor is clearly by his own words a Jew hater. The only issue: it always begins with the Jews but never ends with the Jews. Who’s next on the list?”
Mamdani himself carries a record that raises eyebrows. He founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter in college and has long criticized Israel. Just two months ago, he opposed adopting a Holocaust remembrance group’s definition of antisemitism, drawing rebukes from lawmakers like Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer.
While Mamdani vowed on election night to “stand steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers” and fight antisemitism, these revelations suggest a disconnect between words and actions. In a city with one of the world’s largest Jewish communities, tolerance for such views in high places could invite deeper divisions, especially when radical elements seem to find safe harbor in progressive circles.
As Blumencranz put it, “personnel is policy,” and New Yorkers might soon feel the impact of who holds the reins at City Hall.
