Colbert grills NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on his Israel views ahead of primary vote

Challenger to front-runner Andrew Cuomo quizzed on whether past criticisms of Gaza war risk alienating city’s Jewish population already fearful amid rising antisemitism

Zohran Mamdani, one of the Democratic primary challengers hoping to be New York City’s next mayor, was grilled by Stephen Colbert on Monday about his views on Israel.

Appearing on CBS’s The Late Show alongside fellow candidate Brad Lander, Mamdani, who has mounted a remarkable campaign to stop former state governor Andrew Cuomo from coasting to their party’s nomination, was confronted by Colbert over his opinions on Gaza and the Palestinian cause.

“Does the state of Israel have the right to exist?” the host asked him.

“Yes, like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist – and a responsibility also to uphold international law,” he answered.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday June23 2025 (The Late Show/CBS)

Colbert then sought to address the “elephant in the room,” putting it to the candidate that his past criticism of Israel had left Jews in New York fearful of supporting him at a time of rising antisemitism at home and abroad.

“What do you say to those New Yorkers who are afraid that you wouldn’t be ‘their’ mayor, that you wouldn’t protect them?” he asked.

“I know where that fear is coming from,” Mamdani began. “It’s a fear that is based upon the horrific attacks we’ve seen in Washington, D.C, in Boulder, Colorado… and it’s a fear that I hear also from New Yorkers themselves.

“Just a few days after the horrific war crime of October 7 [2023], a friend of mine told me about how he went to his synagogue for Shabbat services and he heard the door open behind him and a tremor went up his spine as he turned around not knowing who was there and what they meant for him.”

The candidate went on to describe another incident in which an elderly Jewish man living in the Williamsburg section of the city had told him that he now locks a door at his property that he had previously kept open for decades.

“Ultimately, this is because we are seeing a crisis of antisemitism, and that’s why, at the heart of my proposal for a Department of Community Safety, is a commitment to increase funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800 percent because…”

His answer was interrupted by a round of applause from the studio audience.

“To your point, antisemitism is not simply something that we should talk about. It’s something we have to tackle,” Mamdani continued.

Mamdani speaking at a Democratic mayoral primary debate earlier this month (AP)

“We have to make clear that there’s no room for it in this city, in this country, in this world… There is no room for violence in this city, in this country, in this world and, what I have found also, from many New Yorkers, is an ability to navigate disagreement.

“I remember the words of Mayor [Ed] Koch. ‘If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. Twelve out of 12? See a psychiatrist’.”

The quotation drew a laugh, after which he continued: “I know there are many New Yorkers with whom I have a disagreement about the Israeli government’s policies, and also there are many who understand that that’s a disagreement still rooted in shared humanity.

“The conclusion I’ve come to, they’re the conclusions of Israeli historians like Amos Goldberg. They are echoing the words of an Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who said just recently: ‘What we are doing in Gaza is a war of devastation.

“‘It is cruel, it is indiscriminate, it is limitless, it is criminal killing of civilians.’ These are the conclusions I have come to.”

That answer was also met with cheers and applause from Colbert’s audience.

Mamdani was rebuked by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last week after he expressed the opinion that the slogan “globalize the intifada” was a legitimate expression of Palestinian advocacy.

“The very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, which is a word that means ‘struggle’,” he said in defense of his position.

But the museum hit back by arguing that he had “exploited” the Uprising to “sanitize” the controversial chant, saying: “Since 1987, Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner. All leaders must condemn its use and the abuse of history.”

Despite the concerns voiced by Colbert on behalf of Jewish New Yorkers, Mamdani has secured the support of the influential Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, himself a Jew born in Brooklyn, who endorsed him by saying: “At this pivotal and dangerous moment in American history, status quo politics is not good enough.

“We need the kind of visionary leadership that Zohran is providing in this campaign. In my view, Zohran Mamdani is the best choice for Mayor of New York City.”