Wednesday’s front-page story by Emma Fitzsimmons documented Zohran Mamdani’s big win in the New York City mayoral race, and both it and the paper’s live online election night coverage hammered home the pathetic liberal trope that criticism of Mamdani’s virulent anti-Israel actions amounted to “Islamophobia” – as if radical Islam was a harmless concept and not a direct terrorist threat, as displayed so horribly in New York City 24 years ago.
NewsBusters previously documented Round One of the paper’s politicized “Islamophobia” accusations, designed to shame Mamdani’s opponents former Governor Andrew Cuomo and long-time NYC activist Curtis Sliwa into dropping the attack line. Things got worse as Election Day arrived.
Fitzsimmons wrote:
When Mr. Mamdani takes office on Jan. 1, he will become the most powerful Muslim elected official in the United States — a breakthrough for many Muslim Americans who feel pride in his success and anxiety over the Islamophobia his campaign has stirred, nearly a quarter-century after the Sept. 11 attacks.
On Election Day the paper fearmongered with “Muslim Voters Feel Pride and Fear, for Both Mamdani and Themselves” by Jeffery Mays and Wesley Parnell.
Watching Zohran Mamdani run for mayor of New York City has been an eye-opening experience for.
As a Muslim who grew up in the shadow of Sept. 11, Ms. Munawar said she was amazed that Mr. Mamdani seemed to be on the verge of becoming New York City’s mayor, and having done so while fully embracing his faith on the campaign trail.
But as Islamophobic sentiment about Mr. Mamdani has grown in reach and frequency, [Muslim Sabah Munawar] has realized there is a dark side to his success.
….
Mr. Mamdani’s opponents — former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee — have been accused of inciting hatred toward Muslims with their words and behavior.
….
This string of attacks caused Mr. Mamdani to change what was intended to be a routine campaign stop at the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx last week for Friday prayers. Instead, he delivered an emotional 10-minute address about how Islamophobia had affected his life and the lives of his family and friends.
“Islamophobia” aside, Mamdani somehow got elected mayor of America’s most culturally influential city.
Mays and Parnell found a halal butcher in the Bronx who “noticed an increase in Islamophobic social media and on the front pages of tabloids as Mr. Mamdani rose in the polls,” including the New York Post.
The next part was especially galling, suggesting that it was the right wing murdering political opposition:
This highly charged environment, especially after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, has Mr. Nasser concerned for Mr. Mamdani’s safety.
Reporter Elizabeth Dias’ post-election story, “A Muslim Mayor in New York City? Voters Say Yes, Emphatically,” fiercely denied Mamdani supported jihad.
Muslims watched his campaign with pride but also with fear, as his opponents were accused of inciting hatred against Muslims. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, falsely accused Mr. Mamdani of supporting “global jihad,” and Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, participated in an exchange suggesting that Mr. Mamdani would celebrate another Sept. 11-like terrorist attack.
The fact-check linked above mildly stated that Mamdani’s “position on the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ which some view as a call for violence against Jews, has shifted over time….He now says he would discourage people from using the phrase, which he does not use.”
Yet there was much more evidence for anti-Semitism on Mamdani’s part. Mamdani founded the chapter of the pro-Hamas Students for Justice in Palestine movement on his college campus, was a confirmed supporter of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement, and has spoken at rallies with signs that read “There Is Only One Solution Intifada Revolution,” as reported by the Times’ despised rivals at the New York Post.
