Sharpton urges NYC mayoral hopeful to meet Jewish leaders, take anti-Israel rhetoric 'off the table'
MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton admitted Monday that New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani needs to meet with Jewish leaders to show support for their community after repeatedly refusing to condemn an anti-Israel slogan.
During an MSNBC panel, Sharpton said he doesn’t believe that Mamdani, a democratic socialist and practicing Muslim, harbors any ill will towards the Jewish community. However, he said that Mamdani needs to clarify where he stands on the phrase "globalize the intifada" as he runs for mayor after winning the Democratic primary in an upset last week.
"He’s running for mayor of New York. You need to take off the table, ‘Do you support international intifada?’ Period. Not go around it. I understand you don’t want to be forced into something, but I don’t think that’s what he stands for from what he said to us. And he should say that outright," Sharpton said.
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The MSNBC host joined Mamdani in Harlem on Saturday at a rally for the National Action Network, a civil rights nonprofit founded by Sharpton in the early 90s. The two also had a closed-door meeting together.
Their interaction came a day before Mamdani went viral on NBC’s "Meet The Press" on Sunday for refusing to condemn the phrase, "Globalize the intifada," a Palestinian slogan widely seen as a call for violent revolution against the state of Israel.
"Do you condemn that phrase, ‘Globalize the intifada?'" Kristen Welker asked the candidate on "Meet the Press."
"That’s not language that I use," Mamdani replied. "The language that I use, and the language that I will continue to use to lead this city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in the belief in universal human rights."
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On MSNBC, Sharpton said that during his meeting with Mamdani he didn’t see evidence that the candidate is anti-Jewish but he does need to denounce the phrase.
"Well, I think he definitely denounced from his speech antisemitism and Islamophobia, but let’s deal directly with it. Let’s not skirt around the issue. We’re not talking about something subtle here," he said, mentioning the slogan, which is used as a rallying cry worldwide for anti-Israel and antisemitic violence.
The host drew from his own experience to make the case, saying that he had been called out for not taking offensive language seriously enough earlier in his career as an activist and had to change. Sharpton was heavily criticized by Coretta Scott King for his rhetoric about Jews around the Crown Heights unrest in New York in the early 1990s.
"I remember 20, 30 years ago. I said things – nothing like endorsing violence – but that was offensive to Jews, offensive to gay people. Mrs. Coretta Scott King – Martin Luther King’s widow – said to me, ‘Al, you cannot take words lightly.’ I said, ‘But I was just slanging.’ ‘No you can’t do it.’"
Sharpton followed up by supporting Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt’s point that Mamdani should meet with prominent Jewish figures in the city.
"Secondly, I agree with Jonathan. He ought to meet with the Jewish community, and I think he will," he said.
Mamdani also wouldn't condemn the "intifada" phrase in a separate interview with The Bulwark's Tim Miller before the primary election, and he has been criticized by major Democratic Party figures like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Mamdani's team did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.