Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the race for mayor of New York City, moved to distance himself from comments that sparked outrage during the primary.
For weeks, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the New York City mayor’s race, has been under pressure to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is seen by some as a call to violence against Jews.
It became an issue in the heat of the Democratic primary race when Mr. Mamdani, a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, was asked in a podcast interview whether the phrase, which Palestinians and their supporters have called a rallying cry for liberation, made him uncomfortable and he refused to condemn it.
But at a closed-door meeting with the city’s top business leaders on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Mamdani said he would personally continue to not use the term and would “discourage” its use by others, according to three people who were familiar with his comments.
It was the closest Mr. Mamdani had come to disavowing the term since the issue began rattling his campaign last month.
Mr. Mamdani told the roughly 150 business executives that while many people used the term to express solidarity with Palestinians, some New Yorkers viewed it as a reference to violence against Israel, according to one of the people who were familiar with his comments.
Just two weeks ago, shortly after his primary victory, Mr. Mamdani said in an interview on “Meet the Press” that the term was “not language that I use” but that “I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech.”
