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At least 20% of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition committee members have ties to radical anti-Zionist groups that “openly promote terror and harass Jewish people,” the Anti-Defamation League found in a stinging report Monday.
The ADL pinpointed several activists who have downplayed the horrors of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel or were involved in the anti-Israel encampments that sprung up on New York City college campuses last spring.
Roughly 80 of the 400 people named to staff Mamdani’s 17 transition committees “have a documented history of making or sharing anti-Zionist or anti-Israel statements,” the report found.
A handful were also found to have ties to the Nation of Islam or its antisemitic leader Louis Farrakhan, including Jacques Léandre, a member of the transition’s Committee on Legal Affairs, the ADL said.
The revealing report came less than a week after Mamdani’s director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, was forced to resign when decade-old antisemitic and anti-police remarks she made on social media resurfaced — including rants about “money hungry Jews” and defunding NYPD “piggies.”
The ADL said that and the new findings in its report raise questions about the vetting process for Mamdani’s appointments, and whether the “concerning statements, associations and activities” had been identified by his transition team.
“Many of Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s Transition Committee appointments are inconsistent with his campaign commitments to prioritize the safety of New York’s Jewish community,” the ADL wrote in the report.
“The composition of these Transition Committees will directly influence the administration’s policies and approach to Jewish community concerns, and the current appointments raise serious questions as to whether those concerns will not be adequately represented or addressed.”
Mamdani, who takes office Jan. 1, insisted Monday that he’s “always spoken out against antisemitism and hatred in any form.”
The democratic socialist has faced ongoing criticism over his staunch criticism of Israel – but has worked to earn support from more of New York’s Jewish community since getting elected, including appearing in a recent Hanukkah video with actor Mandy Patinkin.
The ADL found about 80 transition members who have been involved with virulent anti-Zionist groups that “openly promote terror and harass Jewish people,” like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and Within Our Lifetimes — all of which have helped spur fiery anti-Israel protests across the Big Apple.
The anti-Israel rabble rousers named in the ADL report include:
- Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, on the youth and education committee, was pictured in front of a banner with an inverted red triangle – a symbol that has been used by Hamas – with the words “Long Live The Resistance” on it. The photo was taken during an anti-Israel encampment at City College in spring 2024.
- Gianpaolo Baiocchi, on the committee on community organizing, was previously arrested at an NYU encampment that featured inflammatory rhetoric against Israel.
- Youssef Mubaraz, on the small business and minority and/or women-owned business enterprise committee, dismissed as “propaganda” a Facebook video about Hamas terrorists raping and kidnapping of Oct. 7 victims.
- Kazi Fouzia, on the committee on worker justice, claimed on the day after the terror attack that killed 1,200 Israelis that “resistance are [sic] Justified when people are occupied.”
The ADL report additionally referenced ties between Farrakhan and two other committee members, former Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory and Mysonne Linen, a convict-turned-activist who The Post previously reported was advising Mamdani on the criminal justice system.
Léandre, the attorney who’s a member of the Nation of Islam, attended the group’s 2022 Saviors’ Day conference, which featured Farrakhan slamming “the Jews and their power,” according to the ADL.
He also urged social media followers to wish Farrakhan a happy 86th birthday in a May 2019 Facebook post while commending him for being dedicated to “reforming, defending, and enriching the lives of countless men and women,” the ADL said.
“I personally thank him for inspiring me to aspire to dedicate my life toward towards the uplift of our community,” the post said. “This is not hate, but simple pure love and truth.”
Asked about the ADL report during an unrelated press conference Monday, Mamdani insisted he was ready to “protect” Jewish New Yorkers as mayor — while slamming the findings for not distinguishing between antisemitism and criticism of Israel.
“I have always spoken out against antisemitism and hatred in any form, and have made it clear that the commitment I have made to protect New Yorkers, to protect Jewish New Yorkers is one that I will uphold as the next mayor of the city,” he said.
“And we must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government,” Mamdani continued, “the ADL report oftentimes ignores this distinction, and in doing so, it draws attention away from the very real crisis of antisemitism we see, not only just in our city, but in the country at large.
“And this is a team we are speaking of of more than 400 New Yorkers that we have assembled to advise on the transition.”
Rabbi Marc Schneier, who leads the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, said he wasn’t shocked by the ADL’s finding.
“Mamdani is drawing a false distinction between antisemitism and criticizing the Israeli government,” he told The Post. “He is in no position to draw such a distinction when he will not even recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, which is antisemitic in of itself.”
Mamdani responded the report while announcing Samuel Levine, an alum of former President Joe Biden’s administration, as his commissioner of Consumer and Worker Protection.
The incoming mayor has faced questions about other members on the assortment of transition teams, including advocates for cop killers and other anti-police activists.
The ADL urged Mamdani to say what vetting was done for transition team members and how the process might change when he settles on the rest of his appointments for his administration.
— Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
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