Zohran Mamdani, the socialist candidate running to become New York’s next mayor, has come under increasing scrutiny for his repeated refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

While Mamdani has said the expression is not one he personally chooses to use, critics have accused him of condoning antisemitism because the mayoral candidate has declined to disavow the phrase, saying he hears the language as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

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Here’s a deeper look into the phrase, which Mamdani has been rumored to be shifting his stance on this week as he attempts to appease skeptical moderate voters ahead of November’s general election.

What does ‘globalize the intifada’ mean?

The phrase is closely associated with violent uprisings against Israel that involved terrorist attacks killing civilians. Calls to “globalize the intifada” came after the First Intifada from roughly 1987 to 1990 and the Second Intifada from approximately 2000 to 2005. Those two periods, but particularly the Second Intifada, were marked by intense Palestinian protests against Israel, during which Jews were targeted by demonstrations that included suicide bombings at wedding ceremonies, shopping malls, nightclubs, and passenger buses. Nearly 1,000 Israelis were killed or injured by Palestinian terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada, which translates to  “uprising” or “shaking off.”

Pro-Palestinian activists have used the phrase during demonstrations across the United States, including on college campuses such as Harvard University. They argue that the term represents a symbolic plea for Palestinian human rights and merely describes resistance against Israel’s military actions against Hamas, its existence as a country, and its presence in areas such as Gaza and the West Bank. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators often contend that Israeli activity in such areas is an illegal, colonialist-style occupation of land that they believe rightfully belongs to Palestinians.

Many of the protests, thousands of which have taken place across the U.S. in recent years, have been peaceful. Others, including at Columbia University, Harvard, and multiple California colleges, have descended into anti-Israel riots or unrest, and Jewish students and faculty members have experienced a surge of antisemitic harassment, leading to them feeling unsafe on campus.

After Harvard experienced unrest amid the protests, an internal university investigation probed both sides of the issue, including how the phrase made Jewish students feel. The university recently concluded that it was “widely perceived as antisemitic.”

“For almost eight months, Jews living in the [Harvard] Yard have been yelled at, or around them, things like ‘globalize intifada,’” one Jewish student named in the investigation said. “I experienced the Second Intifada in Israel, in which suicide bombers kept blowing up in civilian centers, buses, coffee shops, night clubs — murdering over 1,000 children, elderly, just people. Having that chanted daily without any repercussion, recourse, or help from the university has been a complete failure of the university to protect one of its smallest minority groups.”

What has Mamdani said about the phrase?

Mamdani has publicly called the surge of antisemitism in New York and across the country “a real issue,” but questions about his commitment to the Jewish community have lingered over his repeated refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

Mamdani has said he does not use the language himself, but he has expressed sympathy for those who choose to chant the expression.

When he was pressed on June 17 about whether the chant made him uncomfortable, Mamdani said it reflects “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

On June 29, the mayoral candidate again declined to come out against the phrase during an NBC interview.

“That’s not language that I use,” Mamdani said, adding that he did not believe he should “police language.”

“My concern is to start to walk down the line of language and making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible takes me into a place similar to that of the president,” he said.

On Tuesday, Mamdani reportedly began to distance himself from the language during a private meeting with business leaders, saying he would “discourage” the use of “globalize the intifada.” This week, he has been rumored to be considering publicly disassociating himself from the chant.

A look at Mamdani’s anti-Israel controversies

“Globalize the intifada” is not the only hole the state assemblyman has found himself in as he campaigns for mayor.

In addition to his defense of the phrase, Mamdani’s association with a left-wing influencer who said “America deserved 9/11” on the campaign trail and his past praise for a group convicted of funding terrorism have come under scrutiny.

The state assemblyman, once a C-list rapper, at one point sang “Free the Holy Land Five / My guys.” The lyrics referred to five people tied to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, an Islamic charity, who were convicted nearly two decades ago for providing support to Hamas terrorists.

Mamdani has also been criticized for associating himself on the campaign trail with Hasan Piker, who came to notoriety after suggesting that the U.S. deserved the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Mamdani is also known for his vocal support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which seeks to economically isolate Israel. During his senior year at Bowdoin College in Maine, Mamdani spearheaded an organization to boycott Israeli academic and cultural institutions.

A recent poll found that 52% of New York voters said they are less likely to vote for Mamdani due to his support for BDS and position on “globalize the intifada,” while just 30% said they were more likely.

Mamdani has additionally been scrutinized for condemning Israel the day after it suffered a terrorist attack, during which Hamas killed, raped, tortured, and kidnapped well over 1,000 innocent Israelis.

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In his first public statement on the matter on Oct. 8, 2023, Mamdani said that “just and lasting peace” in the Middle Eastern region could only be brought by ending Israel’s “occupation and dismantling apartheid.”

“I mourn the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours,” the full statement reads. “Netanyahu’s declaration of war, the Israeli government’s decision to cut electricity to Gaza, and Knesset members calling for another Nakba will undoubtedly lead to more violence and suffering in the days and weeks to come. The path toward a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.”