Mamdani should do a LOT greater than ‘condemn violence’ after ISIS bombs fly in NYC
Mayor Zohran Mamdani can’t just condemn “violence at a protest” now that the key facts are out about Saturday’s chaos near Gracie Mansion: He needs to call out where the threats of violence come from, and denounce them.
We now know those were genuine explosive devices, hurled by ISIS-loving radicals — New Yorkers seduced by evil within Gotham’s own Muslim community.
The mayor should name the poison plaguing his co-religionists — and the madness among his Democratic Socialist allies that mourns the killing of a monster like Ali Khameini.
It’s easy to slam low-rent hate-exhibitionists like Jack Lang, the agitator whose protest the bomb-throwers attacked, but also beside the point: That counter-protesters outnumbered his tiny crowd by six-to-one shows what a sideshow Lang’s ilk will always be.
What can truly make a difference is calling out the people who seem to be on your side, but aren’t — the ones who claim that Islamic values support attacks on innocents, who deny the mass rapes and other crimes of supposed “freedom fighters,” who pretend that the “anti-imperialist” cause requires sympathy for terror-promoting tyrants.
Mamdani would also be wise to express his concern for the communities who feel most at risk from this violence, and come out in support of Speaker Julie Menin’s package of bills to fight antisemitism and protect the rights to worship of all New Yorkers.
Side with the vast sane center of New York City, Mr. Mayor — make it plain your recognize toxic hate on every extreme.