Fox News commentator Jason Chaffetz tossed a stunning accusation at Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, claiming the New York City mayoral candidate “just wants to eradicate Jews” and “doesn’t believe in them.”
The inflammatory assertion by Chaffetz – a former Republican congressman – comes as conservatives and centrist Democrats have widely smeared Mamdani as “antisemitic” – largely over his “refusal to condemn” the pro-Palestinian slogan “globalize the intifada.”
While saying he doesn’t use the phrase or endorse it, Mamdani has added that his role as “the mayor is not to police language” while arguing that the term can mean different things to different people. He’s also vowed to tackle the “crisis of antisemitism” in the city, pushing for a significant increase in funding for anti-hate crime prevention.
During an interview with The Bulwark, for instance, he said that while he sympathized with those who feel “intifada” is associated with violence against Israel, to condemn the phrase would in essence denounce the Arabic word for “resistance.”
Besides the media-driven focus on the supposed “globalize the intifada” scandal, which has led at least one prominent Democrat to later apologize to Mamdani for grossly mischaracterizing his words, the 33-year-old democratic socialist has also falsely been accused of not condemning the Holocaust because he didn’t co-sponsor a New York resolution memorializing the genocide. Mamdani, however, has commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day for years on social media.
With the Democratic mayoral nominee facing ugly and gross Islamophobic attacks since his surprise primary victory, Fox News hosts and commentators have outright accused him of being an antisemite and even going so far as to question the faith of Jewish New Yorkers who have endorsed Mamdani.
Amid Donald Trump’s threat to arrest Mamdani if he were to interfere with ICE raids in New York, which evolved on Wednesday to the president saying he holds “all the levers” to prevent “this Communist Lunatic” from destroying the city, Chaffetz appeared on anchor Harris Faulkner’s show to criticize the candidate’s “extreme” policies.
“He doesn’t believe there should be billionaires,” the ex-lawmaker grumbled, referencing recent remarks made by Mamdani. “He wants to confiscate wealth. Redistribute it. He believes in equality, not in the good sense, but the idea he will confiscate wealth and try to push it down to make sure everybody has the same outcome.”
Faulkner, who earlier this week lambasted Jewish lawmakers who have backed Mamdani, then wondered why the progressive candidate didn’t draw more support from the poorest voters in the primary despite “all these free things” he wants to give away.
“I don’t think they can relate to him,” Chaffetz exclaimed before making a wild assertion.
“I think he is so radical, so far to the left, he just wants to eradicate Jews,” he declared. “He doesn’t believe in them!”
The Fox News contributor then maintained that Mamdani “believes in the global intifada” before calling for New York voters to back unpopular incumbent Eric Adams, who has become a frequent Fox News presence since leaving the Democratic Party and receiving a pardon from Trump.
This guy is too far radical,” he said. “I hope they coalesce around somebody more reasonable. I have never been a big Eric Adams fan. I am right now compared to this guy. I really worry about in this city, it’s a dangerous place here in New York City.”Chaffetz concluded: “If you’re going to dismantle law enforcement. You’re gonna get rid of them. You won’t cooperate with ICE. This town is going to turn to – I can’t say it on TV.”
Not addressing Chaffetz’s incendiary claims about Mamdani wanting to “eradicate Jews,” Faulkner instead ended the discussion by calling Mamdani a “chameleon” because “he didn’t do his homework.”
“Does he think the rest of us are as stupid as to believe that a mayor can get done the things he is promising? He had a better chance as an assemblyman for his own district,” she added. “But I don’t think he studied up, buttercup! We’ll see!”
