Stop Antisemitism, the Jewish advocacy group, blasted Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani for sharing a video mocking Hanukkah. The video was shared last year but it went viral as Mamdani is dominating headlines after his surprise victory in the primary. Some false claims were made over the video saying Mamdani, who was a rapper before his plunge into politics, was featured in the video. But he was not in the video and shared it on Hanukkah. Mamdani had posted the video in December 2024, adding the caption, “Happy 3rd night of Hanukkah from Astoria and Long Island City.”The video originates from the 2015 parody album “Punjabi Christmas Album Hits” from the Geeta Brothers, a side project of Sikh-Canadian musician and comedian Jus Reign.Mamdani posted another video from the same album on Christmas Eve, this one based on “Jingle Bells.”“Wishing you all a very merry Christmas from Astoria and Long Island City,” he wrote at the time.“Zohran Mamdani posts Indian men cosplaying Jews, spinning dreidels and lighting the menorah,” Stop Antisemitism wrote in a statement on X. “Our holidays and traditions are sacred and not for your comedic pleasure, Zohran Mamdani – this is sick,” the group added, tagging the mayoral candidate.Mamdani has been accused of antisemitism during his campaign as well as he refused several times to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. During a primary debate, he said he believed Israel has a right to exist. “As a Jewish state?” he was asked. “As a state with equal rights,” Mamdani said.“I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else,” he explained later.StopAntisemitism founder Liora Rez said last week that electing Mamdani mayor would not only be “catastrophic” for Jewish residents, but all who reside in the city.“If Zohran Mamdani was elected as mayor, it would be hands down catastrophic for Jewish residents of New York City,” Rez said. “And we would even take it a step further where citizens of New York City in general, due to his very troubling stances on socialism, would greatly suffer as well.”
