Jewish New Yorkers were “stunned” and “disgusted” in the run-up to Tuesday’s mayoral primary by bizarre pro-Zohran Mamdani text messages claiming to come from a friend of a slain Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack victim.
The shady sender told a registered Democratic voter — who shared the texts with The Post — that they were an Orthodox Jew supporting Mamdani, a vocal critic of Israel and its war in Gaza.
“I want to go a bit off script for a second because I’m Jewish, wear a kippah every day, and I support Zohran,” the text said.
Jewish New Yorkers were “stunned” and “disgusted” after an individual shared text messages in favor of voting for Zohran Mamdani allegedly from someone who lost a friend in the horrific Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack. LP Media“My friend Idan was murdered on October 7 at the Re’im music festival. The war is personal to me, as it is to many in our community. Idan believed in peace, just like Zohran does,” the June 12 message continued, invoking the memory of a murdered Israeli.
“He believed everyone should have access to affordable housing, good-paying jobs, and a life free of discrimination, just like Zohran,” it said.
The gobsmacking messages came after the Jewish voter responded to an initial text tagged with “Zohran for NYC” by arguing that Mamdani wouldn’t receive any votes from Jewish New Yorkers like them.
The voter said they were “stunned” and “disgusted” by the texts seemingly trying to exploit the memory of murdered Jewish people to drum up votes for Mamdani — who appeared to be running neck and neck with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the heated Democratic primary.
“It’s trying to normalize that other Jews are voting for him, that he’s for the Jewish people — even though everything he says is the opposite of that,” said the voter, an Upper East Side Democrat who backed Cuomo and Whitney Tilson in the ranked-choice contest.
The unknown sender claimed to be Jewish — and to have had a friend murdered on Oct. 7.
Who sent the texts and whether they were a dirty political ploy launched by one of Mamdani’s campaign rivals was unclear — as was whether they’re from a text bot or a volunteer.
It also wasn’t known how many New York City voters had received the messages.
Another New Yorker who received a text claiming to be from the Mamdani campaign answered the political pitch with the same response, explaining that he’s Jewish and received the exact same initial talking point in a subsequent message, as seen by The Post.
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Mamdani has supported the boycott, divest and sanctions movement against Israel, pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in New York City, and recently refused to denounce the “Globalize the intifada” rallying cry that many view as a call for violence against Jews.
He has repeatedly contended he’s not antisemitic.
A Jewish watchdog group blasted the pro-Mamdani texts.
The unknown sender said to a registered Democratic voter that they are an Orthodox Jew supporting Mamdani, who has been seen as a vocal critic of the Israel-Hamas war.
The voter who received the text messages was “disgusted” by the texts he received and opted to vote for Andrew Cuomo and Whitney Tilson in the ranked-choice voting system. IDFEvery morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post’s signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here!
“It’s unthinkable that New York City, with one of the largest Jewish communities anywhere outside of Israel, would be led by an antisemite like Zohran Mamdani,” said Liora Rez, founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism.
“Many Jew-haters pretend to care about marginalized communities while targeting the most marginalized community in history, the Jews.”
The idea of Jewish voters backing Mamdani was also “baffling” to Ami Horowitz, a conservative filmmaker in New York City, who characterized the text chain as “an FU to Jews.”
Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
