Zohran Mamdani is facing a fiery backlash over his backing of a far-left New York assembly candidate who dismissed 9/11 as a terror attack that just a “couple of people did.”
Conservatives and some liberals quickly condemned Mamdani for supporting Palestinian-American activist Aber Kawas, arguing her incendiary comments have no place in US politics.
Rod Dreher, a prominent conservative writer, cast Kawas as a lefty version of Nick Fuentes — a racist Holocaust denier whose rise has created a rift on the right.
“Zohran is going to be the gift that keeps on giving for the GOP,” Dreher posted on X.
“And Fuentes, for the Democrats.”
A clip of Kawas speaking about the effects of capitalism and white supremacy on colonized lands has circulated online after Mamdani’s endorsement.
Kawas argued that apologies for atrocities should be a two-way street.
“The system of capitalism and racism and white supremacy et cetera – and Islamophobia – have all been used to colonize lands, to take resources from other people and so this is a long trajectory and were just seeing the manifestations of that continuation with 9/11,” she said in the clip.
“The idea we have to apologize for a terror attack that a couple of people did and then there is no apology or reparations for genocides and for slavery, et cetera – is something I find reprehensible,” she continued.
The activist’s comments were seen by many as contending 9/11 is America’s fault.
Political commentator Russell Drew argued that Kawas doesn’t belong in New York’s Legislature.
“Folks like her need to be purged from the Democratic Party, not elevated,” he posted on X. “This is our John Birch Society moment.”
“This is today’s Democrat party,” Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X.
But one X user argued that Cruz was misconstruing Kawas’ argument.
“She is talking about why Middle Eastern people are asked to apologize for what a few people did while the US which has bombed many countries in the Middle East is never asked to apologize,” the user posted.
