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New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is facing heat from two New York lawmakers who spoke to Fox News Digital after a report showing a member of his transition team espoused vitriolic anti-Israel sentiments under the backdrop of Mamdani's promises to combat antisemitism as mayor.
Hassaan Chaudhary, according to a New York Post report on Sunday, has a social media presence littered with anti-Israel posts, including calling the country "barbaric," using the term "Jew" as a slur, and praising Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Chaudhary, who listed himself as a political director for Mamdani's transition team, apologized for the remarks, saying the decade-old posts don't represent his current views and that he looks back on them with "regret."
However, two lawmakers who spoke to Fox News Digital blasted Mamdani's association with Chaudhary and warned that it shows the socialist mayor-elect is not being serious when he pledges to combat antisemitism in New York City.
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"Let's be transparent - this isn't some innocent staffing mistake," New York Republican Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz told Fox News Digital. "This is who Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani is and what his transition team/incoming administration stands for."
"When the incoming Mayor surrounds himself with someone who uses language about Jews reminiscent of the 1930s, praises Ahmadinejad, and holds other abhorrent views, that's not a red flag - that's a flashing siren. Extremism isn't a fringe element of Zohran Mamdani's team; it's the foundation he's building/destroying City Hall on."
A Mamdani spokesperson told the New York Post that Chaudhary is a Muslim outreach director and not a political director, but did not say whether he would be fired.
"These comments from over a decade ago are reprehensible and in no way reflect the views of the mayor-elect or this transition," a Mamdani spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "The mayor-elect has made this clear internally and consistently during the campaign and transition."
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Inna Vernikov, a Republican New York City councilwoman, told Fox News Digital the situation shows that "useful idiots on the hard left have yet to realize that they're just small pawns in a big and dangerous game."
Vernikov added, "The same agitators screaming in defense of Hamas would be thrown off a roof for their various gender identities. Zohran needs to get one thing clear: he is no longer a protester. He now has a city of 8 million to govern."
Mamdani faced heated criticism on the campaign trail for his long track record of criticizing Israel, dating back to his days in college, where he started his school's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Additionally, hundreds of rabbis signed onto a letter in the weeks before the election denouncing his campaign.
Despite the outrage, Mamdani cruised to an election victory and has repeatedly promised to represent all New Yorkers, including the massive Jewish community in the city.
"We will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism," Mamdani said on election night, adding the next day that he takes the issue of antisemitism "incredibly seriously."
Still, Blumencranz told Fox News Digital that "personnel is policy" and that New Yorkers "better buckle up" if these are the type of people being recruited in the transition.
"You don't 'accidentally' hire a person who has spent years spewing this kind of hate," Blumencranz told Fox News Digital. "The fact that Mamdani hasn't immediately removed him tells every New Yorker exactly what kind of administration we're about to get - one where bigotry is tolerated, where antisemitism is normalized, and where the most hateful voices are welcomed into the Gracie Mansion and City Hall."
The Mamdani team did not comment on Chaudhary's current employment status.
"Every resident of this city, Jewish or not, should be alarmed," Blumencranz said. "This is dangerous, it's divisive, and it's a disgrace."
