New York City is facing a disturbing new chapter in its political culture. A prominent cleric with deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood has publicly declared that Zohran Mamdani’s rise to power is a direct result of the October 7 terrorist attacks. This isn’t just a fringe comment; it’s a statement linking our local leadership to a massacre that killed 1,200 Israelis. We need to talk about what this actually means for our city.
The Report From Turkey
According to the New York Post released by MEMRI TV, Ali al-Qaradaghi made these remarks at an August conference in Turkey. He is the secretary general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, which is based in Qatar. Confirmed by the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project, the radical Muslim Brotherhood is linked to the group. In his speech, Qaradaghi boasted that the political success of Mamdani and Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed would not have occurred without the terror attack.
“If not for the Al-Aqsa Flood and if the Zionists were not put to shame, what is happening in Europe and America would not be happening,” the cleric stated. He specifically noted that Mamdani’s position in New York and El-Sayed’s campaign victory were impossible without the October 7 events. Qaradaghi said, “Mamdani would not have become governor of New York State [sic] and Abdulraham El-Sayed would not have defeated a campaign worth $73 million,” before concluding, “These are the blessings of the Al Aqsa flood.”
A Dangerous Connection
This is not a minor detail to ignore. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi founded the International Union for Muslim Scholars and was “broadly regarded as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood for decades,” according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. The group has faced serious accusations from multiple governments. Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have accused it of using “Islamic rhetoric as a cover to facilitate terrorist activities,” in 2017. The group has denied these allegations, but the link remains a major red flag for New Yorkers.
While the cleric’s comments are shocking, they align with a pattern of behavior we’ve seen on the campaign trail. Mamdani refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” while running for office. This refusal to take a clear stand against incitement, combined with a cleric calling his victory a “blessing” of terror, raises serious questions about who is truly influencing our city’s direction. It suggests a political movement that may be more aligned with foreign ideologies than the safety of New York families.
We love this city, but we won’t stand by while it gets dragged into foreign conflicts. When a leader’s rise is celebrated by those who supported the slaughter of 1,200 civilians, it changes the nature of our governance. This isn’t about hate speech; it’s about the source of political power. If our mayor owes his position to a terror attack, then his loyalty is already compromised. New Yorkers deserve leaders who condemn violence, not those who are hailed as its beneficiaries.
We need to ask hard questions about who is funding these campaigns and who is pulling the strings. The $73 million campaign El-Sayed lost to, and the millions that helped Mamdani win, should be scrutinized. We cannot allow a situation where our local politics are dictated by the outcomes of wars in the Middle East.
