(Jewish Insider) Inside a coffee shop in this small town of 8,500 people, hundreds of miles from the bustle of Manhattan, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made his first public comments about Zohran Mamdani, criticizing the New York City Democratic mayoral candidate for not taking a stronger stand against “extremists” who have made “blatantly antisemitic” comments.
“He seemed to run a campaign that excited New Yorkers. He also seemed to run a campaign where he left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things,” Shapiro told Jewish Insider in an interview on Wednesday.
Shapiro’s comments come as Mamdani, who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary last month, continues to face backlash for declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” (Mamdani told business leaders last week that he would “discourage” use of the slogan.)
