Leading up to the mayoral election last year, many criticisms of how Zohran Mamdani would conduct himself and his office were laid out. One of them was how a Muslim mayor would respond if an Islamist terrorist attack occurred in New York City—the home of the 9/11 attacks. Mamdani himself seemed more troubled by the backlash on Muslims than on the victims of such an attack. Barely two months into his term have passed, and Mamdani was tested on his reaction to such an event, and he failed pitifully.
Outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani—the city’s first Muslim mayor—a small group of protesters gathered to voice opposition to what they perceived as the “Islamification” of New York. Led by Jake Lang, a controversial figure known for his involvement in the January 6 events and his self-identification as a “White Christian,” the rally drew about 20 participants. (For context, there were more attendees at a memorial service for Ayatollah Khamenei in Washington Square Park on Friday.)
This is not a defense of Jake Lang. While the takeover of radical Islamism is a concern for Western cities like Paris, London, and New York, Lang’s ideology is extremist Christian in a similar vein to Nick Fuentes. He has been seen doing Nazi salutes outside protests against AIPAC, for example. It is highly likely he would protest a Zionist Jew with the same fervor—albeit with far more attendees. Had it not been for the events that followed, along with the reaction from the mayor and the media, Lang’s protest would have gone unnoticed.
It was not the protest that made national news; rather, it was the attempted terrorist attack against the protest that drew the public’s attention. For years, we have been told that peaceful protest is a hallmark of our society. Peaceful protests include occupying college campuses, blocking traffic on streets, destroying monuments and statues, and burning down cities. All of these actions have been defended by Democrats in the past. None of them have had counter-protesters commit violence. This one did.
Two young men from Pennsylvania, Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, allegedly hurled homemade improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the anti-Islam group. Witnesses reported the pair shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they lit and threw the devices, one of which was packed with nuts, bolts, screws, and the volatile explosive TATP—often dubbed the “Mother of Satan” for its use in terrorist attacks. The IED landed in a crosswalk, emitting flames and smoke before fizzling out near police officers, miraculously causing no injuries. A second device was also deployed but failed to detonate fully.
Authorities later confirmed the bombs were capable of causing “serious injury or death,” and a third suspicious device was discovered in a vehicle linked to the suspects. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force joined the investigation, treating it as a potential act of ISIS-inspired terrorism after the suspects admitted to watching ISIS videos and self-radicalizing. Balat and Kayumi, both of whom had traveled to terror hotspots like Istanbul and Saudi Arabia in recent years, now face federal charges.
Make no mistake, this was an attempted terrorist attack on American soil, targeting civilians exercising their First Amendment rights. Yet, in Mayor Mamdani’s response, posted on X the following day, the focus was curiously skewed. He opened by labeling Lang a “white supremacist” and the protest as “rooted in bigotry and racism,” declaring such hate has “no place in New York City.” Only then did he condemn the violence, calling the use of an explosive “reprehensible,” while praising the NYPD for their quick action. Notably absent? Any mention of the perpetrators’ identities, their shouted Islamic battle cry, or their apparent jihadist motivations. This also followed in his spoken statement to the press the following day. Mamdani was quick to point out the ideology of the protesters but did not mention radical Islam as a motive for the bomb throwers.
The media’s reaction was equally telling, often framing the event in ways that obscured the facts and protected certain narratives. NBC New York’s headline blared: “Multiple arrests made after ‘suspicious devices’ found outside Gracie Mansion... during anti-Islam rally and counterprotest.” This wording implied ambiguity, suggesting the devices might have been linked to the anti-Islam group or even targeted the mayor himself, when in reality, they were thrown by Muslim counterprotesters at the rally attendees.
Other outlets followed suit: CNN described a “homemade explosive hurled near NYC mayor’s home,” emphasizing the location without clarifying the direction of the attack. ABC News noted devices thrown “during dueling protests,” burying the details of who threw what. This made it seem that the IED could have been targeting the mayor, not the protesters, and they all left out that the suspects shouted “Allahu Akbar” when throwing their bombs.
It should surprise no one that Mamdani is, at best, an apologist for radical Islamic terror. His political activism is rooted in the Palestinian cause, and his failed rapping career included songs dedicated to the Holy Land 5, a group convicted of funneling millions to Hamas. It should also surprise no one that Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, liked social media posts celebrating Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The posts originally came from an Instagram account called “The Slow Factory” and showed images of terrorists breaching the fence into Israel and pro-genocidal slogans.
The message from the mayor’s office is clear: Radical Islamism is an ideology that deserves understanding, and white supremacy is an ideology that should be condemned. There is a double standard where a simple standard could simply apply: Ideologies based on bigotry and hatred are reprehensible. A white supremacist anti-Muslim rally is an “affront to our city’s values.” An anti-Jewish rally outside a synagogue where chants of “Death to the IDF” and “Globalize the Intifada” yields a condemnation of venue choice, with Mamdani saying that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
In Mamdani’s NYC, evil is indeed only skin deep – measured by the perpetrator’s identity rather than the act. White supremacist ideology is named and shamed, while ISIS-inspired terrorism is coddled and protected. Mamdani cannot be counted on to confront evil if he is too cowardly to condemn all evil ideologies with equal fervor.
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Moshe Hill is a political analyst and columnist. His work can be found at www.aHillwithaView.com and on X at @HillWithView.