Mamdani's response to questions about the phrase "globalize the intifada" was quite good & not at all what his attackers

[Celerity]

15. from the YouTube generated transcript (the entire video is only 2 minutes long):

Miller:

there obviously is anti-semitism on the
right but there's anti-semitism coming
from the left and coming from these
protests and one example I think of is
this phrase globalize the inifatada
which is a very popular phrase at
protests on the left maybe some people
say that phrase with good intent but
there are certainly some people who are
saying that phrase with violent intent
so I wonder what you think about that
about the phrase globalized antifod and
what we've seen as some anti-semitism
coming from the left-wing protesters

Mamdani:

the first thing as you were saying is
antisemitism is a real issue in our
city and it's one that can be captured
in statistics the ones that you're
citing it's also one that you will feel
in conversations you have with Jewish
New Yorkers across this city

this is something that has to be the focus of
the next mayoral administration
not just talking about it but tackling it
and these are the conversations that
have informed our commitment around
increasing funding for anti-hate crime
programming by 800% in our department of
community safety

you know to the question of language that's
being used i am someone who is less
comfortable with the idea of banning the
use of certain words and that I think it is
more evocative of a Trump style approach to
how to lead a country

Miller:

sure like does
that just make you uncomfortable like
the phrase globalized from the river to
the sea does that make you uncomfortable

Mamdani:

i know people for whom those things mean
very different things to me ultimately
what I hear in so many is a desperate
desire for equality and equal rights in
standing up for Palestinian human rights
and I think what's difficult also is
that the very word is has been used by
the Holocaust Museum when translating
the Warsaw Ghetto uprising into Arabic
because it's a word that means struggle

as a muslim man who grew up post 911 i'm
all too familiar in the way in which
Arabic words can be twisted can be
distorted can be used to justify any
kind of meaning and I think that's where
it leaves me with a sense that what we
need to do is focus on keeping Jewish
New Yorkers safe and the question of
permissibility of language is something
that I that I haven't I haven't ventured into