Governor Josh Shapiro of Abington Township recently had a “lengthy conversation” with Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim to be elected mayor of New York, regarding his comments on Israel prior to the election.
“I’ve expressed that to him personally. We’ve had good private communications,” Shapiro told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “And I hope, as he did last night in his victory speech, that he’ll be a mayor that protects all New Yorkers and tries to bring people together.”
Mamdani, described as a democratic socialist, had previously been criticized by Shapiro for not condemning “blatantly antisemitic” rhetoric.
“You have to speak and act with moral clarity, and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can’t leave room for that to just sit there,” Shapiro said in an interview with Jewish Insider this summer. “You’ve got to condemn that.”
According to Politico, Mamdani was also criticized for refusing to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada”, a Palestinian resistance slogan regarded by some as a call to violence against Jews. Mamdani said in July that he would discourage use of the phrase.
“He seemed to run a campaign that excited New Yorkers,” Shapiro said. “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.”
Semafor.com reporter David Weigel posted on X.com that Shapiro told him the following:
Mamdani called me, and we had a very lengthy conversation, and I was very direct with him about how hurtful some of the words were that he used or that he allowed to be used around him. He explained to me his perspective, which I thought was helpful for me to hear, and on some things, we agreed to disagree. But I thought it was a healthy dialogue, and I appreciate the fact that he reached out.
SNAP Benefits
In other news, yesterday a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits for November by today, the Associated Press reported, a directive which Trump officials immediately appealed.
From their coverage:
Shortly after the judges’ rulings, lawyers for the Trump administration filed a motion to appeal, contesting both Thursday’s decision and the earlier one last Saturday that ordered the federal government to use emergency reserves to fund the food program throughout November.
Because of the government shutdown, Trump officials are arguing there is only enough money to pay partial benefits in November. Doing so would take away resources from other programs, including school lunches.
“This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action,” the administration wrote. “This Court should allow USDA to continue with the partial payment and not compel the agency to transfer billions of dollars from another safety net program with no certainty of their replenishment.”
Vice President JD Vance called the order “absurd” during a White House dinner:
NBC News noted that this is the first time SNAP benefits have lapsed because of a government shutdown in the program’s 61-year history.
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Photos: Getty images, New York State Assembly