The Iranian Revolution began with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declaring in 1970, “Islamic government is not tyrannical nor absolute... [It] is a government of law." In case Khomeini’s statements were ambiguous, it should be noted that the “law” to which the ayatollah was referring was Islamic law.

By 1979, Khomeini, buoyed by a strong, pre-existing network of Islamist social services and other institutions, seized power and established an Islamist theocracy, leaving his former coalition partners sidelined, betrayed and disillusioned.

Two years later, their opposition became a liability. Khomeini subsequently had them imprisoned and mass-murdered.

Mamdani’s Real Agenda – Red or Green?

Mamdani was careful to frame his campaign around the “red” issues of socialism – affordability and the economic “injustices” of capitalism. He promised to tax the rich and hand out massive amounts of free services, including public transportation and childcare.

Yet, his virtue signaling on the campaign trail, as well as his previous actions, painted a clear picture of his “green” agenda, i.e., anti-Zionism and support of terror.

Siraj Wahhaj

One of Mamdani’s last stops on the campaign trail was a visit to – and a prominent photo op with – Imam Siraj Wahhaj, long-time imam of Majid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn, who once urged “jihad” on New York City.

Wahhaj also famously said Muslims should use American politics “as a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.”

Wahhaj was named as a potential co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and testified in favor of the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was sent to prison for life for his part in the bombing.

Three of Wahhaj’s children are now in federal prison for convictions ranging from terror-related offenses to kidnapping and conspiracy to murder. The convictions came after a 2018 raid on their compound in New Mexico, where authorities found firearms and tactical equipment, stockpiled for an attack against the government. Also found were 11 malnourished children dressed in rags with no shoes and the decomposed body of Wahhaj’s grandson, 3‑year‑old Abdul‑Ghani.

Yet, to Mamdani, Wahhaj is “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.”

Linda Sarsour

Behind the scenes of Mamdani’s campaign and his rise to power was Islamist activist and political operative Linda Sarsour.

Sarour calls Wahhaj her “mentor, motivator and encourager.”

Mamdani and Sarsour met in 2017 while they were both campaigning for socialist Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian minister who focused his campaign around his support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Sarsour believes that “Israel … is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else” and says, "There's nothing creepier than Zionism." Sarsour refers to Israel as an oppressor and has told Muslims to stop "actually trying to humanize the oppressor."

Like Mamdani, she is a purveyor of the antisemitic “Deadly Exchange” conspiracy theory, which accuses Israel of training American police how to oppress minorities.

Sarsour played a “huge role” in Mamdani’s victory and says she plans to use that leverage to hold Mamdani accountable to her agenda, which includes anti-Zionism and the dismantlement of the NYPD’s counter-terrorism unit.

Sarsour also revealed that “it’s not just that it’s random that Zohran ascended to this place … it’s Muslim money … a particular PAC … the CAIR super PAC was the largest institutional donor to the pro-Zohran PAC in New York.”

Sarsour was referring to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an American front group for the Muslim Brotherhood and an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest terror-funding operation in American history. In 2008, Holy Land executives were convicted of funneling $12 million to Hamas.

Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant, noted that Sarsour and the rest of the “anti-Israel far left” see Mamdani as a “great opportunity” to seize control of NYC.

“This is their moment to try and capture the city’s government and turn it into what they want, which is less about progressive politics and more about Jew-hating than anything else,” he said.

“Linda Sarsour is not running him because he’s a great progressive and believes in some kind of redistribution of wealth. She’s running him because he’s a great antisemite,” Sheinkoft added.

Palestine Is Central

Mamdani says that working on El-Yateem’s campaign “changed my life. I came into contact with a political movement that understood Palestine as being a central part of the struggle,” the essential component of the “full framework of what liberation means and what it means to be a socialist.”

This follows the playbook of prominent New York City anti-Zionist and pro-terror activist Nerdeen Kiswani, founder and leader of Within Our Lifetime. Kiswani and her many allies promote “Palestinian liberation” (i.e., the destruction of Israel) as the quintessential kingpin to “world liberation.” If Israel is abolished, they claim, all other injustices in the world will cease to exist.

Similarly, Mamdani has made his anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career. He spelled out this ideology in an extensive interview in The Nation with virulent anti-Israel activist Mohammed El-Kurd, a “journalist” who famously said after October 7 that to root Zionism out of the world, "We must normalize massacres as a status quo."

In the interview with El-Kurd, Mamdani laid out his long-term plan to create a chilling effect – and ultimately total ostracization – for politicians supporting Israel.

“I’m not naive [about] how long of a fight this could be,” he said, echoing the Muslim Brotherhood's gradualism plan for transforming America from within.

Mamdani’s Islamist Agenda

Since his election, Mamdani has made it clear that he will not be a mayor for all New Yorkers. In addition to his fiery and exclusionary victory speech, Mamdani’s responses to recent events in New York paint an ominous picture of the city’s new mayor demonizing Jews and scapegoating them for the city’s woes.

Responding to a vicious protest outside a synagogue hosting an informational evening about “aliyah” (the process of becoming an Israeli citizen and moving to Israel), Mamdani chose to victim-blame.

According to his spokeswoman, Mamdani asserted that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” It was a shocking statement, particularly considering that in the same breath, the spokeswoman acknowledged that the protesters had violated federal law, saying, “The mayor-elect … believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation.”

Mamdani also made no distinction between the state of Israel and the so-called “disputed territories.” Apparently, Mamdani believes that Jews living anywhere in the state of Israel are violating international law (despite the fact that the land was allocated to Israel by the United Nations in 1947).

Shortly after the incident, Mamdani met with U.S. President Trump in the Oval Office. When asked about the homeless crisis in New York, Mamdani blamed Israel, saying,

“I’ve spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide, and I’ve spoken about our government funding it. And I shared with the president in our meeting about the concern that many New Yorkers have of wanting their tax dollars to go to the benefit of New Yorkers and their ability to afford basic dignity … we’re in the 9th consecutive year of more than 100,000 school children being homeless in our city …”

These statements are no surprise. Mamdani has been steeped in anti-Israel venom since his childhood. Mahmood Mamdani, Zohran’s father, is a professor at Columbia University who regular spews vicious antisemitism, compares Israelis to Nazis and calls for the dismantlement of the state.

DSA: Mamdani’s Useful Tool

Mamdani was only too happy to use the organizing power of the ascendant Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to get elected. In recent years, the DSA became co-opted by the “entryists” – highly organized outside groups that took over the DSA and enacted a virulent anti-Israel agenda.

These groups were used to working through "red-green alliances."

For Mamdani, the DSA was a perfect fit for his socialist and anti-Zionist ideology. DSA activists provided the bodies needed for the mass mobilization required to achieve his political goals.

Unlike the disparate factions of the Iranian revolution, the DSA was already a more homogeneous group, having passed a resolution to make its singular focus “a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA.” That resolution included the group pledging allegiance to al-Thawabit, the PLO founding principles and redlines calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

In fact, since the October 7, 2023 attack, the DSA has also aligned itself with Iran, throwing off its previous misgivings about the rule of the mullahs.

The DSA’s pro-Iranian stance dovetails well with Mamdani’s adherence to Shia Islam, the sect of Islam practiced by Iran. Mamdani credits “Imam Hussain,” an early leader of the sect, as the inspiration for his fight against Israel.

Choosing Green Over Red

One of Mamdani’s first moves as mayor-elect was to endorse Islamist activist, terror supporter and DSA member Aber Kawas for the State Assembly seat in the 34th district over a Latino DSA member in an Hispanic area of Queens.

Kawas is also a member of the steering committee of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) and has been affiliated with CAIR. Kawas met Mamdani when they worked together on the El-Yateem campaign and canvassed for him in his mayoral bid.

Kawas calls the “Holy Land 5,” Hamas fundraisers in America, “imprisoned heroes” and “living martyrs.” Ditto for a man convicted of providing material support to Al Qaeda.

Kawas also expressed support for a man who plotted to throw grenades into a synagogue, calling him “my brother, whose case I’ve followed and whose family I know.”

Mamdani himself expressed support for the Holy Land 5, mentioning the terror funders in a rap video (one of his earlier professions).

As journalist Daniel Greenfield writes,

“During the New York City mayoral election, there had been some debate about whether Mamdani was a Marxist or an Islamist. Mamdani has answered that question with his first endorsement …

“Despite the district’s current DSA Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas putting her Latino DSA chief up for the role, Mamdani and the DSA went with the Islamist instead because, according to Kawas’ director, ‘we have to actually run a Palestinian Arab in this race because we need to draw the fire of the Israeli lobby’ so that the Jews ‘don’t run things.’”

Latinos and socialism have to take a back seat to Palestine and the Jews, Greenfield concludes.

If his first moves as mayor-elect are indicative, Greenfield may be correct.