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Mamdani's father says Columbia 'targeted' anti-Israel students with antisemitism crackdown
By Lindsay Kornick
Published December 16, 2025
Mahmood Mamdani, the father of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, said Columbia University’s anti-Israel student activists are "terrified" about how the school plans to address antisemitism.
Mamdani, who was the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government before taking leave in September, spoke on Peter Beinart's Substack Friday about the university's response to the anti-Israel protests over the past two years.
Despite working for the university, Mamdani criticized campus leadership and claimed the school was intimidating activists with its emphasis on combating antisemitism.
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Students at Columbia University participated in anti-Israel protests. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
"Well, students are terrified," Mamdani said. "They are terrorized. In the smallest move they make, they are targeted. They are expelled. They are suspended. They are warned. Which means we have less and less of an idea of what they think and how they might respond to their situation. The administration is in a vindictive mood."
He continued, "As you know, they created a task force on antisemitism. And then they followed suggestions that… why don't we have a task force on Islamophobia? Why don't we have a task force on XYZ? Student experiences cover lots of, you know, grievances."
Mamdani said he had planned to urge Columbia leadership at a university senate meeting that Friday to focus on a "healing process" instead of targeting students.
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Zohran Mamdani stands with his mother Mira Nair, and father Mahmood Mamdani as they celebrate during an election night gathering on June 24, 2025, in the Queens borough in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
"Can’t you resist turning anti-discrimination into a device to set up one group of students against another group of students, like a divide-and-rule policy under British colonialism that I grew up under?" Mamdani said.
Columbia University did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Last week, Columbia University’s antisemitism task force released its final report on instances of Jewish and Israeli students being harassed in classrooms.
According to the task force, Israeli students were singled out or harassed in class, including one student who was allegedly told she should be considered "one of the murderers" because she had served in the Israel Defense Forces.
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Columbia University's antisemitism task force released its latest report detailing more instances of Jewish students being harassed on campus. (iStock)
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In another case, the report says a teacher told students that three major Jewish donors had given money with the aim of "laundering blood money" and referred to Israel as "so-called Israel."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/mamdanis-father-says-columbia-targeted-anti-israel-students-antisemitism-crackdown