Abdullah Akl, political director of the Muslim American Society of New York, also faced investigation from Harvard over anti-Semitic social media posts
Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D., N.Y.) celebrated Ramadan last week at a Staten Island mosque where he was introduced by an extremist who has called on Hamas to strike Tel Aviv and led a crowd in chants for “intifada.”
“He’s joining us today, straight from City Hall, to not only welcome us into this blessed month of Ramadan, but to also join the largest Muslim congregation here in Staten Island,” Abdullah Akl said during his introductory remarks at the Muslim American Society (MAS) in Staten Island. “I am very excited to announce the new mayor of New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani.”
A smiling Mamdani delivered brief remarks in which he said it was “such a privilege and a pleasure” to be with Akl and the other attendees.
Akl, the political director of MAS New York, first came to prominence in 2024 when he led a chant to “strike” Tel Aviv during a protest in New York City. Then a graduate student at Harvard Extension School, Akl called former Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida—whom Israel killed in August 2025—”our beloved,” the Washington Free Beacon reported at the time.
“Strike, strike Tel Aviv, Abu Obeida, our beloved,” Akl said before leading a crowd of hundreds in chants for “intifada.”
Akl spent his time at Harvard Extension School using his social media accounts to call for “intifada” against Jews, argue that “there is no state called Israel,” and encourage others to “teach [their] children that the Zionist entity is an enemy,” posts reviewed by the Free Beacon show. Harvard administrators launched an investigation into Akl’s conduct, though pro-Hamas extremist group Within Our Lifetime said it led a successful campaign to pressure the university into dropping its probe and described Akl as a “beloved organizer.” He was also arrested at a pro-Hamas protest in September 2024.
The Harvard Extension School graduate has been involved in anti-Israel radicalism for several years. On July 4, 2021, he led chanting at a rally where demonstrators burned both U.S. and Israeli flags, yelling, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.” At another rally in 2021, he said, “We don’t want no two-state, we want all of it.”
Neither Akl nor a representative for Mamdani responded to requests for comment.
Mamdani has surrounded himself with radical anti-Israel and pro-terror individuals both in and out of government since his inauguration. He appointed three officials who cofounded a Muslim group that blamed Israel for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack to prominent roles, the Free Beacon reported last month. He also hired Alvaro Lopez—who called those who ripped down flyers of Israeli hostages “heroes”—as his Brooklyn borough director and brought in Waleed Shahid, who also blamed the Jewish state for the Hamas attack, as a deputy communications director for economic justice.
Last month, Mamdani replaced the executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism with a left-wing activist who has bashed Israel. As the Free Beacon reported at the time, Rabbi Moshe Davis, the former leader of the office, said he believed the mayor dismissed him because he is a “proud Jew” who supports Israel.
This latest example of Mamdani associating with individuals who support terrorism came just before New York City narrowly avoided an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack when an improvised explosive device failed to detonate on Saturday. Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, the two individuals charged with the crime, said they wanted to cause more casualties than the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Mamdani’s initial statement noted that the attempted attack came at an anti-Islam protest led by far-right provocateur Jake Lang, but failed to note that one of the suspects yelled “Allahu Akbar” as he was arrested and appeared to blame the far-right protesters for the attack.
A similar Mamdani response occurred in November after his election, when keffiyeh-clad agitators gathered outside a Manhattan synagogue, hurling anti-Semitic slurs and calls for violence. The synagogue’s cantor told the Free Beacon that the demonstrators threw sticks and bottles and injured at least one member of the synagogue. Mamdani’s spokeswoman wrote in a statement that “sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law” because the synagogue hosted a group that helps Jews move to Israel.
Akl, for his part, boasted to the Washington Post soon after Mamdani took office that he planned to hold the mayor “accountable” should Mamdani fail to follow through on his anti-Israel rhetoric. In the meantime, the MAS official has kept up his radicalism. In October, Akl announced the MAS’s initiative to create prayer spaces and host Islamic events at 50 high schools across New York City, the Free Beacon reported. The plan includes a partnership with Students for Justice in Palestine, the group behind many anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses, which called for “death to all collaborators” of Israel.
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