Suicide bombing should be destigmatized - and shouldn’t even be called “suicide bombing” – Socialist Democrat New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s father said in newly-resurfaced comments.
In an X.com post on Thursday, Podcaster-Writer Michelle Tandler drew attention to past comments by the candidate’s father, Mahmood Mamdani:
"‘Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.’ Columbia Prof Mamdani wrote this. His son, NYC mayoral-candidate Zohran, refuses to condemn ‘Globalize the intifada.’ Coincidence?”
The comments are attributed to Mahmood Mamdani’s 2004 book “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror,” in which he reportedly claims that suicide bombers are no more than soldiers that reflect “aspects of our humanity”:
“We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier.”
“Does not the suicide bomber join both aspects of our humanity, particularly as it has been fashioned by political modernity, in that we are willing to subordinate life—both our own and that of others—to objectives we consider higher than life?” the elder Mamdani wrote.
In an interview with Asia Society, Mamdani went so far as to claim that it’s inaccurate to even use the term “suicide bomber”:
“[W]e need to recognize that the term suicide bomber is a misnomer. The suicide bomber is a category of soldier whose objective is to kill – even if he or she must die to kill.”
“The suicide bomber comes out of the history of the Intifadah (sic),” Mamdani said in the interview, noting that “The first Intifadah in Palestine was coterminous with the Soweto uprising in South Africa.” Intifada signifies a violent, armed uprising.
Additionally, Candidate Mamdani’s father is affiliated with an organization that has terror ties, Fox News reports:
“Mahmood Mamdani, the father of socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, sits on the advisory council of an anti-Israel organization that supports boycotts and sanctions of Israel, routinely accuses the Israeli government of committing ‘genocide’, and has expressed sympathy for suicide bombers.”
….
“The Gaza Tribunal's founder and members have deep ties to anti-Israel movements, with at least one being deported from the United States due to terror ties.”
"Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.”
— Michelle Tandler 🎗 (@michelletandler) July 10, 2025
Columbia Prof Mamdani wrote this.
His son, NYC mayoral-candidate Zohran, refuses to condemn "Globalize the intifada."
Coincidence? pic.twitter.com/ePHoWLwyEt