NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani compared AIPAC last week to “monsters” who “move millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal — to preserve their power, so that they can turn us against one another.”

The remarks — which Mamdani defended Monday — drew swift condemnation from Jewish leaders and advocacy groups who said he was parroting virulent anti-Jewish tropes that have been peddled by antisemites for centuries.

“Swap ‘AIPAC’ for ‘Jews’ and it’s the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theory in the books,” Democratic New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer said on X in a Sunday post. “That’s not criticizing a lobby. That’s laundering antisemitism from your podium as Mayor of a city with more than a million Jews. This bullshit is dangerous.”

But in a sign of New York candidates’ growing reluctance to show sympathy for AIPAC — and their fear of alienating voters who despise the pro-Israel lobby — none of the House hopefuls in the three primaries Mamdani has endorsed in were willing to criticize the popular mayor’s remarks. Instead, they defended the mayor or opted not to say anything at all.

Mamdani’s comments were made at a Thursday rally with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for congressional candidates Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier.

They landed as the specter of AIPAC has loomed large in this year’s Democratic primaries in New York — even if the pro-Israel lobby has largely stayed out of most races — and as voters are increasingly dissatisfied with Israel. A recent statewide poll found 51 percent of likely voters and 70 percent of Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian people in Gaza.

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a liaison for the Hasidic Lubavitch sect, told POLITICO he was “horrified” by Mamdani’s AIPAC outburst, arguing it flies in the face of commitments the mayor has made to not engage in rhetoric that could stoke violence.

“The bottom line is that the people who hear it see it as a silent endorsement of violence,” said Behrman, who is among a group of local Jewish leaders who’ve met privately with the mayor to discuss efforts to combat antisemitism.

“It’s incredibly dangerous,” he added. “The mayor has a responsibility to watch the way he speaks, especially if, as he says, he cares about all New Yorkers.”

Moshe Indig, a Hasidic rabbi and leader in Brooklyn’s anti-Zionist Satmar sect, disagreed, arguing the latest accusations of antisemitism against the mayor are disingenuous.

“The idea that ‘monster’ means antisemitism — definitely not,” said Indig, who endorsed Mamdani just before last year’s November mayoral election. “They are upset that he’s against the Zionist government and no matter what he does, whatever he says, whatever word he uses, they will criticize him. They are upset that he’s fighting against AIPAC. That’s what this is about.”

Mamdani defended his remarks Monday, saying he took the word “monsters” from a quote from Antonio Gramsci, a philosopher and leader of the Italian Communist Party in the 1920s. However, according to The Guardian, Mamdani was actually repeating a common mistranslation of Gramsci’s work.

“We're talking about a status quo where children are being killed on a daily basis,” Mamdani told reporters, defending the language. “I'm speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people.”

The mayor also pointed to AIPAC’s strategy of funding other PACs that act as shell organizations which spend dark money in congressional races.

Allies of Mamdani — or those seeking to attract his supporters — are reluctant to find fault with his incendiary remarks.

In retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s district, both major candidates running to replace her defended the mayor’s rhetoric.

“We're taking on corporate greed. We're taking on a lobby that has been upholding and supporting a genocide in Gaza now for two and a half years, but has kept so many Democrats silent because they're worried about a donor base,” Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Mamdani’s endorsed candidate for the seat, said on a Monday episode of “Breaking Points,” a YouTube show focused on news and politics. “The mayor is calling that out, and I think we have to.”

Valdez’s top opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, felt similarly: “AIPAC is bad — period,” he said in a statement to POLITICO.

And in neighboring NY-10, Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who has been chastised by his opponent for being too cozy with the pro-Israel lobby, declined to comment on Mamdani’s remarks. His opponent Lander, the former city comptroller, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Goldman and Lander are both Jewish.

Also on the no comment list? House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who is fighting to defend his seat in Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, where he faces a challenge from anti-Israel organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier.

Avila Chevalier’s campaign sent a statement that characterized the mayor’s remarks as a reference to the broader influence of money in politics instead of a specific group.

“The mayor made a critique during his speech about the harm of money in politics that is a threat to free and fair elections, a criticism most Democrats share,” her campaign said. “Darializa will be an advocate for all New Yorkers, as well as Jewish New Yorkers, and has made her commitment to fighting for every person in this district clear, including the fight against antisemitism.”

This reporting first appeared in New York Playbook PM. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every weekday.