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zohran mamdani
New Yorkers Rally Against ICE After Masked Officer Shoots, Injures Man With 5-Year-Old in Car
“Our New York communities have been built by generations of immigrant love, ingenuity, creativity, and resilience," said one organizer. "Trump can’t take that from us."
Oct 09, 2026
Outraged community members gathered in New York City's Marble Hill neighborhood Thursday night to demand that federal immigration agents leave the city after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fired at least seven shots into a vehicle on a bustling street, wounding the driver while a five-year-old boy sat in the back seat.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed anger at the shooting that had left the child "traumatized and terrified," and accused the Trump administration of "terrorizing" the city.
“Tonight, millions of our neighbors are wondering whether they will be safe on our streets, in our schools, at their work sites," said Mamdani, a democratic socialist. "We know that ICE is rotten to its core. Tonight's shooting is only further confirmation of what we have long known, which is that ICE operates with impunity... that they have killed far more of our neighbors than they have ever claimed to save."
Mamdani: What happened today was an outrage. Today's shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known, which is that ICE operates with impunity, that they sow chaos and terror across our country, that they have killed far more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save. This is an agency that must be abolished.
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 9, 2026
Mamdani said he had spent two hours on the phone with President Donald Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin in an attempt to negotiate the release of the man who was shot, identified as 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, but ICE instead "put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away" after he was treated at a hospital for his injuries.
The shooting took place around 4:00 pm on West 225th Street, as children were being let out of numerous schools in the neighborhood, Mamdani emphasized.
According to surveillance footage, Belgal was parked in front of a fire hydrant when a plainclothes ICE officer, dressed in a construction vest and wearing a face mask, approached the driver's side window of the car with his gun drawn.
After another plainclothes agent approached the front of Belgal's car, he began pulling away from the curb. One of the ICE officers then opened fire, hitting Belgal in the neck as the boy, whom New York City authorities believe to be the man's son, sat feet away.
An eyewitness, Viely Herrera, told The New York Times that she had heard several gunshots before seeing Belgal's SUV crash into a concrete barrier. Belgal then exited the car, holding his neck and shouting in Spanish.
Herrera added that the boy in the car was crying, and the officers would not allow a woman to remove him from the scene.
With limited exceptions, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers are prohibited from shooting into a moving vehicle to stop or apprehend the driver.
Mamdani demanded to know how DHS is "keeping anyone safe" by having "individuals in construction vests, wearing masks, with long guns? Residents have no idea if these are law enforcement agents or if they are simply attacking someone on the street. And when it comes to ICE, it begs the question, what's the difference?"
I am angry tonight.Because today ICE shot a New Yorker. They shot a New Yorker while his five year old child was in the car.ICE makes this city less safe.We want them out. Now. https://t.co/ZizKB0OP7S
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 9, 2026
DHS did not explain why its agent had fired into a moving vehicle against department policy, or mention the child who was inside the car. Officials said in a social media post that Belgal was a "criminal illegal alien" from the Dominican Republic with a prior conviction for grand larceny and a history of arrests for other crimes.
The agency said New York City authorities had previously released Belgal after his arrests.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is running to represent New York's 13th Congressional District, where Marble Hill lies, joined Mamdani in demanding that ICE be abolished—a call that is supported by 50% of Americans, according to a YouGov poll taken earlier this year.
Revulsion over the agency's practices has grown as Trump's mass deportation operations have intensified. DHS officers have fatally shot at least six people during enforcement operations, including three US citizens. Two of them were protesting the anti-immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
In the past three months, two immigrants have been killed during enforcement operations—Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Like Belgal, the two men were operating their vehicles when the shootings took place.
Chevalier emphasized that Trump is overseeing his violent nationwide crackdown on immigrant communities "to make us feel powerless."
https://t.co/qdrtxkPNP1
— Darializa for Congress (@DarializaforNY) October 9, 2026
"But I want us to look around and look at how many people came out for this community. That is how powerful this community is," she said. "He messed with the wrong fucking city."
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said New Yorkers had shown up to rally against ICE "because ICE is a rogue, unaccountable, violent, and racist plague on our communities. Because Trump is the fascist-in-chief. We are here to bear witness and be in solidarity with our immigrant friends and neighbors."
“Our New York communities have been built by generations of immigrant love, ingenuity, creativity, and resilience," she said. "Trump can’t take that from us. ICE cannot scare, brutalize, or shoot that out of New York. And no one—no one—has the right to terrorize our communities and traumatize our kids. We are immigrant New York!"
“We demand a full investigation. We demand humanity. We demand our rights," she added. "We demand ICE get the fuck out of New York.”
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'There Must Be Room to Mourn Every Single Life,' Mamdani Says of Oct. 7 Attack and Genocide That Followed
"That to me is a part of what it means to believe in a sense of humanity, that we need not choose between which death we will mourn and which we will ignore."
Oct 08, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a press conference on Thursday that "there must be room to mourn" both the Israelis killed during the Hamas-led October 7 attack three years ago and the Palestinians killed in the Israeli government's subsequent genocidal assault on Gaza.
“I believe that there must be room to mourn every single life," said Mamdani, echoing the sentiment he expressed in a statement 24 hours earlier marking the three-year anniversary of the October 7 attack—and the start of Israel's military response.
At Thursday's press conference, a reporter noted that Mamdani "got it from both sides yesterday," referring to criticism the New York City mayor received from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian voices in response to his statement. Mamdani's statement described the Hamas-led attacks as "horrific war crimes" and the Israeli government's response as a "devastating, ongoing genocide."
Asked if he "made any missteps that inflamed tensions" and whether he would, in hindsight, alter the language of his statement or decide against attending a vigil hosted by the anti-occupation group Israelis for Peace—where the mayor faced jeers from protesters accusing him of complicity in genocide—Mamdani responded: "There must be room to mourn the lives of the more than 1,100 Israelis that Hamas killed there years ago. There must be room to mourn the 74,000 Palestinians that the Israeli government has killed since."
"There must be room to reckon with the ways in which so many New Yorkers' lives have been shattered," he continued. "And that to me is a part of what it means to believe in a sense of humanity, that we need not choose between which death we will mourn and which we will ignore. That we can reckon with the fact that all of it is to be opposed."
Video footage from the Wednesday night vigil shows Mamdani standing expressionless alongside Brad Lander, a Democratic congressional candidate who is Jewish, as protesters shout at the mayor, calling him a "traitor."
Lander, the former New York City comptroller, told reporters that protesters at the vigil sometimes drowned out the reading of testimony from loved ones of people killed in the October 7, 2023 attack and in the Israeli government's assault on Gaza.
“From where I sit, Mamdani is a very strong supporter of Palestinian freedom and human rights,” said Lander. “I don’t know what world leaders have done more.”
During his press conference on Thursday, Mamdani said of those protesting him, "This is what I signed up for."
Mamdani is stone-faced as the protesters call him a traitor and sellout. https://t.co/oXducpYsMR
— Peter Sterne (@petersterne) October 8, 2026
Mamdani also faced hysterical backlash from pro-Israel members of his party. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who lost to Lander in the Democratic primary for New York's 10th congressional district, denounced Mamdani's statement as "reprehensible" and declared that it would "offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with."
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) falsely accused Mamdani of "desecrating the memory of murdered, innocent Jews" and "refusing to even condemn Hamas."
Mamdani didn't back away from his criticism of the Israeli government in response to such attacks.
"The Israeli government used and continues to use that day, those war crimes, as a justification for an ongoing genocide against Palestinians," Mamdani told reporters on Thursday. The mayor also stressed "our federal government's complicity in funding so much of the weaponry" that has been used by the Israeli military in Gaza.
"We have to extend human rights to all people," said Mamdani, "and that has to include Palestinians."
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'Baseless Lies Meant to Sanitize His Genocide': Mamdani Hits Back After Netanyahu's Attacks During UN Speech
“No lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” New York City's mayor said of the Israeli prime minister.
Sep 24, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hit back Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the United Nations General Assembly podium to accuse him of supporting Hamas and making Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe—remarks that came after delegates from scores of countries walked out of the chamber to protest the far-right fugitive's presence.
Refuting allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza—where Israeli forces have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 21,500 children, since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023—Netanyahu said, "To all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the antisemitic mayor of New York City, I say this: Shame on you."
"Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York," the prime minister claimed. "It’s no wonder... You falsely and repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide. Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide. And that’s exactly what Mr. Mamdani’s Hamas buddies would have done to us had we not stopped them. They would have killed every last one of us."
Mamdani issued a statement later Thursday saying: “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, are fugitives from the International Criminal Court, where they are accused of murder and forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. The ICC also issued arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, but Israel assassinated them.
While neither Israel nor the United States is a party to the Rome Statute governing the ICC, the treaty states that people from nonsignatory states who commit alleged crimes in states that are party to the treaty—as Palestine is—can be arrested in third countries and subsequently tried by the court.
Mamdani has said that Netanyahu should be arrested and brought before the Hague-based tribunal for trial, but that he lacks the legal authority to apprehend the prime minister in New York.
The International Court of Justice—also located in The Hague, Netherlands—is currently processing a genocide case filed against Israel by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations. The case is based on what the ICJ called the plausibility that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The court has issued a series of provisional orders for Israel to adhere to the Genocide Convention—orders that critics say Israel has simply ignored.
Last year, an independent UN commission of inquiry found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a conclusion shared by the International Association of Genocide Scholars and other experts including many Israeli and diaspora Jewish academics, jurists, human rights campaigners, and others.
As Netanyahu prepared to deliver his UN speech Thursday, delegates from a reported 77 nations walked out of the chamber in protest.
"If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall—please do so now," the prime minister said. "Thank you very much."
While some observers applauded the display of solidarity with Palestinians, others expressed disgust that Netanyahu was allowed to address the world body and that he has not yet been brought to justice.
"The head of the genocidal Israeli apartheid regime, a fugitive indicted for crimes against humanity, was allowed to enter the US and to address the UNGA today, without arrest," said Craig Mokhiber, a former senior UN official who resigned in protest of what he described as the world body’s failure to stop Israel’s genocidal war.
"Netanyahu insulted delegations, openly celebrated the regime’s many crimes, bragged about its terrorist pager attacks on Lebanon, repeated the regime’s debunked genocide propaganda, defended the illegal occupation of Palestine and Syria, lied incessantly, called violent, racist, illegal Zionist settlers 'peaceful' and 'honorable people,' labeled human rights defenders as 'antisemites,' even arrogantly attacked American citizens and officials for speaking out against the regime’s crimes," he continued.
"This violent psychopath cannot hide behind [US President Donald] Trump’s skirts forever," Mokhiber added. "He (and his collaborators) must be captured and brought to justice. And the UN must finally act to isolate the regime and hold it accountable. "
Referring to Netanyahu's address and Trump's threat on Tuesday to "annihilate" Iran during his rambling, lie-laden General Assembly speech, University of Colorado Law School associate professor Maryam Jamshidi said on social media, "Between Trump threatening Iran w/annihilation and Netanyahu bragging about Israel’s pager attacks, the UN podium has become a venue for promoting genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes."
Meanwhile, people took to the streets of New York to protest Netayahu's presence in the city, US complicity in Israeli crimes, and to show solidarity with Palestinians.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside UN headquarters in Turtle Bay for a sit-in demonstration led by Jewish Voice for Peace. Demonstrators blocked roads while chanting slogans including, "Netanyahu you can't hide, you are wanted for genocide!"
As Common Dreams reported earlier Thursday, more than 100 demonstrators were arrested.
THEY’RE PUTTING THEM IN THE BUS!
Susan Sarandon Chelsea Manning, and MANY OTHER CELEBS ARRESTED at UN protest ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address! 👀
The 79-year-old actress – who has previously said she's been blacklisted over pro-Palestinian comments… pic.twitter.com/pvzuRGwGG4
— SANTINO (@TheRealSantino) September 24, 2026
Among those reportedly arrested were progressive congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier; actors Susan Sarandon, Hannah Einbinder, and Cynthia Nixon; New York state Assemblymember Emily Gallagher (D-50); Democratic New York City Councilmembers Chi Ossé and Alexa Avilés; former Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning; and Palestinian American political activist Linda Sarsour.
"I will never, ever be silent," Sarsour said on Facebook. "I will never just accept the world as it is. I want history to record for future generations of Palestinians that we fought. At every turn. In every way. When it was easy and when it was hard."
"I want Palestinian girls in Gaza to see me in my hijab and my unapologetic Palestinian blood fighting for them to live FREE," she added. "This is bigger than all of us. Netanyahu is a war criminal and belongs in The Hague, not the United Nations."
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'The Powerful Fear Us': Spain's Sánchez and NYC's Mamdani Join Hands Against Right-Wing Fascism
The two leaders spoke about policies to promote economic justice and immigrant rights at an event, as nearly 130 world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Sep 23, 2026
As New York City plays host to nearly 130 world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly, progressive Mayor Zohran Mamdani is making a point of meeting with a number of international politicians who share his commitment to “building an economy for the many"—the official theme of a Wednesday morning breakfast he held at Gracie Mansion, where Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was a key guest.
The event gave the two leaders an opportunity to discuss, as the prime minister said on social media, "more jobs, better wages, less inequality."
"Social justice is not the enemy of economic growth," he said.
Sánchez spoke to a group of assembled leaders—including Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, a fierce critic of government inaction on the climate emergency and inequality, and socialist European Council President António Costa—about Spain's economic policies, such as a 66% increase in the national minimum wage over the past eight years.
“Spain is showing that another economic model is possible, and New York is demonstrating that the same ambition can transform our cities," said Sánchez, who represents the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. "That is why the powerful fear us, because every day we show that there is another possible path and that it works."
“We were told that if you want growth, you have to accept inequality. That the workers have to make sacrifices. That if you want to be competitive, you have to have low wages and bad public services. I never believed it," Sánchez added. "Spain has shown that it was not true. We have raised the [Spanish minimum income] by 66%. We were told it would destroy jobs, but we have more workers than ever. One in every two jobs created in Europe are Spanish. We were told that with clean energy we would be less competitive. Now we have 60% and the cheapest energy. They always tell us that [these policies] are not going to work. The reality is that they do work for ordinary people."
The policies of Sánchez and Mamdani have angered right-wing leaders, including President Donald Trump. The president threatened Spain with a trade embargo earlier this year when Sánchez refused to allow US war planes to refuel at Spanish military bases as the US and Israel waged war on Iran.
Administration officials also condemned Sánchez's pro-immigration stance in July when migrants from Africa entered the self-governing Spanish city of Ceuta. The prime minister offered hundreds of thousands of migrants a chance at permanent legal residency in Spain earlier this year, contrasting with Trump's violent mass deportation campaign.
"Migration has made Spain stronger," said Sánchez on Wednesday. "Migration makes us a better country. No question."
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez:
Migration has made Spain stronger. Economically, socially, culturally, migrants work in our companies, contribute to our public finances, sustain our welfare state and enrich our communities. Migration makes us a better country. No question.
This… pic.twitter.com/3GEIy7IWtR
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 23, 2026
Without mentioning Trump by name, he added: "This matters because there are politicians on both sides of the Atlantic trying to convince working people that their problem is another working person—someone born somewhere else, someone who earns even less than they do. It is one of the oldest political tricks in history: Make people look sideways so they never look up."
While appearing to admire the charismatic and ultrapopular Mamdani—whose 69% approval rating among his constituents contrasts sharply with the 29% of Americans who currently support the president—Trump has railed against recent electoral victories of politicians who share Mamdani's commitment to universal, government-funded social services, raising taxes on billionaires, and ensuring life is affordable for working people.
In June, he called democratic socialists like Mamdani "the most serious threat to our country since its existence," and during Mamdani's mayoral campaign, the candidate confronted border czar Tom Homan over Trump's anti-immigration agenda.
At the Wednesday morning event, where Mamdani praised Sánchez for sending a message through his minimum wage policy that "work matters... dignity matters," the mayor said that working together, the two leaders and other progressives in power can build "a better world, bringing the movement for equality and justice to more distant horizons.”
Costa, who served as the prime minister of Portugal, added on social media that "in an interdependent world, we need coordinated solutions to global and local challenges."
"That is why we must defend international law and multilateral institutions like the UN," said Costa. "And that is why we must put the well-being of our citizens at the center of our policies."
“It is truly a privilege to be able to learn from one another, emulate each other's successes, and develop strategies that imitate the great progress those in this room have achieved," said Mamdani at the event.
The mayor has also met with progressive mayors from Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Mexico City, and other cities to discuss housing, migration, and climate policies. On Tuesday, he visited a New York City public school with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and the two leaders discussed limiting artificial intelligence in education.
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With 'Blood-Soaked War Criminal' Set to Land in Mamdani's NYC, Calls Grow to Arrest Netanyahu
The mayor has said New York can’t enforce the ICC warrant against Israel’s prime minister, but one human rights lawyer argued it’s “not the only tool available to the US when it comes to holding Netanyahu accountable.”
Sep 23, 2026
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to land in New York for a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, calls are once again mounting for the accused war criminal to be arrested.
While campaigning last year, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pledged that if the prime minister ever set foot in his city, he'd find himself in handcuffs, pursuant to an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant, which accused him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, where Israel's genocidal military assault has killed nearly 74,000 people, including more than 21,000 children.
After becoming mayor, Mamdani backed off the pledge earlier this summer, stating that New York lacked the “independent legal authority” to detain him under the ICC warrant. However, he said Netanyahu should still be "arrested and tried" by the federal government.
In the days leading up to his visit to New York, which is expected to be brief, Netanyahu indicated he planned to address the mayor during his General Assembly speech, falsely accusing him of supporting Hamas and inciting riots against Jewish New Yorkers.
“I'm coming to the UN,” the prime minister said. “I'm going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I'm going to tell the truth about you."
Mamdani hit back during a CNN interview on Tuesday: "I have been clear about the way that I see the world. And I always owe New Yorkers that honesty. And when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be: a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people."
Of the ICC warrant, he reiterated that it was "something that should be honored, because what we want to see... is a faith in our politics, a faith in accountability."
In July, a YouGov poll found that 49% of Americans believed the US government should arrest Netanyahu under the warrant, 27% said it should not, and 23% were unsure.
President Donald Trump stated earlier this summer that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form" while visiting the US. His administration's position, as stated in a February 2025 executive order, is that Netanyahu can't be arrested. The ICC, it says, “has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel” because, unlike most other nations, neither is a party to the Rome Statute, which created the court.
Jake Romm, a legal adviser for the Hind Rajab Foundation—a group named after a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces—argued Tuesday in The Nation that even if the ICC warrant can't be enforced on US soil, it "is not the only tool available to the US when it comes to holding Netanyahu accountable."
Romm noted the existence of "two robust federal criminal statutes," the War Crimes Act and the Genocide Statute, which he said incorporate "important international instruments into US law"—the Geneva Convention governing the laws of war and the Genocide Convention, respectively.
He wrote that both of these laws give the US jurisdiction over alleged war criminals “regardless of where the crimes have been committed” when the suspect is physically present in the US, or the crimes were committed against US nationals.
Romm acknowledged that Netanyahu is shielded from arrest during his official UN visit and that sitting heads of government generally enjoy immunity from national courts, but argued that those protections do not eliminate the United States' underlying authority to prosecute him under federal war crimes and genocide laws.
"The United States has the ability to arrest Netanyahu for crimes under US law and to prosecute him in US courts," Romm wrote. "I stress this not because I believe that an administration that has, at every turn, deepened its complicity in Israel’s crimes will suddenly change. I stress the US’s ability and obligation to arrest Netanyahu—and all Israeli perpetrators of the genocides in Palestine and southern Lebanon—in order to make one thing clear: Every day that Netanyahu remains free is a day that the US has allowed him to remain free."
It's not just the United States that has allowed Netanyahu to travel freely despite the warrant. Emma Fourreau, a French member of the European Parliament, accused her nation's government—which is obligated to arrest Netanyahu under the Rome Statute—of having "trample[d] on international law" by giving his aircraft clearance to pass through its airspace en route to New York.
Craig Mokhiber, a former senior UN human rights official who resigned in 2023 while accusing Israel of carrying out a “textbook genocide” in Gaza, said the fact that Netanyahu would be showing up at the UN unencumbered, even while being "universally despised, and blocked from travel to most countries on the planet," was a "stain" on the entire institution.
"He will even be allowed to enter UN premises and to address the [General Assembly], received as a VIP rather than the blood-soaked war criminal that he is," Mokhiber said on social media, describing it as one of many failures of the institution to respond to Israel's actions in Gaza.
He noted that the General Assembly had not stripped Israel of its credentials as it did with apartheid-era South Africa, that the UN Security Council had endorsed the Trump-led "Board of Peace" proposal to govern postwar Gaza, and that Secretary-General António Guterres had declined to use the word "genocide" to describe Israel's conduct, even while other top UN experts had.
"The genocidaires are not just walking among us, they are ruling over us. They are trying to normalize genocide and apartheid," Mokhiber said. "We, in our millions, must act to denormalize these scourges, to hold the perpetrators and accomplices accountable, and to ensure they never have a moment’s peace until justice prevails."
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Mamdani Hails Landmark DoorDash Deal as ‘Largest Settlement for Food Delivery Workers Ever’
"After years of corporate greed and impunity, we are holding DoorDash to account."
Sep 22, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday touted a settlement with food delivery app DoorDash as a "landmark win" for workers.
During a press event, Mamdani announced DoorDash had agreed to pay $131 million—of which $115 million will go directly to short-changed workers—in what he described as "the largest settlement for food delivery workers ever secured in American municipal history."
The mayor said that DoorDash's systematic exploitation and underpayment of its workers showed it profited by using "greed as a business model."
"Two months ago, Tony Xu, the CEO of DoorDash, gave business owners a piece of advice," Mamdani said. "A CEO, he said, has to take the greedy algorithm and keep going all the way to see if there is more. In computer science, a greedy algorithm is one that makes the most optimized, best short-term outcome at every step, and never weighs the consequences."
Mamdani: Today, after years of corporate greed and impunity, we are holding DoorDash to account. I am proud to announce that DoorDash will pay more than $131 million, the largest settlement for food delivery workers ever secured in American municipal history, and a landmark win… pic.twitter.com/XuCMMSyBMR
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 22, 2026
Mamdani explained that DoorDash for years "failed to count every hour worked by deliver workers," emphasizing that this was "not an accidental rounding error or a mistake."
The mayor touted the work done by the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), which analyzed more than 150 million DoorDash payments and determined that the company had "underpaid more than 260,000 delivery workers across New York City" over a four-year period.
"After years of corporate greed and impunity, we are holding DoorDash to account," Mamdani said. "City Hall will not sit idly by while a megacorporation that made nearly a billion dollars in profits last year rips off the working people who keep our city moving."
A Tuesday report in The New York Times noted that, in addition to making a $131 million payout, DoorDash has also agreed to allow closer monitoring of its payment methods to ensure that its workers get what they are owed.
While the company defended its payment calculation model as "fair, practical, and legal," it also acknowledged it made mistakes that led to some workers not getting everything they had earned.
"We screwed up,” DoorDash said, “and our mistakes meant some NYC Dashers were underpaid or paid late."
DCWP Commissioner Samuel Levine told the Times that the city's settlement with the delivery app "sends a strong message that we are in a new era of enforcement in New York," adding that "we will not tolerate nickeling and diming New York City workers."
Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of Campaign for New York Healthcare, said in a Tuesday social media post that the DoorDash settlement showed the importance of electing leaders willing to take on corporate power.
"Just in case you were wondering why DoorDash was spending so much money to elect Andrew Cuomo and oppose Zohran Mamdani," D'Arrigo observed, "DoorDash now has to pay $115 million to the workers it stole wages from."
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'Mamdani Moment' in Germany as Leftist Elif Eralp in Line to Be Next Mayor of Berlin
A Left Party official said its strategy for the Berlin election was "explicitly inspired... by Zohran Mamdani's campaign."
Sep 21, 2026
Germany's Left Party on Sunday made history by winning the 2026 Berlin state election, putting its lead candidate, socialist Elif Eralp, in position to become mayor of the country's largest city.
In all, the Left Party won 26% of the overall vote in the election, with the center-right Christian Democratic Union capturing 19% and the far-right Alternative for Germany winning 16% of the vote.
The two other center-left parties—the Greens and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)—won 14% and 12% of the vote, respectively.
A Sunday report from Bloomberg News described the Left Party's victory in Berlin as a "Mamdani moment," in reference to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's upset 2025 win in the New York City mayoral race.
Like Mamdani, Eralp and her party put affordability at the center of their campaign, with a particular emphasis on the rising cost of housing in the city.
As described by Euronews in a Monday report, Eralp "called for tighter regulation of rents, more social housing, and further moves towards bringing large housing portfolios into public ownership."
The Euronews report also noted the connection to Mamdani, citing a quote from Eralp last year arguing that "if a left-wing candidate can win in New York, then there's no reason it can't happen in Berlin."
According to a Saturday report in The Washington Post, the Left Party recently sent a delegation to New York City to learn about Mamdani's campaign and even met with some of the mayor's advisers to talk political strategy.
Liza Pflaum, the head of digital communications for the Left Party and a member of the delegation, told the Post that while her party had already embraced "a clear focus on issues relevant to affordable living" two years ago, it also was "explicitly inspired... by Zohran Mamdani's campaign."
While the Left Party received the most votes in the election, it did not receive enough to form an outright majority, meaning it will need coalition partners to form a government.
The Greens and SPD have indicated they are willing to form a coalition with the Left Party, but have claimed the party has allowed antisemitism to flourish in its ranks—an allegation that conservatives have made against left-wing candidates and political leaders in the US as well.
Progressives have warned against the conflation of antisemitism and criticism of Israel.
Eralp has disputed accusations of antisemitism in her party, which have focused on comments about the Israel Defense Forces at a campaign event and the presence of "an allegedly militant activist" at an election victory party.
"I will do everything to ensure that Jewish people—just like Muslims, queer people, and everyone in our city—can feel safe," said Eralp.
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The Un-American Republican Party
With its blatant bigotry and Islamophobia, today’s Republican Party betrays the vision of the United States held by the nation’s founders.
Sep 18, 2026
September 11, 2026, was the 25th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center by hijackers who were part of al Qaeda and followers of Saudi religious fundamentalist Osama bin Laden who had sworn revenge against the United States because of its actions in the Middle East.
Twenty-five years ago, less than a week after the attack, in the midst of national mourning, President George W. Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington, DC, where he explained: “These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it's important for my fellow Americans to understand that... The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war... America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms, and dads. And they need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.”
Sadly, leading members of the Republican Party have especially short memories as their party has morphed into what has become an Un-American party. President Donald Trump has repeatedly demonized Muslims in the United States and around the world. As recently as July the president shared a social media post mocking Muslim children in Minnesota for wearing hijabs to their kindergarten graduation ceremony.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Gov. George Pataki, both Republicans, joined two Republican members of the New York City Council demanding that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not participate in the 25th-anniversary September 11 memorial ceremony. Giuliani said that participation by Mamdani, who is Muslim, “Offends him.” Zohran Mamdani ignored their demands and attended with dignity.
Other leading Republicans, including Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican Party candidate for governor of New York, have joined the attacks on Mamdani because of his religious identification. During Ramadan in March, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Republican from Alabama, recirculated an image of Mayor Mamdani paired with an image of the attack on the Twin Towers with the caption, “The enemy is inside the gates.” Blakeman called Mamdani “un-American” because “He shares the philosophy of the people that murdered my nephew and all those other people.” But as George W. Bush would have explained to Blakeman, he is the one who is being un-American.
Today’s Republican Party betrays the vision of the United States held by the nation’s founders. In 1790, President George Washington wrote a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. In the letter, the president explained:
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Washington told the Newport Congregation, “If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and a happy people.” These are sentiments that need to be reborn in this country.
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Son of 9/11 Victim Says 'Please Stop' Exploiting Tragedy to Spread Anti-Muslim Bigotry
"You do my dad's legacy and the legacy of all these victims no honor by using this tragedy to spread hate."
Sep 11, 2026
Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 Americans and others and sparked a worldwide US-led war on terrorism that has left nearly one million people dead, some relatives of 9/11 victims pleaded that their grief must not be weaponized in the form of anti-Muslim bigotry.
Michael Massaroli Jr., whose father, Michael Massaroli, was killed in the attacks, made one such appeal during Friday’s 25th anniversary commemoration at the National September 11 Memorial at ground zero in Lower Manhattan.
"One parting thing I want to leave everyone with is that you do my dad's legacy and the legacy of all these victims no honor by using this tragedy to spread hate," Massaroli said. "We have seen a medley of people come up today of all races, all religions, all creeds, and this tragedy is just that—it's a tragedy."
"I've had to grow up and spend the past 25 years seeing people use it to hate on our Muslim brothers and sisters, to hate on people who don't look like them," he added. "And that's wrong. And that does no honor to the victims here. And I want to use the little platform I have to ask for that to please stop."
"My father Michael Massaroli...you do my dad's legacy and the legacy of all these victims no honor by using this tragedy to spread hate. We have seen a medley of people come up today, of all races, all religions, all creeds and this tragedy is just that, it's a tragedy. I've had… pic.twitter.com/xRtXgZZyYn
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 11, 2026
Massaroli wasn't the only one decrying Islamophobic exploitation of 9/11. Members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, including co-founder Colleen Kelly, have repeatedly denounced the violence and hatred perpetrated after the attacks.
On Friday, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad recalled how "the trauma we all felt after the attacks was exploited to erode civil liberties, justify torture, normalize illegal discrimination, empower hate groups, and launch forever wars across the Middle East that killed thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in numerous countries."
Recently, Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani—the first Muslim elected to lead the city—has been subjected to a wave of Islamophobic vitriol. Critics have invoked his religion and 9/11 in questioning whether he should participate in the city’s September 11 commemoration. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other Republicans have said that Mamdani should skip the ceremony, while broadly attacking Islam.
The Trump administration's immigration policies have also been called discriminatory against Muslims. CAIR said in a March report that it received a record 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2025, attributing part of the increase to the administration's immigration crackdown and its response to pro-Palestinian protests. The cases included immigration and travel discrimination, employment discrimination, and alleged targeting of Muslim and Arab communities.
“Today, bad actors are once again exploiting the 9/11 attacks to score political points, incite discrimination, and justify forever wars overseas," Awad said on Friday. "We cannot let these resurgent voices of division, hate, and violence succeed. We must instead embrace the spirit of unity that bonded all of us together 25 years ago and stand up for the universal value of human life, anywhere and everywhere."
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Ted Cruz Silent After GOP Rallygoer Shouts That Dems 'Should Be Shot' During Speech
During the same speech, Cruz tied Democrats' rhetoric to the 9/11 attacks, the murder of Charlie Kirk, and assassination attempts against Trump.
Sep 11, 2026
While speaking at a midterm convention for Republicans on Thursday night, Sen. Ted Cruz blamed left-wing rhetoric for fomenting violence. But the Texas senator did not react when an attendee in the crowd shouted loudly that three different Democratic politicians "should be shot."
During the speech in Dallas, which took place on the one-year anniversary of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, and a day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Cruz said that "the hate that killed Charlie Kirk, that knocked down the Twin Towers, that led to two assassination attempts on President [Donald] Trump... just keeps getting worse and worse," and claimed that it had overtaken the Democratic Party.
Cruz said the party was being swept over by "a new and dangerous red-green alliance: communists and Islamists," and singled out specific figures.
Joining persistent attacks from fellow Republicans against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Muslim faith, Cruz lamented, "On 9/11, could anyone have imagined that Comrade Mamdani would be the mayor of New York?"
Cruz then referenced a comment Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, made during a 2021 meeting of the organization's youth wing in which he said workers "seizing the means of production" was an "end goal." Though Mamdani has not used similar rhetoric since beginning his campaign for mayor, Cruz seized upon the old comments nonetheless.
"When Mamdani says he wants to ‘seize the means of production,’ he means it," Cruz said.
It was then that a shout rang out from the crowd: "He should be shot!"
Cruz did not react, moving on to discuss Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic US Senate nominee for Michigan, who is a former public health official for Detroit.
"When Abdul El-Sayed says he has an obligation to Sharia law, he means it," Cruz continued, twisting a comment El-Sayed made to The New York Times in 2009, when he was a 24-year-old medical student, referring to his personal decision to use a Sharia-compliant mortgage because Islam prohibits interest.
On the 2026 campaign trail, El-Sayed has clarified he has no desire "to push Sharia law on anyone else… because we live in an America where you should have the freedom of your religion.”
Again, the audience member shouted, "He should be shot!"
Cruz then turned to Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-50), the Democratic nominee for US Senate, whom he said also "means it," when he "says he wants to dismantle capitalism."
He was referring to comments that Talarico made at a Sierra Club candidate forum in 2020 when he spoke of "climate change, white supremacy, and capitalism" as "oppressive systems" that "work together." Talarico has since said the comments "missed the mark."
Once again, the rallygoer shouted, "He should be shot!" Cruz did not react.
A spokesperson for Cruz declined to say whether the senator heard the violent shouts when asked about it by The Washington Post. The Post noted that while it was unclear if Cruz heard the remarks, several other speakers during the convention responded when hecklers interrupted them, and Trump reacted to shouts from the crowd repeatedly.
Cruz's social media account has posted a clip of the speech in which the shouts of "he should be shot" are audible, which remains online.
El-Sayed told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Thursday night that the call for violence frightened him.
“Look, I’m a dad with two daughters, and I hope those daughters get to grow up and live with their dad,” the 41-year-old candidate said. “This is what has become the norm in our politics. I mean, literally calls to violence and the inability for anybody to actually call it out.”
“Democracy is supposed to be the process by which we solve our problems peacefully,” he continued. “We can learn to disagree agreeably, and when you hear that kind of call to violence, it should be shuddering to all of us. We have a responsibility to lower the temperature, to realize that this is not a bloodsport, where you’re just trying to bash the other guy.”
Mamdani and Talarico have not publicly responded to the calls for violence at the time of publication. However, other Democrats have called them out and criticized Cruz's silence.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) wrote in a social media post that Cruz "had the opportunity to end the calls for violence, instead he riled people up."
She added that Cruz "owes Mamdani, El-Sayed, Talarico, and the communities they are fighting to represent an apology."
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) wrote that "every single Republican should denounce this dangerous rhetoric immediately—starting with Ted Cruz."
At the time of publication, Cruz had not made a public statement on the incident. Multiple outlets reported that his office has not responded to requests for comment.
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.) described Cruz's lack of a response to the violent shouts as "a shameful profile in cowardice."
"Political violence is a big problem," she added. "Rather than egging on, real leaders call it out. It needs to stop, regardless of party.”
Cruz's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Common Dreams on Friday about whether he condemned the call for violence and whether he believed that he bore similar responsibility for individuals' reactions to his political rhetoric that he ascribes to Democratic politicians.
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