Zohran Mamdani’s five-word statement that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal has been widely shared.

Many people think he’s just going after one Israeli leader. That reading is completely mistaken. In reality, Mamdani is posing as a fighter for justice and a self-appointed moral authority, taking advantage of the global outrage against Israel.

What he is actually pushing is his extreme political ideology through the core BDS project, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, aimed at the eventual dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state, while also challenging capitalist America itself.

He was shaped by the intellectual world of Columbia University through his father, Mahmood Mamdani, a leading postcolonial scholar and longtime BDS advocate who was close friends with Edward Said.

The dinner-table debates on colonialism, Fanon, and the illegitimacy of ethno-religious states formed his worldview from childhood. He has never apologized for this inheritance.

He has backed BDS, defended the “from the river to the sea” slogan as a call for Palestinian rights, and stated he cannot support any state that privileges one religion, explicitly including the world’s only Jewish state.

Mr. Mamdani is not alone in this view. Philosopher Edward Said was firmly on the socialist side, sharply critical of capitalism and imperialism. This creates a clear social-communist-Islamic connection running through his father, Columbia University, and the broader movement that shaped him. It’s a belief system, built on hatred of Israel and, crucially, of America itself.

On July 4th he condemned America on the country’s own birthday. He wants not only to dismantle Israel but to reshape America into a fundamentally different outlook that rejects the capitalist foundations of the United States as we know it.

Now he holds the mayoralty of New York City, home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel. While promising free buses and affordable housing, he has delivered viral clips and moral signaling instead.

He understands that the current climate of disinformation, blood libel, and false genocide accusations against Israel is his moment. This is his time to capitalize on the fabricated global outrage supported by the same people he backs.

Mr. Mamdani is not only targeting the head of the state. He is targeting “the Zionist State”, an occupying colonial entity based on his father’s teachings and his anti-colonial background. He is also challenging capitalist America.

Understand his belief system and you see his real agenda.