Mamdani Hires Slew of Anti-Israel Activists, Including Brooklyn Borough Director Who Praised 'Heroes' Ripping Down Israeli Hostage Posters and Adviser Who Led College Divestment Movement

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani (D.) has stocked a variety of operational roles in his administration with a cadre of anti-Israel extremists, including a man who called people who ripped down flyers of Israeli hostages "heroes" and a woman who led a college divestment movement, among other radicals.

Mamdani soon after taking office appointed Alvaro Lopez, the former electoral coordinator of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, as his Brooklyn borough director, a source familiar with staffing at City Hall told the Washington Free Beacon. Lopez had served as a member of Mamdani's inaugural committee, during which a since-deleted post on X in which he called people who ripped down flyers of Israeli hostages "heroes" raised eyebrows.

Lopez was also an architect of what he called "a socialist strategy for Palestinian solidarity" in an October 2024 memo he wrote aimed at translating "increasing radicalization due to ongoing genocide" into a mass movement through arguing that U.S. aid to Israel causes "declining living standards."

"Working with our socialist electeds will be key in advancing the Palestinian cause and giving our movement voices in the halls where power resides," the memo reads. "A socialist strategy for Palestinian solidarity also lowers the bar of entry into our movement and takes seriously our work with broader coalitions, which will be crucial in convincing millions that arming Israel has a direct correlation to our declining living standards. It also creates a political program that emphasizes a diversity of tactics to pursue an arms embargo, divestment, and an anti-Zionist future."

Also on Mamdani's staff is Drashti Brahmbhatt, an adviser to the mayor for "100 Day Planning and Implementation." A member of the Democratic Socialists of America since at least 2021, Brahmbhatt has a history of demonizing Israel since her time in college. While a student at Brown University, Brahmbhatt was a leader on campus calling for the university to divest from companies that do business within the Jewish state. In a since-deleted X post from May 2021, she wrote, "Palestine is one of the greatest moral issues of our time," adding that "Israel is an apartheid state."

On the same thread, she wrote that she supported Mamdani as a state assemblyman for "centering Palestine in his organizing and as an elected official."

Brahmbhatt has attacked other politicians and groups who have not, in her view, appropriately trained their fire on the Jewish state. In 2022, when then-congressman Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) withdrew his sponsorship of a resolution supporting the Abraham Accords, Brahmbhatt described the move as the "bare minimum." She instead called on Bowman to "vote against military assistance, protect the right to boycott, sponsor legislation that advances Palestinian human rights & refuse campaign $ from groups that normalize apartheid" and referred to the resolution as "a ploy to entrench apartheid."

Brahmbhatt's radical views do not end with Israel. She wrote in a since-deleted 2021 post on X that she believes anyone who does not want to abolish the police is "ok with murder."

Brahmbhatt has also posted about "how terrible white women are" while telling a story about a woman glaring at her for taking a meeting on a train.

News of lower-level staffers bearing extremist views, particularly on Israel, comes after a wave of stories about how anti-Israel radicalism has permeated Mamdani's administration. On Tuesday, a newly created "Global Oppression Working Group" within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that accuses Israel of genocide met for the first time. The meeting included a presentation calling for a boycott of companies that do business in Israel but made no mention of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack. On Wednesday, Mamdani replaced the executive director of the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism with a left-wing activist who has bashed Israel. Rabbi Moshe Davis, the ousted former leader of the office, told the Free Beacon that he believed his dismissal came because he is a "proud Jew" who supports Israel.

Another new hire, Manvir Singh, is now serving as a senior policy analyst in Mamdani's administration. Like many other Mamdani appointees, Singh deleted his X account after old posts—including one in support of defunding the police—came to light. A Free Beacon review of his old X account found several other extremist posts, including one in which Singh accused Israel of committing "terrorism" with its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He also retweeted a post from Hasan Piker, the streamer who said the United States deserved 9/11, calling Israel a "genocidal apartheid state" and another supporting Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case and Mamdani ally.

Anti-Israel radicals populate even low-level areas of city government. Achmat Akkad, who according to an insider works as a "Community Engagement Training Specialist" at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was arrested in May 2024 for participating in pro-Hamas agitation in New York.

Akkad wrote in a June 2025 post on X that Israel is a "modern-day Nazi Germany" and in a May 2025 post that "Zionism is fascism."

The day after Oct. 7, 2023, Akkad took to the streets of New York City to cheer on the massacre and told the Daily Mail that he had "no sympathy" for the Israeli civilians Hamas killed.

A representative for Mamdani declined to comment. None of the staffers responded to requests for comment.

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