Stefanik Rips Hochul Over Mamdani’s Endorsement of 9/11 Apologist

Rep. Elise Stefanik is demanding answers and she’s not pulling punches.

The New York Republican and rising star of the GOP fiercely condemned Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday, slamming her “cowardly silence” after NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani endorsed radical activist Aber Kawas for the New York State Assembly a woman Stefanik calls a “terrorist sympathizer” and apologist for the 9/11 attacks.

“Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani and now owns his latest public endorsement of radical activist Aber Kawas,” Stefanik said. “She must condemn this immediately.”

Here’s the controversy at the center of Stefanik’s rebuke:

• Aber Kawas, a longtime Palestinian activist, claimed in 2017 that 9/11 was a manifestation of America’s “capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia.”

• She has defended convicted terrorists, including synagogue bomb plotter Ahmed Ferhani and al-Qaeda financier Fahad Hashmi, referring to the latter as a “living martyr.”

• Kawas was endorsed behind closed doors by Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist who will soon lead America’s largest city.

• Mamdani himself has supported violent slogans like “globalize the intifada” a phrase condemned by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and previously campaigned with a radical imam who preached “jihad” in NYC.

Kawas isn’t just another DSA candidate she represents the extreme fringe of a growing political movement in New York that embraces anti-American rhetoric and dangerous historical revisionism. And yet, Governor Kathy Hochul has remained silent.

Stefanik, who is running for governor in 2026, is making it clear that silence is complicity.

“Mamdani owns and controls the Worst Governor in America, Kathy Hochul, as she cowardly remains silent on the anti-American and antisemitic filth spewed by the incoming Mayor and his endorsed candidates,” Stefanik declared.

The clash is more than political it’s a cultural and moral line in the sand. At a time when antisemitism is surging and terrorist sympathizers are being normalized under the banner of “activism,” Stefanik is calling on Hochul to do what she has consistently failed to do: show moral courage.

Meanwhile, Jewish New Yorkers and 9/11 families are expressing outrage. The idea that a woman who blamed the United States for the worst terrorist attack on American soil is now running for public office with the backing of New York’s incoming mayor has shattered trust in city leadership.

And it’s not just Jewish voters raising alarms. Even within the Queens Assembly race, Kawas’s candidacy has fractured the DSA’s own coalition. Her opponent, Brian Romero, has stronger community ties, particularly in the district’s Hispanic neighborhoods. But for the far-Left operatives behind Mamdani, that’s not the point.

One supporter was quoted as saying the quiet part out loud. “We need a Palestinian candidate to draw the fire of the Israeli lobby. We did it with Zohran.”

This is strategic radicalization masquerading as representation.

While Hochul hides and the Democrat establishment cowers, Stefanik is saying what most New Yorkers across party lines are thinking: enough is enough.

If Governor Hochul won’t disavow extremists within her own political coalition, then she doesn’t deserve to lead New York.

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