In an opinion piece, US Senate Democrat Bernie Sanders has said New York City’s mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, won his primary race by building a “grassroots movement” and by not shying away from controversial issues, including Palestine, Al Jazeera reports.

“He [Mamdani] did not run away from the moral issue that is troubling millions in New York and around the country: the need to end US military support for a right-wing extremist Benjamin Netanyahu government in Israel that is obliterating the people of Gaza and starving their children.”

“Mamdani understands that antisemitism is a disgusting and dangerous ideology, but that it is not anti-Semitic to be critical of the inhumane policies of the Netanyahu government.”