Video resurfaces of Mamdani intern’s ‘jihad’ remarks

A video showing a former intern to then-state Assemblyman and now-Mayor Zohran Mamdani invoking “jihad” while discussing her activism has recirculated on social media, reviving scrutiny of the mayor’s past staffing choices.

Hadeeqa Arzoo Malik, who interned in Mr. Mamdani’s state Assembly office during the summer of 2024, appears in a clip saying, “This is all jihad, this is all ibadah, this is all counted by Allah.”

The remarks, shared widely by the account Canary Mission and amplified by other social media users this week, echo comments Ms. Malik made in a CUNY4Palestine webinar that first drew press coverage a year earlier, in which she said, “The true believer knows that none of this is in vain.”

Ms. Malik, a City College of New York student, served as a communications, outreach, policy and constituent services intern in Mr. Mamdani’s district office, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has also identified herself as an outreach coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations and previously served as president of the City College chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The renewed attention follows an earlier controversy in which Ms. Malik was caught on camera confronting a line of police officers at a pro-Palestinian demonstration, saying, “Let’s read the badges of the pigs,” before singling out an officer with a traditionally Muslim name.

Mr. Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was sworn in Jan. 1 after defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the 2025 general election.

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