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Mamdani-backed candidates win primaries, unseat pro-Israel Democrats

Candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated several establishment Democrats in congressional primaries, including a victory for Aber Kawas in a New York State Senate race. The wins come amid Mamdani's defense of his remarks calling AIPAC 'monsters' and his campaign to stop New York funding for Israeli settlements.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 1 article Version 1 Coverage Jun 24, 2026 Published Aug 15

Mamdani-backed candidates win primaries, unseat pro-Israel Democrats

Candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have scored major victories in congressional primaries, unseating establishment Democrats who were backed by pro-Israel groups, according to Al Jazeera.

One notable win came in New York, where Aber Kawas, a Palestinian-American who ran on a platform of democratic socialism and defunding "Israel's genocide in Gaza," won the Democratic primary for the State Senate seat in Queens. Kawas, who was born and raised in New York to Palestinian parents, becomes the first Palestinian Muslim woman elected to the state legislature, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

Kawas' campaign emphasized changing the immigration system and addressing the affordability crisis in New York. Her victory follows Mamdani's three major primary wins in his broader effort to remake the Democratic Party into a democratic socialist force, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Kawas's website and the 'Not On Our Dime' campaign

Kawas's website highlights her role in developing and launching the "Not On Our Dime!" campaign alongside Mamdani. The initiative aims to stop New York-registered organizations from providing money to Israel. The website states that the campaign was launched to stop "New York State is subsidizing Israel's illegal settlement expansion and state violence against Palestinians," with the slogan "end NY funding of Israeli war crimes."

The website references "strategies of genocide" in the West Bank and Gaza, describing "egregious horrors" committed by Israel. Notably, it does not mention the October 7 attacks when discussing the number of Palestinians killed since October 2023.

The associated bill proposes amending New York's nonprofit law to "prohibit not-for-profit corporations from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity." Mamdani has said the measure would stop the flow of about $60 million a year from New York-based charities.

Mamdani defends AIPAC comment

Separately, Mamdani has defended calling AIPAC 'monsters,' accusing the pro-Israel lobbying group of contributing to the suffering of Palestinians, as reported by Al Jazeera.

How this outlet told it

Jerusalem Post as of Jun 24, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC

Framing: Anti-Israel rhetoric in NY Senate primary winner's campaign — Critical

Facts Included:

Aber Kawas won the Democratic primary for the New York State Senate
Kawas' platform included defunding 'Israel's genocide in Gaza'
Kawas' website shares anti-Israel rhetoric
Details about the 'Not On Our Dime!' campaign

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimAber Kawas won the Democratic primary for the New York State Senate.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jun 24, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimAber Kawas' platform included defunding 'Israel's genocide in Gaza'.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jun 24, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimKawas' website shares anti-Israel rhetoric.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jun 24, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 outlets · 3 articles consulted: Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post 5 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15