Mayor's Office Denies Emanuel's Recollection of Conversation

Anna Bahr, top spokeswoman for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accused Rahm Emanuel of lying about a conversation the latter had with Mamdani in September. The former Chicago mayor was recently interviewed by the podcast "Unholy," where he said:

“I said, ‘Look, you are your father’s son. I’m my father’s son. You chant ‘a river to the sea,’ and that means there will never be a Jewish homeland for Jews who have faced the Holocaust. And I said, ‘I want you to hear this: over my dead body.’”

Emanuel's father fought in Israel's pre-state underground. (The younger Emanuel has recently been accused of going against his upbringing by criticizing Israel's recent actions in Gaza and warning that it has become an international pariah state.) Mamdani's father is an anti-Israel academic.

In a post on X, Bahr wrote "can confirm this...did not happen." An Emanuel statement to Politico, provided by a spokesperson, defended his account.