The father of Zohran Mamdani, the Queens assemblyman and socialist mayoral frontrunner, has ties to a controversial anti-Israel organization that accuses the Jewish state of genocide and has promoted sympathetic views of suicide bombers. Mahmood Mamdani, 79, a chaired professor of African history and colonialism at Columbia University, is listed as a member of the advisory policy council of the Gaza Tribunal, a London-based group established last year. The organization describes its mission as an effort “to awaken civil society to its responsibility and opportunity to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” and openly backs the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The Gaza Tribunal has echoed many of the same anti-Israel sentiments espoused by Zohran Mamdani himself, who has emerged as a leading voice in far-left circles with vocal support for Palestinian causes. But the elder Mamdani’s involvement with the Tribunal—and his past writings—have sparked growing concern. In a resurfaced passage from his 2004 book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror, Mahmood Mamdani urged readers to reconsider how suicide bombers are perceived in global conflicts. “Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism,” he wrote. “We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)