Zohran Mamdani Criticized for ‘Staged’ Hanukkah Clip with Actor Mandy Patinkin

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s Hanukkah video featuring radical leftist actor Mandy Patinkin and his family sparked backlash online, with critics slamming the appearance as a “staged performance” and accusing the Democratic Socialist of cynically co-opting the holiday for political cover amid deep concerns over his antisemitic rhetoric and anti-Israel record.

In a post shared to social media, Mamdani wrote, “It was such a joy to celebrate Hanukkah with Mandy, Kathryn and their son, Gideon. As Jewish New Yorkers across our city prepare to light candles and mark the seventh night today, I wish you and your families a Hanukkah full of light and love.” 

The video, which surpassed one million views on X as of Sunday, shows the mayor-elect participating in candle-lighting and festive traditions with Patinkin’s family in what appeared to be a staged home setting.

Patinkin, the entertainer best known as Inigo Montoya in the late Rob Reiner’s hit The Princess Bride, described the first Trump administration as a “cancer that affects the world globally.” In July, he blamed the Gaza war on Jews, amplifying Hamas’s narrative while ignoring the hostage crisis.

Critics denounced the video as disingenuous, pointing to the historical significance of Hanukkah — which commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after Jewish fighters reclaimed it from foreign occupiers, a landmark assertion of Jewish independence in the land of Israel centuries before the rise of Islam or the Roman renaming of the region as “Palestine.” 

Such a celebration, they argue, stands in stark contrast to the New York City mayor-elect’s rhetoric and record, widely viewed as antagonistic toward Jewish sovereignty.

“Chanukah marks the re-dedication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after winning a war against Syrian Greek occupiers to restore Jewish sovereignty over Israel,” wrote commentator Joel M. Petlin. “That’s what Zohran Mamdani and the Patinkin family just celebrated together, though they probably don’t realize it.”

“Very disappointed in Mandy for supporting @ZohranKMamdani. The very essence of Chanukah is resistance against people who reject Jewish presence in the Land of Israel,” wrote author Avi Benlolo, Chairman and CEO of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative think tank. “Mandy should know better.”

“Chanukah is about Jewish sovereignty over the Jewish homeland, something that both Zohran Mamdani and Mandy Patinkin actively fight against,” noted political columnist Moshe Hill.

“As I have stated multiple times, Zohran is going to spend the next four years elevating the voices of anti-Israel Jewish activists and shaping the narrative that their views are mainstream,” wrote New York-based writer and political consultant Jason Curtis Anderson. “His path to attack Israel is through Gracie Mansion.”

“This year, @ZohranKMamdani is forgoing his traditional mocking of the Jews on Hanukkah, and is instead mocking the ignorance of the Patinkins in them welcoming Zohran into their home as his props for a video,” noted one X user.

“We’re not fooled, Zohran! You were raised by an actress, and you posed with an actor, and you both delivered a script. Of course, you wouldn’t visit an ordinary Jewish family’s home,” another wrote. “This is another shameful staged performance.”

“Even though Mamdani tries to hide his true colors, the ‘globalize the intifada,’ antisemitic, and racist con man fools no one,” wrote another.

“Mamdani is an Islamist whose ideology targets Jews, Israel, and the West,” another user wrote. “Watching useful idiots normalize him isn’t just naïve — it’s dangerous.”

“@ZohranKMamdani didja know that Hanukkah is the most ancient representation of Zionism?” one X user wrote.

“Antizionist Hanukkah is an oxymoron,” wrote another.

“Don’t be fooled,” another insisted. “Zohran Mamdani is playing 6D chess.”

Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist from Queens, has drawn repeated condemnation for refusing to condemn the chant “globalize the intifada,” a phrase which glorifies violent uprisings against Israel. Intifadas were twice launched against the Jewish state by Palestinians, the second which took place at the start of the millennium and saw hundreds of terror attacks and thousands of deaths over a four-year span. 

Having been labeled a “raging antisemite” and “communist” by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Mamdani has also called Israel’s war against Hamas a “genocide,” and accused the United States of “bankrolling genocide” in interviews with Qatari state TV.

He also drew fire for comments about a protest at a Manhattan synagogue, which saw antisemitic chants shouted at congregants, after he suggested the synagogue may have been violating international law.

Last month, Mosab Hassan Yousef — the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who broke with the terror group — described Mamdani as a “trojan horse” for a dangerous Red-Green alliance of communists and Islamists, warning that, if unchecked, his radical agenda would “burn the castle down” and erase the very freedoms that make New York City what it is.

On Thursday, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, a senior appointee to Mamdani’s incoming administration, resigned after resurfaced social media posts showed her mocking Jews and attacking law enforcement.